Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
If you are already cold and shivering, to eat snow to satisfy your thirst is going to hasten
the risk of hypothermia, a potentially life-threatening condition. If you are in a situation where
conserving body heat is going to be a potentially serious issue, try to minimize eating snow, as
this will dissipate significant amounts of much needed body heat. However, if you are physic-
ally active, and perhaps even building up a sweat, then go right ahead and eat some snow.
When I used to take frequent backcountry ski mountaineering trips, I would often tuck a water
bottle in between my sweater and my shirt. Whenever I drank from my water bottle, I would
top it off with snow, before tucking it back inside my clothing. My body heat would usually
fully melt this slushy mixture by the time I took my next water break. I found this technique to
be much more convenient than stopping to melt snow for drinking water using my backcountry
stove.
