General Man stranded in snow for three days survives on Frozen Beer

The Helper

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A driver stranded in snow for three days at temperatures of minus 17 has survived by eating frozen beer.

Clifton Vial, 52, became stranded in his Toyota Tacoma 40 miles outside Nome, Alaska after plunging in a snow drift.

Uncharacteristically unprepared for the situation, he was wearing jeans and a thin coat – not protective enough to dig himself out of the snow without getting frostbite.

And with no signal on his cellphone, he had to sit and wait for his colleagues to realise he was missing.

Read the whole story here.
 
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Sevion

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xPass said:
Wow, so beer actually helps in the cold :D
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No, it actually doesn't.

The beer only served as some nutrition (in the form of Calories, water, and some other nutrients) during those three days.

Anything could be said to "help in the cold" if he had had it at the time and used it as smartly as he did the beer.

In the end, beer still makes you "feel" warmer by increasing your blood flow, but ultimately makes you lose heat.

In this case he had to sacrifice a little heat to eat something and stay alive.
 
FireCat

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Sevion said:
In this case he had to sacrifice a little heat to eat something and stay alive.
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A human body can survive a lot more than 3 days without food.
But try without water for 3 days and you would be in trouble.
 
Hatebreeder

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FireCat said:
A human body can survive a lot more than 3 days without food.
But try without water for 3 days and you would be in trouble.
Click to expand...

No Carbonhydrates = no shivering = no warmth = dissipation of fat ( to convert fat into carbonhydrates ) = loss of body mass = less warmth capacity = more shivering, etc.
So, having something that gives carbonhydrates ( or "energy", if you will ) is crutial in cold weather. Water could help, but I think cold water or even frozen water wouldn't really help, so one must drink the water before it freezes.

So, beer is actually a very good idea :) lots of carbonhydrates, fluid and alcohol could serve as a painkiller ( if the amount of alcohol is sufficient ). However, in a long run, alcohol causes one to dehydrate, so maybe it's a good short time soution?
 
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dark typer

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they should give him an award

Veteran survivor: Frozen Death

The capability to survive 3 days w/out food & water(technically) is pretty impressive mind you
 
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dark typer

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they should give him an award

Veteran survivor: Frozen Death

The capability to survive 3 days w/out food & water(technically) is pretty impressive mind you
 
Accname

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Sevion said:
No, it actually doesn't.

[...]

In the end, beer still makes you "feel" warmer by increasing your blood flow, but ultimately makes you lose heat.

In this case he had to sacrifice a little heat to eat something and stay alive.
Click to expand...
Actually its even more complex with alcohol and body temperature.
When one is drunk the blood flow is stronger in the peripheral areas of the body, that is hands, feets, nose, ears, etc. Because of this behavior it is unlikely that your hands or feets will freeze to death.
On the other hand this implies that there is less blood in the center of the body, warming the heart and the lung.
This can cause death to the whole body if you are exposed to very low temperatures over a longer period of time.

The conclusion is that alcohol helps you to keep your hands and feets alive in the cold but might get your body as a whole get killed faster. It is a short-term solution.
 
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Sevion

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Accname said:
Actually its even more complex with alcohol and body temperature.
When one is drunk the blood flow is stronger in the peripheral areas of the body, that is hands, feets, nose, ears, etc. Because of this behavior it is unlikely that your hands or feets will freeze to death.
On the other hand this implies that there is less blood in the center of the body, warming the heart and the lung.
This can cause death to the whole body if you are exposed to very low temperatures over a longer period of time.

The conclusion is that alcohol helps you to keep your hands and feets alive in the cold but might get your body as a whole get killed faster. It is a short-term solution.
Click to expand...

I know this, I'm just lazy to explain it that far :)
 
FireCat

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Hmm @Sevion
Oh crap I'm sorry, but an average humans can survive 30 days or a month without food. But still 3 days is the max for anyone to live without water.
 
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Switch33

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The 3 days without water is somewhat a "proclaimed" myth. There have been people who have survived like a week or so without water which may or may not be true. Google search it. :D
 
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