The Silent Snow

GREAT THINGS ARE EXPERIENCED

WHEN MEN, MOUNTAINS, AND A WILDERNESS MEET”

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I have been thinking about why I solo-hike the Drakensberg Wilderness. Using the words of author RO Pearce, with some of my own added: “Here I am, a civilized man, living in the Wilderness, doing my own cooking, getting tired, and hot, and dirty, and enjoying it. It is too easy to say I needed a change, or that the beauty and peace of nature drew me. Why do it at all? I don’t think it is entirely because of the love of nature. It goes deeper than that. I have a deep seated, subconscious hate against the artificiality, attitudes, issues and ease of modern life. We lead such superficial lives, in square houses, in regimented streets, where the procuring of the essentials of life – food, clothing, and shelter – is no problem at all. These things are no further off than the nearest telephone. Life was not meant to be like this. Here in the Wilderness I have only myself to depend on. I have to find shelter, I have to carry my own food, and bedding with me, I have to find my own way without signposts. If I conk in or get lost, or the weather changes, I have only myself to rely on to get me out of the mess. If I sprain my ankle, I can’t phone the nearest doctor. There is no-one to help me. And life is reduced to the essentials – food, warmth, and shelter. It is simplified. It is good for a man that he should sometimes break loose and go primitive once again and enjoy an uncomplicated wonderous life, even if it is only for a short while”.

THE AMPHITHEATER PLATEAU IN WINTER

The Silent Snow

“The Silent Snow Possessed the Earth”

FROZEN AMPHITHEATER WALL

A few suggestions might be useful for those who plan to visit the Drakensberg high peaks and Wilderness in winter.

First of all, make sure you are carrying plenty of warm clothing and plenty of food. If you plan a multi-day hike, take reserve food for another two or three days. This need not be anything elaborate – some highly concentrated, light-weight balanced food, like Pronutro, which doesn’t have to be cooked, or a few extra slabs of chocolate – enough to keep body and soul together in an emergency. A small pressure stove is invaluable, for in heavy snow fuel is next to impossible to find in an emergency. A groundsheet is essential for keeping moisture from reaching one’s sleeping bag. A sleeping mat improves comfort. It is wise to carry two sleeping bags, an inner, and an outer. Modern sleeping bags are so light that this is easily done. Even if you leave your base camp and intend returning to it that night, slip a sleeping bag into your backpack. If you rick your ankle you can’s ring up a taxi to take you home in the Drakensberg. And remember: at all cost keep your party together. Never separate, even for a short while.

Remember, too, that the great killer on the summit is not cold, but cold plus wind plus moisture. Your body can withstand tremendous degrees of cold, but if the cold is accompanied by wind, you will quickly succumb without adequate protection. Make sure you have windproof outer clothing with you. If you have to sleep out in the snow, choose a position sheltered from the wind. If the weather is fine you will need no roof over your head. In a snowstorm, your best hope, if you have no tent, is either a cave or a rock overhang. Caves on the summit, unlike the Little Berg, are few and far between, but overhangs can usually be found. Try somewhere along the escarpment edge for these. They are more numerous there. Remember that everything will freeze during the night. Boots and socks are the main problem, for they are sure to get wet during your day’s march through the snow, and in the morning will be stiff with ice, delaying your departure for anything up to a couple of hours, if you do nothing to protect them. Protect them during the night. Slip them inside your sleeping bag when you turn in, together with anything else you are likely to need in the morning, such as your water bottle and essential medicines.

If you observe these few simple precautions you need never fear anything the summit can do to you in winter – and you will have the time of your life! It is the person who goes hiking inadequately equipped, with no reserves or warm clothing, who lands in trouble. Adjustment to cold is a highly individual matter. There have been many cases of climbers exposed all night on mountainsides in sub-zero temperatures. Some die, while others, in the same party, survive little or no adverse effects. Some years ago it was noted that the Australian Aborigines could sleep naked all night in temperatures close to freezing, while Europeans, even covered with a couple of blankets, could not sleep at all. It is also known that one can condition oneself to cold. It is well known that one always feels the cold more at the beginning of winter, before the body has become adjusted to the lower temperatures.

HEAVY SNOWFALL STRETCHING INTO KZN MIDLANDS

But cold, or rather hypothermia, which means a lowering of the temperature of the body’s inner core, can be a subtle and diabolical killer. One should never underestimate it.

When one is exposed to extreme cold the body responds, first of all, by constricting the blood vessels of the outer skin, with the result that less blood flows to the surface to be chilled. This warmer blood is then concentrated in those vital internal organs, which are thus protected from harm. Frost-bite, in its early stages at least, is therefore one of those protective devices of nature.

The body, having done all that it can to conserve heat, now sets about producing heat at a greater rate, so as to replace any heat that is lost. The heart beats faster, additional adrenalin is pumped into the blood, and the metabolic rate rises. All this result in greater heat. We feel stimulated.

Then as the temperature continues to drop, other mechanisms are brought into play. The muscles begin to contract spasmodically, and we shiver. Again the result is the production of heat. But shivering also consumes a great deal of energy. If the shivering is intense and prolonged, it can result in exhaustion.

So far the temperature of the body’s inner core has not been affected. But if the heat loss continues, these organs will begin to be affected, and the temperature of the body will soon drop below 37 degrees Celsius until it reaches about 23 degrees Celsius, when death supervenes.

ICICLES A METER LONG

One of the interesting effects of extreme cold is the effect on emotions. Moderate cold is exhilarating: extreme cold is exhausting. Fits of depression are common, one becomes irritable, there is a loss of judgment, and also, as we have seen, of memory.

What causes hypothermia? It is not cold alone. Many a person has survived extreme cold with no ill effects, while others have succumbed when the temperature was well above zero. Apparently it is caused by a combination of four factors. None of these alone, with the possible exception of the first, will be lethal. These four factors are: cold, wetness, wind; and personal pre-conditions, for example being particularly susceptible to cold, or in an exhausted condition.

Wind, combined with cold, is certainly one of the biggest contributing factors in cases of hypothermia. Worst of all, and a real killer, is a combination of cold, wind, and wetness. More fatalities are ascribed to this cause than any other.

A FROZEN WATERFALL

To survive on the summit and in the Wilderness, therefore, in a blizzard or extreme cold, becomes a problem of avoiding these combinations.

Clothing must be adequate. The head is the greatest source of loss of heat from radiation. If your feet are cold, put on your hat! Body heat is derived from two sources – food and muscular activity. Keep nibbling. Sweets, especially chocolates are excellent. Intake of hot liquids will also help considerably. Stay away from alcohol – it will kill!

Exercise is essential. Hiking can increase heat production as much as six times. If you are holed up, keep flexing your muscles.

Wind is your worst enemy. Even a moderate breeze in cold weather can lower your body temperature. It has been found that merely to wear windproof garments over wet clothing raises one’s chances of survival, in cold-wet-windy conditions, five times. Wind is made infinitely worse if your clothing is wet. Also always wear clothing next tour skin that breathes.

Don’t wait to feel cold before putting on protective clothing. Warm clothing will not produce heat: it merely conserves already existing heat. Camp down in plenty of time, while you still have all your faculties about you.

CAMPING ON THE ESCARPMENT IN WINTER – DARK AND COLD CONDITIONS

Prevent any further loss of heat. Add heat to the body; make a person as warm as possible. Rubbing frost-bitten area with snow is quite fallacious and will add to the likelihood of permanent injury. Then into a warm sleeping bag, out of the wind with warm dry clothing. It will also help to put another person into the sleeping bag. Give warm fluids to drink, and sweetened foods. Remember that carbohydrates are the foods that are most quickly transformed into heat and energy.

With these few simple precautions you should be safe in the Drakensberg. Even so, always remember that the unpredictable can happen, and be ready for it when it comes.

There is no more a lovely time in the Drakensberg than when the snow comes and possesses the earth. In summer the peaks have a hard, bright beauty, stenciled starkly against a turquoise sky, with the clouds breaking around them in a splendor of white foam. In autumn they have a softer, more dream-like quality, as they gaze down into the sun-drenched valleys of the Little Berg. But when the snows come that whole expanse of mountain splendor is sheathed in purest white, glistening in the clean sunlight, the snowfields stretch to the horizon, and the peaks stand tranquil and proud over it all. Snow can come to the Drakensberg at any month of the year.

We as hikers, explorers, and adventurers have the absolute duty to respect and protect our Wildernesses. Nobody else will do it for us. Take ownership!

The End.

Safe Hiking.