People say I'm crazy...

[MonadnockVol]

... can't hear a word they're saying...

Actually the reason that they're saying it is because during this recent cold snap I've been walking around without a jacket. I'm just trying to jump start my acclimatization for the winter hiking season. These same people who think I'm crazy now will be out playing Frisbee in shorts and a t-shirt during the first January thaw when it will be 10 degrees cooler than it is now. I'm just trying to raise my basal metabolic rate without having it take two months of winter.

When I was an high school I had a teacher who had done his doctoral dissertation research on plate tectonics. Specifically, he was studying mountain building in Antarctica and to collect data he spent four months (late-spring to early-fall) living and in the "ultimate down-under." He didn't stay at a base: his research required that his partner and he trek around from a campsite that they set up.

Lot's of strange things happened. One funny, if ribald, thing concerned their makeshift privy. They rested two cross-country skis between two boulders and then set a toilet seat on the skis. Things froze where they fell (plopped) and there was no smell and no mess. But one stormy night (okay, it was a dark and stormy night) when they were confined to their tent by the high winds the tent came under attack. It sounded like someone was chucking rocks at the tent. The next morning they figured it out. You guessed it: flying frozen feces.

Another thing that happened was a little scarier. They were working their way diagonally up an ice face, cutting steps with their ice axes. They weren't roped together. Suddenly my teacher's partner slipped and fell. He tried to self-arrest but his ice axe wouldn't bite on the hard ice. The slope wasn't so great that he rocketed away, but still he slid away at a good clip. My teacher watched him disappear into the mist, still trying to get his axe to hold.

Slowly my teacher started down after him to recover the body. After half an hour he discovered to his amazement that his partner had gotten his axe to bite just at the edge of a cliff. In fact, the lower part of his body was hanging over the cliff and he lacked the strength - after his ordeal - to pull himself up, so he just clung to the axe hoping my teacher would rescue him.

Anyway, he told me that after several months in Antarctica they had acclimatized so much that any time the mercury reached 10 degrees F, they would take off their shirts and sunbathe. When they left in the fall, their first stop was New Zealand. NZ was having its first cold snap of the fall (40 degrees F) and the NZ'ers were pulling out their sweaters. But my teacher and his partner were so hot that they had to lay tubs in a shallow layer of cold water in order to get to sleep.

- Monadnock Volunteer (aka Steve)

 

[adktyler]

Wow, that falling ordeal sounds really scary. What a blessing that he didn't slide off the cliff, though. Being right on the edge of the cliff sounds like something from the movies, haha, but it happens! I have a friend who had a similar experiences slide climbing in the Adirondacks, which left him dangling half way off a frozen waterfall.

I find it interesting about the acclimatization aspect. I always think it's neat that when hiking in January in 20 degree temps I get SO warm, and strip down to a base layer. Yet if I was hiking in September or October and had similar temperatures, I would be putting on layers and shivering like crazy. "But my teacher and his partner were so hot that they had to lay tubs in a shallow layer of cold water in order to get to sleep." What an experience!

 

[brianW]

I tend to ride to the trail head without my heater on or just enough so the windshield won't fog/freeze up. Get to the trailhead and there is none of the getting used to the cold.

 

[adktyler]

I tend to ride to the trail head without my heater on or just enough so the windshield won't fog/freeze up. Get to the trailhead and there is none of the getting used to the cold.

What a great idea! I'm sure my car mates will be thrilled that you shared that, haha.

 

[Andrew]

Great post Steve! Exactly what I remind myself and anyone who will listen that these "cold" day's will soon be the warm ones...and you know I always love a good poop story.

 

[sierra]

While there may be "some" merit to aclimating to the cold as you suggested, I do not think the results could be anything close to worth it. Ive climbed for 30 yrs in the cold, including ice climbing, there's just no way you can ward off the cold by being cold. I do think you can receive some benefit by mind over matter, but ultimately just dressing correctly is the right thing to do, but hey whatever works for you. P.S. if your about to die or need a rescue from hypothermia at least throw on a jacket or it could be costly.

 

[DrewKnight]

I definitely subscribe to the "acclimatization theory"... as soon as the temps start to drop in the fall, I slowly increase exposure to cold (light or no jacket when outside for a few minutes at a time, e.g., filling the gas-tank, moving to and from the office, etc.). I don't know if there is any scientific basis, or if it's just that I am resetting my personal comfort zone -- but by January, I tend to be a lot more cold-tolerant than most people I know.

Then again, having me as an exhibit might or might not improve your case fighting the insanity plea.

 

[JohnL]

Crazy is a relative term. It all depends on who you hang out with.

Reinhold Messner used to take baths in a tub full of ice when he was training for expeditions. Dean Karnazes would train in the sauna prior to running the Badwater Ultramarathon. These, and lots of other crazy things done by athletes, climbers and explorers during their training phases, are merely different ways of acclimating your mind and body to your specific goal, whether it be cold, heat, high altitude, deep water or what have you. Sometimes you can accomplish physiological changes such as when you acclimatize to higher altitudes and sometimes you just accomplish a tolerance for the discomfort factor. Is it crazy? Yes, like a fox.

JohnL

 

[Lawn Sale]

Acclimatization works...in the winter I keep the house at 52 degrees, which is comfortable for me. When company comes over, I jack it to 60 degrees, and at 65 degrees it's noticeably uncomfortable. I can deal with other places that are warmer (friends houses, public places, etc), but it's not as comfortable. My older brother keeps his house colder, and has had water in the dishes in the sink freeze. It does get cold in the winter, but I don't notice it as much as other people.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

I have always been a proponent of acclimatization, believing it to be more healthy if the human body is subjected to lower contrasts between indoor and outdoor temperatures. I avoid air conditioned places in the summer as much as possible. I would never live in a climate where air conditioning was considered necessary, nor would I ever own a house with it installed. In winter I have always kept my house in the lower 50s, and it is always good to hear that I am not alone in that endeavor. For several decades I kept my house at 50, but as I got older I have increased it to 54 during the day when I am home. It is very rare that I ever catch a flu or cold.

As a fringe benefit I can easily offset all of my travels based on my overall low carbon footprint. I am not concerned if people think that I am crazy as I already know that to be true.

 

[Jazzbo]

The Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme

What does the Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme have to do with cold acclimatization? Well ... in this book the protagonist is a nun trained as a nurse (IIRC) who works for years as missionary in equatorial Africa. On returning to Belgium by ship (before airplane travel) she has to wrap herself in blankets she is so cold. Narrative discusses how all missionaries returning to Belgium undergo same process of re-acclimatizing to colder climates. I recall the author using sords thattheir blood had become "thin" from living in the hot climate. Actually I forget now which it was whether it was thick or thin, but you get the point. I looked up on google cold acclimatization and came up with a bunch of tech articles ... There does appear to be a complicated set of physiological changes that happen. Botom line is there is truth in this assertion ... but it is not simple.

As for me I subscribe to concept. One thing I've noticed is my efforts in trying to maintain muscle tone during week, I resort to doing pushups or sit-ups during evening at home. I've definitely noticed how my sense of feeling chilly simply disappears after doing a set of 60 sit-ups or 25 pushups. Nothing like turning up the your internal furnace. It lingers for long periods too.

Now if I could just get the rest of my family to subscribe to this I could save some bucks on heating oil.