This is an updated version of a Dec. 28, 2017 Prince George Citizen editorial.
The love-hate relationship we have with cold is like no other. We both despise it and desire it.
In the heat of a summer's day, we lust for a cool breeze, a cold drink and immersion into a northern lake. The cold ecstasy brings shivers of delight.
Yet when winter comes, we want to hide under the covers, away from the air that dries our skin and lips, that freezes our faces and fingers on contact. Once we are cold, a heavy morbidity sets in and we begin to wonder if we will ever be warm again.
Cold is dangerous, of course, and humans have far less tolerance for it than heat but that's to be expected for a species whose internal temperature runs at 37 C. With plenty of water and out of the blazing sun, people can last for hours and days in 40 C heat, their bodies efficiently disposing of excess heat. Unlike many other mammals, however, humans do not contend with cold well, betraying the African origins of our species and our close affiliation with our primate cousins.
Homo sapiens were only able to spread to colder climates by mastering fire and tools, which gave them the ability to create clothes and habitats to fend off the cold outside. Our bodies, however, remain as evolutionarily unequipped to contend with the cold as they were 100,000 years ago, which is why we have such a deep, emotional reaction to the intense cold. We know these temperatures can kill us in minutes.
The cold forever marks us, too.
While our brains and bodies are amazing in their ability to adapt to environmental pressures, can build tolerances to pain and stress and grow stronger and more resilient to adversity, cold does not have that effect. Skin that has been frostbitten does not forget the trauma and permanently loses its tolerance to exposure.
Worse, the cold turns the body against itself. The brain and the heart turn inward, protecting themselves, the lungs, the liver and the kidneys but cutting loose the extremities. Fingers, toes, arms and legs, ears, noses and lips will be left to freeze and die because the essential organs insist on monopolizing the body's dwindling heat supply.
Once the body reaches this point, it is difficult to save. Tragically, much of the modern medical knowledge about the treatment of hypothermia was obtained by the Nazis through cruel human experiments in concentration camps during the Second World War. German doctors desperately sought methods to save soldiers freezing in the Russian winters of 1942 and 1943.
Eventually, the brain short circuits, prompting either the desire to sleep or to shed clothing in the mistaken belief the body is burning up inside.
Many of Mount Everest's victims are found without gloves, hats and jackets, the lack of oxygen and the bitter cold forming a deadly intoxicant.
Even the phrase bitter cold is a cliche, two unpleasant words partnered together to intensify the chill. The word cold permeates the English language, used to convey everything from a lack of compassion and emotion to a lack of preparation or connection. Baseball hitters are cold at the plate, casino luck goes cold, MMA fighters are knocked out cold, searches and loves go cold, murderers kill in cold blood.
Even the cold hard truth hurts.
Cold is often combined with the lack of light. A walk under a bright sun and a clear blue sky at -20 C is energizing. The same walk in the moonless darkness is torture. Cold spells combined with the shorter days are excruciating.
One way to survive is to stay inside but the cold follows us there, too, with the sniffles of the common cold, the cold comfort of absent loved ones during the upcoming holiday season or the many good suspense and horror movies centred around the cold.
Here's a short list of them (and three documentaries) for those who want their blood to freeze but their heart to race while wrapped in a blanket on the couch, waiting for warmer days ahead: Hold Your Breath: The Ice Dive (this amazing doc is on Netflix), 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (another inspiring Netflix doc), The Superhuman World of Wim Hof: The Iceman (YouTube), Let The Right One In (the original Swedish film is on Amazon Prime), John Carpenter's The Thing (Amazon Prime), The Shining (Crave), Fargo (Amazon Prime), 30 Days of Night (Amazon Prime), A Simple Plan (Amazon Prime), Snowpiercer (the movie is on Crave, the series is on Netflix), A Midnight Clear (Amazon Prime) and, of course, Dreamcatcher (Tubi), largely filmed in Prince George.
Stay warm and remember these days six months from now when we're all complaining about the heat and the mosquitoes.
