One of the most often repeated statements about survival is that you should never eat snow because it lowers your body temperature. This is certainly true. Many years ago under controlled conditions, I tested this out with myself and found that if I was already cold and in the early stages of hypothermia that by eating snow I lowered my body temperature by a full degree.
In terms of hypothermia 1 degree of temperature change is a major problem. It literally could push you past the breaking point of becoming hypothermic and needing medical attention. Again, I was in controlled conditions where I could immediately get warm, with both warm fluids and in a warm shelter.
However, there are certainly many other times when eating snow is not a problem. In this video we discuss that.
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