Backpacker

keyskills``````FIGHT THE COLDBY KRISTA KARLSONhigher. If I fell in again, I’d needit to warm me back up. I pacedthe bank at the first crossingfor an hour, thinking aboutthe people I loved. When Ifinally waded in, hip-deep,my heart was in my mouth.But I made it.After two more hours ofhiking, my footprints came toa halt on snow too hard to holdtracks. The world beyondthem was too blurry to see.Fear seeped back in. Yo u’ renot lost, I told myself. Yo u’ regetting out of this. But I wasn’tconvinced. I looked to the sky,hoping my grandfather waswatching over me, and askedfor a sign.A few feet away, a set ofdeer tracks caught my eye.Those damn deer, I heard mygrandfather say. I knew it wasrisky to leave the spot I knew,but I didn’t have any otheroptions. Maybe this was thesign had I asked for.I followed them throughthe trees for about 100 yards.There I stopped short: my ownfootprints. The deer had ledme back to the trail. SuddenlyI didn’t feel so alone.I followed my tracks toTuolumne Meadows, wherethey disappeared into adimpled field of sun cups. Iknew I was close to the shelter,but it could be in any out-of-focus direction I looked.I picked one bearing afteranother, each time findingnothing and tracking my wayback to the start. The day wasending, and I’d failed. It hadbeen a good run, but this feltlike the end. I was hungry andexhausted. I didn’t know if I’dsurvive another night withoutshelter. Even if I did find it—what then?I was fighting panic whenI heard buzzing. I turnedaround. I could barelymake out a column of snowshooting above the trees.Then I heard it. Beeping.A truck backing up. I startedrunning—straight to the edgeof the icy Tuolumne River.There was a plow crewon the other side, but theycouldn’t see me. Just one lastcrossing. I could have laughed.There was a bridge 3 milesback the way I’d come, butI couldn’t risk missing thiscrew, a one in a million chancethis far in the backcountry.You just got handed your life, Itold myself. Don’t mess this up.I ran upstream, took a deepbreath, and jumped in. Mychest tightened with the cold.I swam harder than I ever had,shot through with adrenaline.Blue-lipped and shaking,I hobbled over to the plowand banged on the window.The cab door swung openand for the first time sinceI lost my pack, I knew I wasgoing to make it. My hikemight be over, but my lifewould go on. ■Know the signs.Shivering, clumsiness,and numb skin are earlysigns of hypothermia.When shivering stops andstumbling begins, thingsare serious.Insulate.Remove wet clothes, adddry layers, and get out ofthe wind. Wrap yourself ina sleeping bag or tarp withhot water bottles.Get moving.Exercise to raise your corebody temperature. (Stayaway from rocks andledges if clumsiness issevere.)``````Feed the shiver.Keep the furnace fueledwith quick-burningcarbohydrates and warmdrinks.``````Stay alert.Mental confusion andapathy are the mostdangerous symptoms ofadvanced hypothermia.Warming can take hours,so be patient and keepfighting.