Winter Paddling and Hypothermia

In the last few posts we have covered "Dressing for Winter Paddling" and "Finding a Location for Winter Paddling" which should help you significantly reduce the risk of hypothermia. Nonetheless, you should be able to recognize the symptoms and hypothermia and know what to do in case you are faced with this.

A basic definition of hypothermia is when the body is losing heat faster than it can replace it, which leads to impaired motor movement, judgement, and an eventual shut down of all vital organs.

Hypothermia can be caused by any of the 5 methods of heat loss or a combination of them. It does not have to be "cold" for you to be at risk for hypothermia either. Especially as paddlers, when water is 25x more efficient than air at transferring heat, we need to be educated and aware of the risks of hypothermia.

A key thing to remember with hypothermia is that it is 100% preventable so with the proper equipment and planning hopefully you will never have to deal with it.

There are 3 stages of hypothermia; mild, moderate, and severe. While mild and moderate have many of the same symptoms there are also some key differences, and severe should be blatantly obvious.

-Mild Hypothermia:

• Symptoms:
• General feeling of being "cold"
• May be shivering
• Extremities may be numb
• Cannot steady hands
• Treatment:
• Replace wet clothing
• Add additional dry clothing
• Protect from the elements
• Give warm fluids and simple sugars
• Once they begin to warm up they can have proteins and fats

This person may take a while to warm up but should generally be able to rewarm on their own.

-Moderate Hypothermia

• Symptoms:
• Uncontrollable shivering
• Extremities are likely numb
• Likely suffering from the "umbles" (stumbles, mumbles, grumbles, and fumbles)
• Slurred speech
• Loss of judgement (may start to remove clothes because they think they are too warm)
• Irritable
• Treatment:
• All steps from Mild Hypothermia
• Hypothermia wrap
• Place warm water bottles, heat pads, etc. in the arm pits and groin (make sure it is NOT hot)

-Severe Hypothermia

• Sever hypothermia life threatening
• Symptoms:
• Shivering has stopped
• Person cannot walk or stand
• Skin is pale
• Pulse and respirations decrease
• Treatment: 
• All steps from above

There are some other general guidelines you should follow when treating someone for hypothermia. 

• If the individual needs to urinate, let them do so and help them if necessary. It takes a lot of extra heat to keep a full bladder warm so by urinating it will speed their recovery. Once they have urinated resume treatment immediately.
• Do not move an individual with severe hypothermia, any sudden movement could cause their heart to stop.
• Someone suffering from hypothermia may take many hours to fully recover, if they do. They will also likely be exhausted once they recover so it is advisable to make camp where you are if someone is suffering from moderate or severe hypothermia. 

Feel free to ask us if you have any other questions!

Note - This information is no replacement for proper training. This is not a comprehensive article on hypothermia, there is still much to be learned and much more technical information available. Please do not use this information as the absolute authority on hypothermia.