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Surviving Icy Water
The poles. com has got a three part series written by a Dr. Popsicle (aka Gordon Giesbrecht) that addresses how to save yourself when falling into icy water. As most people know, falling into extremely cold water can be a truly deadly experience. Water, being so much more dense than air, cools your body rapidly, and can lead to a degradation in your muscle activity. But the article dispels one of the common myths about cold water survival, namely that you only have a few minutes to live. Not true, says Dr. Popsicle. Of course, "you should get out of the water as soon as you can", but he says you have much more time than you think. In fact, in a stunt on the David Letterman show a while back, Doc Pop hung out in ice-laden water for 18 minutes. The second article in the series describes how you should keep your cool while part three actually discusses self-rescue techniques.
