Park Ranger Freezes To Death While Camping

http://www.thebostonchannel.com ^ | 1/16/04 | Posted to AP

[Rebelbase]

Victim's Body Spotted By Helicopter Crew

FRANCONIA, N.H. -- A New Hampshire park ranger who had been involved in many hiker rescues froze to death while camping in the White Mountains this week.

Authorities say 37-year-old Kenneth Holmes, who lived in Athol, Mass., was reported missing Wednesday. Friends say he was a park ranger at Monadnock State Park.

Holmes' body was spotted by a helicopter crew Thursday in the White Mountains in Franconia.

Temperatures in the mountains Wednesday dropped to minus 44 degrees with a wind chill approaching 100 degrees below zero.

Fish and Game Lieutenant Robert Bryant said Holmes was well-equipped, but that having a tent, stove and good sleeping bag isn't always enough in the extreme cold of this week.

[Rebelbase]

-44 below zero...Man that is cold and add the wind it goes to -100...pure insanity to be recreational camping in that environment.

I've been out in the mountains for a weekend at -10 below and that cured me of ever wanting to winter camp again.

[Rebelbase]

Stay warm.

[Mr. Mojo]

-44 below is 56 degrees colder than it was on Mars yesterday (at least in the area our Rover is exploring).

[Timm]

Real cold.

With enough snow, a man can build an igloo. Even in bitter cold, the interior temp won't get much below 30F. It takes time, though, and it's not something you could do right the first time without help.

[Wheee The People]

sad.

[billorites]

"-44 below is 56 degrees colder than it was on Mars yesterday (at least in the area our Rover is exploring). "

And it's a dry heat too.

[fso301]

Imagine what it must have been like in January 1942 for the German soldiers wearing summer uniforms in that kind of weather.

[angkor]

If he was inside the tent, windchill wasn't a big factor (I always dismiss windchill, it's an exaggerated "tall tale" metric).

Still it's hard to find a sleeping bag rated at -44F. Even the best expedition mountaineering bags top out at around -20F or -30F (I think Marmot and a couple others might have -40F bags).

The sad truth in these cases is that it's almost always the victim's own bad judgement.

[cruiserman]

I think more about the boys on our side in Bastogne.

[newgeezer]

Athol, Mass.

"Athol" sounds like the perfect place for the Kennedy clan to be from.

[Mr. Mojo]

LOL

[AAABEST]

LOL

They are a clan of "atholes"

[MotleyGirl70]

BBBBRRRRR. I like camping, but wouldn't do it in winter. There is no tent or sleeping bag that could keep me warm enough.

I've downhilled skiied tons of times in -20 below weather in northern Wisconsin and THAT's cold enough for me.

Fish and Game Lieutenant Robert Bryant said Holmes was well-equipped, but that having a tent, stove and good sleeping bag isn't always enough in the extreme cold of this week.

Holms should have just stayed home. -100 below zero! Some people lack simple common sense.

[dirtboy]

If he was inside the tent, windchill wasn't a big factor (I always dismiss windchill, it's an exaggerated "tall tale" metric).

The ranger broke a cardinal rule - going out in such extreme conditions alone. And that in turn raised the question - if he had a winter expedition tent, was he even able to get it pitched in those kinds of winds ... and would the tent have been able to withstand those winds if he got it pitched?

Those are the kinds of conditions you get on McKinley or Everest on a bad day. Just because a mountain is only 6,000 feet high, it doesn't mean it still can't kill you.

[petercooper]

Some people lack simple common sense.

enough said

[newgeezer]

(I always dismiss windchill, it's an exaggerated "tall tale" metric).

Just a few years ago, the NWS supposedly adjusted the windchill chart to better reflect the true effects of wind. Without a doubt, wind -- and therefore, windchill -- accelerates the onset of hypothermia. (But, not inside a tent, of course.)

[Rebelbase]

When I stayed out -10 it was in a 5 degree bag on a foam pad in a tent. I stayed cured in a fetal position all night with my boots and water bottle inside the bottom of the bag. It was a miserable night.

[Paradox]

As a South Floridian, I once vacationed in Pennsylvania, and on that day, it was a record cold, some 17 below zero. Now, I had grown up in Kansas and had experienced some cold winter days, but this was like NOTHING I had ever experienced. Even inside the "warm" interior of the car, you could feel the outside environment sucking the heat out of your body. I had the heater on full blast, and yet my skin, where the air wasnt directly hitting, was cold! The air temps couldnt have been that cold, but the surface of the cars interior (headliner, glass, etc) was freezing, and I was radiating heat out to these surfaces, thus the cold temperatures I was feeling (similar to when frost forms overnight, even though the air temps remain above freezing, heat still radiates out to space.).. it was uncanny and painful.

[Protagoras]

Imagine what it must have been like in January 1942 for the German soldiers wearing summer uniforms in that kind of weather.

Or American soldiers similarly equipped at the Bulge in 1944.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

You're right. I did a quick check at LLBean. Their most robust sleeping bag is only rated -20F.