Since I don't know what a watch cap is, may I offer an alternative that Patagonia makes called a Balaclava. Made of their cinchilla pile, this little number covers all the head and neck(modeled after a scuba diver's hood I think) except the mouth nose and eyes. The pile wicks moisture away from the skin and doesn't itch like wool. They and other manufaturers make dry suit liners out of the pile for the scuba and whitewater crowd that would really make a sleeping bag comfy at night. I thought the head was responsible for 50% of the heat loss in the body, but other than that, John's article was excellent. Thank you sir. Dimwitted aMoose and Flying Squirrel ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Rodgers" <jhrodgers@MINDSPRING.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 1:36 PM Subject: Re: Let's not make vented catalytic heaters
> Rico Sapolich wrote: > > > Eat a lot of fat, > > Great call, Rico. Fat has more energy per gram than any other food. Will > definitely help keep one warm at night. > > > wear a watch cap, > > Another good call. 25 percent of your body energy is lost through the head. Guys > like me with no hair on top are especially prone to cold and energy loss when > there is no cover on top. A good cap goes a long way towards keeping that energy > in the body and in the sleeping bag at night. > > By the way, DO NOT direct your breathing into your sleeping bag. The moisture > brom your breath will destroy the insulation with in and hour and you will be > totally miserable. If its cold enough you need to protect your nose, put on a > watchcap, pull the hood of the bag up, leaving the face exposed and lay a towel > or something similar over the fact. Anything to abate the temperature difference > between the face and the outsid air. In other words reglate the heart and > moisture from the breath, but don't direct it into the bag. > > > take a whiz, > > Reduce the prospects of having to get up at night, and loose the accumulated > heat energy in the sleeping bag, and a rapid heat loss and chill down of the > body, which may take hours to recover from. > > > change into fresh dry skivvies before you bed down and you will be > > surprised how warm you will be. > > Clean skivvies are essential . Actually, not just the skivvies. Keeping the body > clean of all body oils and perspiration is essential. > > Attended the Air Force Arctic Survival School outside of Fairbanks, AK one year. > Temps were about -35/40. Spent a week out, lost nearly 30 lbs, but never really > suffered from the cold. Learned a hell of a lot about keeping warm in the cold, > especially extreme cold. The one thing the instructors insisted on was that we > keep ourselves well washed. That was a real trip, trying to wash in that extreme > cold. But we learned why, and how, and experienced the effects of it.......we > were warmer for it. > > Why keep washed in the cold. The body oils and perspiration very quickly destroy > the insulating value of your clothing. We were shown that under clothing could > be washed and dried in extreme cold. You do have to melt snow and warm the water > a bit by fire, and the clothes do freeze, but they dry out by sublimation of the > ice in them. And washing the bod made an amazing difference. > > We also learned the importance of drinking water. When in the cold, drink plenty > of water. Have some every hour or so, whether you feel thirsty or not. It is > extremely easy to become dehydrated in cold weather because we don't FEEL > thirsty. You can get into real trouble in short order unless you pay special > attention to it. Once dehydration sets in the cold affects you more rapidly. > > DON'T EAT SNOW!! Takes a huge amount of body energy just to convert the snow at > 32F to water at 32F, much less raise the temperature to any measure. Warm the > water to at least normal room temperature before drinking. > > Keep plenty of fluids pumping through, warm liquids are best, but water is best > of all. > > John Rodgers > 88 GL Driver |
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