It seems to me that if you can keep your core temperature high enough, there wouldn't be a problem. But if you're constantly losing body heat, where's the line between making a rational decision to go to sleep, and just curling up in the snow and dying of hypothermia?


"... Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center has put on The Ski and Mountain Trauma Conference each year for the past five years.

"The conference, held recently at Sun Valley Resort, brought together 400 ski patrollers and medical personnel from Idaho and its surrounding states to learn about such widely differing subjects as assessing patients in the wilderness to avoiding complacency in swiftwater rescues."

From Nate Ostis, who heads up the McCall-based Wilderness Rescue International l (http://www.magicvalley.com/lifestyles/recreation/article_09c2b1d7-5142-5416-941b-ba5410d4fb23.html):

"True or false? In a survival situation, you may die from hypothermia in your sleep if you go to sleep when you’re cold.

"False. Unless you’re severely hypothermic, uncontrollable shivering will wake you up before you get too cold. When that happens, run around or do some jumping jacks or something else to warm up before trying to catch another nap.

"True or false? Dehydration and fatigue contributes to frostbite.

"True. Dehydration affects blood flow through capillaries. And fatigue clouds our judgment and decreases our vigilance."

Sue