Tips to Prevent Hypothermia When Riding Mountain

Contents:

• Medical Video: 6 Mistakes To Avoid When Riding A Hardtail Mountain Bike | MTB Skills
  
• Symptoms of hypothermia
  
• Light (stage of excitement)
  
• Medium (stage of exhaustion)
  
• Weight (stage of paralysis)
  
• Hypothermia: do you need to warm yourself or not?
  

Medical Video: 6 Mistakes To Avoid When Riding A Hardtail Mountain Bike | MTB Skills

Hypothermia is a frightening specter for climbers. Hypothermia can strike anytime and anywhere, no matter you are a beginner climber or a seasoned climber who has conquered seven summits. The CDC states that 1,301 deaths each year in the 1999-2011 period were caused by hypothermia and its complications. This number could increase, because the incidence of hypothermia is like the tip of an iceberg, because not all events are reported.

Hypothermia is defined as a failure to control body temperature due to cold exposure from outside the body. Hypothermia can occur when the body's core temperature drops to below 35oC. In climbers, this is due to temperatures in the mountains that are cold, wind, or because they use wet clothes for a long time. Being in water with a temperature of 5-10oC for 10 minutes can cause hypothermia, using wet clothes for 1 hour at 0oC with strong winds can cause hypothermia. Parents and children are more susceptible to hypothermia, as are people who are active in cold conditions or who use alcohol and certain types of drugs.

Symptoms of hypothermia

Based on the patient's body temperature, symptoms, and signs, hypothermia is classified into 3 levels, namely:

Light (stage of excitement)

Mild hypothermia occurs when body temperature is in the range of 32-35oC. Patients will appear to tremble violently, blood pressure and pulse rate will increase, in the acral part such as the tip of the toes or hands will feel pain due to reduced blood supply. Initially the patient is still conscious, but over time it will appear nervous and apathetic.

Medium (stage of exhaustion)

At moderate hypothermia, the body temperature drops to 28-32oC, glucose reserves are reduced so that the trembling condition of the patient's body slows down, the pulse frequency will decrease, sometimes respiratory problems are found. Over time the patient will be hallucinating, unconscious, and numb to the pain.

Weight (stage of paralysis)

If the patient's body temperature drops below 28oC, the patient will fall into a coma, the pupils dilate and do not respond to light, disturbances in the rhythm of the heart, even can stop breathing and cause death.

Hypothermia: do you need to warm yourself or not?

There are several views regarding the first treatment in hypothermia sufferers. Suddenly warming the patient's body is dangerous. A rapid increase in body temperature can cause shock and heart rhythm disturbances, which will lead to heart failure. So, handling hypothermia must be done carefully and adjusted for the severity of the symptoms experienced. The essence of the initial treatment of hypothermia is to reduce the release of body heat, and warm the patient slowly to avoid the above complications.

Following are the steps that must be done if your climbing colleague experiences hypothermia:

• Always monitor the breathing and pulse of the patient, give breathing assistance if needed.
• Change the patient's clothes with dry clothes.
• Take the patient to a warmer place and avoid strong winds.
• Set up a tent in a low place and are covered by trees or lush shrubs to reduce exposure to strong winds. To avoid direct contact with cold soil, climbing associates can first coat the soil with a pile of dry leaves before setting up a tent, and overlay it with a mattress after the tent is erected.
• Some sleeping bags can function to hold heat in a short time. Fill the sleeping bag with healthy people first to create warm conditions in the sleeping bag, then enter the patient into the sleeping bag.
• For campfires to create warm temperatures around the tent, make sure you don't damage the environment or make a fire in the making.
• If the patient is still conscious and can drink, give him a warm drink. Avoid giving alcohol or coffee, because it can aggravate the condition of hypothermia.
• Hug the patient, in this way, we can give our body warm to the sufferer. Better results can be obtained when done skin-to-skin.
• Cook warm water, put it in an empty bottle and compress it on the patient's body, especially in the head, neck, chest or stomach and groin area.

If the patient's condition does not improve, contact the medical team to get further treatment. Hypothermia is a dangerous condition in climbing. Prevention of hypothermia is certainly an important thing that must be known by climbers. The following are things that can be prepared:

• Always carry a raincoat in the ascent. Wet clothes make you easily exposed to hypothermia
• Use thick, warm clothes. If there are, use a jacket wind-breaker to reduce body heat lost due to wind.
• Use gloves, socks, scarves, or scarves during the climb.
• Eat and drink warm to keep the body warm.
• Warm up, and don't just keep quiet, especially when in a cold place, so that body heat is maintained.

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