For a Luckier Game

Free Basketball Picks #1

Best: Suns @ Clippers: LA has been faulting at late and can prove they truly are a contender with a win. Without Richardson or Johnson, Bell and Diaw have stepped up for Phoenix. Daniel Ewing has been nonexistent in the starting role in place for the injured Corey Maggette. We’ll se if getting Kurt Thomas was the right move; they’ll need some tough play to outperform Kaman and Brand. Predicted Score: Phoenix wins in a very tight one 106-103

Free Basketball Picks #2

Runner-up: Cavaliers @ Nuggets: LeBron and Carmelo are in exactly the same situation, regardless of their records. They both have to score 30 a game to give their clubs a win. They both get on the highlight reel each night. And they are both looking up in the standings. Predicted Score: Cleveland wins 103-98

Free Basketball Picks #3

Blowout: Mavericks @ Rockets: This was supposed to be a marquee match-up. It’s hardly that with T-Mac, Yao, Alston and Anderson all injured and more will probably pop up. When healthy they can be a postseason team. But with their horrific home record and extensive injury list, it’s extremely dubious that Houston will make the playoffs. Predicted Score: Dallas wins in a blowout on the road 105-84

Visit our free baseball picks for more expert analysis and predictions.

The uniform response when quizzing people on what exactly it is that givers Peter Sutherland the winning edge is that his unique mix of great charm and directness has served him well over the course of his illustrious career. Peter Sutherland was a key figure in negotiating the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and it has been well documented that in order to get the accord passed, it was not unusual for him to keep negotiators at the table into the small hours of the night. The deal came together after seven years of negotiations, and the very gavel he used throughout now sits on his desk at his office in London where he serves as chairman of the arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that oversees Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

It was back in the mid nineties when he rejoined Goldman Sachs, where he had previously worked as an adviser. The story goes that he was recruited by Eugene Fife on an international flight. Not only current but also former Goldman Sachs employees say Mr. Sutherland gave the bank a lift when it was trying to break into Europe.

It’s uniformly accepted that Peter was ideal for winning business away from London’s big merchant banks as well as European financial firms. He brought with him a stable of high-level contacts. He is close to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. More recently he has been known to accompany former Goldman CEO Henry Paulson on trips to China and Russia before Paulson became treasury secretary last year. Not only this, he also helped forge a relationship between Goldman and Mittal Steel Co. That paid off when Mittal hired Goldman as lead banker in its $39 billion takeover of Arcelor SA last year. By all accounts Peter Sutherland has been instrumental in some keys bits of business which have had a massive impact on the development of Goldman.

Believe it or not, golf is actually good for your health. Even the United States Golf Association thinks so; they also advise that you should walk the golf course and try to avoid – as much as possible – riding golf carts.

Although riding golf carts is the most convenient way to get yourself from one hole to the next, it will actually be good for your body if you walk your legs along the greens. Doing so pumps your heart, circulates the blood all over your body, and is a good and fun way of exercising.

David Fay from the United States Golf Association also thinks that the most pleasurable way to play golf is by walking. Riding carts, he said, should as much as possible be stopped now.

Walking is a good form of exercise. It is the most basic and easy program of getting fit which almost anyone could do. Simply put, walking is good for you.

Although some believe that walking the golf course is a very unhealthy thing to do because of the nature of the game – the start and stop process of golf playing. In actuality though, there have been scientific studies as well as evidence of people actually telling their personal experiences on the positive effects of walking through a game of golf.

In Sweden in particular, there are researchers who discovered that walking through a game of golf equals to about forty to seventy percent of intense workout in an aerobics class. This is assuming that about eighteen holes were played.

In another study by a cardiologist named Edward Palank, golfers who walked were found to be in a better state of health because the level of bad cholesterol in their body decreased. Meanwhile, the level of their good cholesterol was steady. Those golfers who settled to ride their way across the golf course on golf carts,, however, did not show these same positive health results.

Also, according to Golf Science International, four hours of golf playing was found to be comparable to attending a forty five minute fitness class.

Another golf association, specifically the Northern Ohio Golf Association, stated that when a golfer walks across a course, it is roughly equivalent to walking for three to four miles. This included walking around hills, over greens and tees.

Not convinced yet? Maybe you should try doing the following activities and see, as well as feel, the difference for yourself.

During a round of golf, try to walk along alternating holes so that by the end of your round of golf you should be able to have walked through a total of nine holes.

If you are feeling not up to it yet as fully as you should, that is okay. Maybe you could try walking on a set of nines while you can ride the other set.

If you have a golf partner and he or she insists that you ride along with him or her, make sure that you only ride on the path of the cart. You can then walk down to the fairway towards your ball and then your partner could bring the golf cart up.

Are you convinced yet? If not, try to look at it this way. If your health is not good enough for you to settle to walk those legs and pump that good old heart of yours, then at least take pity and be considerate of the damage that golf carts do to fairways.

Believe it or not, golf carts do create damage around sand traps and around the greens. Even if carts are not supposed to ride along these areas, sometimes though, depending on who is behind the golf cart’s wheel, they still at times do.

For the sake of the greens, go walk! Because of advances in technology, there are now grasses that are able to grow on areas that they originally are not supposed to grow on at all. As a result of this, golf courses look as amazing as they were before. Unfortunately, these same golf courses are as subject to a lot of wear and tear as well.

Driving a golf cart along these beautiful greens subjects them to unnecessary damage. So now that you know, it would not hurt you to consider walking along, across, over, or through those greens now would it?

Edwin Shackleford has been helping individuals improve thier golf game for years. Visit His Site Today
www.improve-your-golf-game.com

There is a great deal of golf practice equipment on the market today that can help you make your practice time more efficient and effective. Many people believe that simply getting out on the course and playing more often will make them a better golfer. Without effective practice, however, you could just be making the same mistakes again and again without actually improving your game.

Effective practice has been proven to improve golf scores. Consider the prisoner of war who spent years in a POW camp. Each day he played a perfect game of golf in his head, visualizing every hole, every swing, and every putt. He concentrated on playing perfectly. When released from prison years later, he got onto the golf course for the first time and shot the best game of his life. Mental imagery in itself can be a powerful tool.

Beyond your mind, you can find plenty of practice equipment that will help your game. If you want to improve your swing, consider purchasing a net to swing the ball into. Even a small backyard can become your own personal driving range. If you want to practice your swing but aren’t interested in a net, you can purchase a swing practice aid that includes a tethered ball, so you can hit the ball as you normally would, but it will just swing on its tether. You can also buy practice balls that are lightweight and will not travel far even when hit with a powerful swing.

If chipping is where your game needs help, take a look at chipping nets. Many of these are adjustable so you can make the angle as simple or as challenging as you like.

For putting a simple cup to putt into can do the trick, or you can include mats that provide you with diverse putting experiences, such as different grades and angles. A putting track can help you monitor how straight your putt is as you monitor the ball’s progress through the track.

As with most everything, you can find computerized gadgets not available to golfers a number of years ago. You can purchase practice aids that will measure the tempo of your backswing, topswing and downswing, and help you determine your ideal swing tempo. The Synca-Swing® attaches to your club shaft and measures your swing timing and clubhead speed for you. Pick up a BreakMaster digital green reader and you’ll learn to understand exactly how your putt will break.

Golf practice equipment can be a very important part of your overall progress with your game. However, never underestimate the importance of your body and its ability to create its own advantages by addressing your individual strengths and weaknesses. When your focus becomes on self improvement beginning with your physique, then the training aids and equipment will be all the more useful. By using practice equipment regularly, monitoring your progress, and making a commitment to improve physically, you can be an excellent golfer in no time!

Susan Hill is a nationally recognized golf fitness trainer, CHEK golf biomechanic and sports nutrition specialist. For more information on golf specific nutrition, exercises or stretches, visit http://www.fitnessforgolf.com

What is a martial art?

A martial art can be defined as any skill that can be applied in
warfare. The word martial means “military.” So traditionally, a
martial art is a military art. The first things that usually
come to mind when discussing modern martial arts are leaping,
kicking, punching, blocking, inverting elbows, twisting necks,
throwing, and weapon fighting. But also horsemanship, javelin
throwing, archery, spear fighting, halberd fighting, wrestling,
knife fighting, rifle, shotgun and pistol shooting, demolitions,
logistics, and battle strategy can all be described as the field
of martial arts. Anything that a soldier might do in battle is a
martial art.

By martial art usually it is meant aikido, arnis, boxing,
capoeria, chow gar, choy la fut, hapkido, hsing’i, hun gar, jeet
kune do, jow gar, judo, jujitsu, karate, kempo, kick boxing,
krav maga, kung fu, pa kua, penjak silat, praying mantis,
savate, shaolin, tae kwon do, tai chi, white crane, wing chun,
wu shu and more! As you can see the list is quite long and it is
actually quite amazing how many martial arts systems there are
and how many methods of self defense can be formulated.

Often within a martial arts school it is taught that ‘this
particular system is the best system and it was created to beat
all the others’. Of course every martial artist would have the
viewpoint their style is the best because that is the style they
have chosen to do, but in reality what they are saying is ‘this
is the best style for me as it suits my temperment and I like
the teaching environment’.

The changing of the arts

Throughout this history and development of the martial arts and
all the combat systems of man our training tools have played a
vital part in evolving and perfecting these systems and
techniques.

All the martial arts have been effected by the role that
mechanical devices play whether it be weapons, dojo mats,
breaking boards or even the uniforms we wear – all these
paraphanialia indentify the martial arts into their systems and
style.

The main players in shaping our new martial arts would be the
traditional wooden dummy, wing chun rings, iron palm ointments
and even the system of using forms and karta have developed the
martial arts into their current form.

Even today modern training tools are common and again the
martial arts are under development with new training products
such as the Wavemaster, the BOB training dummy, the Focus
Master. All with one thing in common, to create a well rounded
combat system. Ideally a martial arts solo training tool should
be workable for all and based on sound theory and through
constant practice develop into sound physical application. The
ideology and theory would have to take into account all the
history of the combat technology of man and give this
competition and street application.

The Martialarm Combat Training Partner

In a martial arts career you can occationally find your self
with no school to go to or no one to train with and so out of
neccessity the martialarm solo training partner was born. The
Martialarm is a Martial Arts training machine used to develop
the entry and trapping skills of any martial arts system. It is
designed to actually test any techniques so to improve the
ability to trap and control your opponents hands and arms. This
can be done because the Martialarm moves and reacts like a real
opponent. The Martialarm moves and twists up, down, left and
right just like a real opponent would – so it can spring forward
and it does strike back!.

The Martialarm Combat Training Partner was designed and
developed on the following theories

Martialarm Theory

#1) Safety – You must maintain 100% safety when entering into
the opponents attack range, this means to limit any variables
that could occur by covering them. (Methods of entry must be
sophisticated yet simple, fast as well as safe!)

#2) Attack – You must have the ability to attack at will, with
no concern or hesitation. The attack should incorporate a total
control of the opponents weapons. (Attacks must be structured to
have within them a 100% defense!)

#3) Adaptability – Techniques, attacks and defenses must flow
but not necessarily at a constant pace. Adaptability to choose
what’s next is key!

Whatever martial arts you choose just be sure you do look at a
few before you decide and enqire with the school what martial
arts equipment they utilize to get the best from your training.

http://www.martialarm.com

Sandown opens the month on February 4 with an excellent card and another set of possible Cheltenham clues. In recent seasons the Agfa Diamond Chase has suffered through small and uncompetitive fields but that worrying trend has started to change of late and this year’s renewal is sure to be a competitive one.

Alan King’s tough stayer Fork Lightning may well be among the entries for the ‘Agfa’, and given his preference for racing right-handed and his fine run behind Joaaci in a strong heat last time, he is likely to be among the more fancied runners.

Some of the season’s smarter novice chasers will be in action in Sandown’s Grade 1 Scilly Isles Chase, a contest that was won last year by Henrietta Knight’s El Vaquero and it’ll be interesting to see whether Ms Knight decides to let her rising chase star Racing Demon take his place in the select field.

Over at Wetherby on the same day the staying novices strut their stuff in the Grade 2 Totty Construction Towton Novices’ Chase where the accent is firmly upon stamina in what is always a gruelling contest. Northern trainer Sue Smith won this race a couple of years ago with smart stayer Royal Emperor and may have another similar candidate in Rebel Rhythm, who has already won a novices’ event around the West Yorkshire track.

A week later sees Newbury stage the totesport Trophy Handicap Hurdle, Europe’s richest handicap over timber, on February 11. On a day of cracking action the pulsating two-mile contest takes pride of place and is always won by a good horse.

Finding the winner is never easy but the bookmakers seems to think that Martin Pipe’s talented novice Acambo is the one to beat and he heads the ante-post market with most firms. Pipe has won the race a couple of times in recent years courtesy of Copeland (2002) and Make A Stand (1997) and Acambo is sure to figure highly in Pipe’s plans for Newbury.

Local handler, Nicky Henderson, has also been a trainer to watch out for in this valuable event, saddling no less than four of the last ten winners and the stable’s main hope in 2006 looks to be Grand Jete, a one-time Champion Hurdle hope who looked like winning at Aintree last April until he went lame approaching the last.

Twelve months ago Ireland’s Essex justified favouritism to give the Emerald Isle its second winner in three seasons. One year later there’s a strong Irish challenge once again with the Jessica Harrington-trained Studmaster bidding to follow Essex’s footsteps by winning at Newbury after landing Ireland’s prestigious Pierse Hurdle one month earlier. Significantly, Mrs Harrington landed this valuable pot with Spirit Leader in 2003.

Top weights boast a good record too and Irish trainer John Queally believes his stable star Al Eile will go close to winning the totesport Trophy off 11st 12lb. Queally’s gelding didn’t hurt his Newbury chances by winning at Haydock the other day because he incurs no penalty for that success and has to be on any one’s short-list.

The same is true of the Venetia Williams-trained Chief Yeoman, who looks terrific value at 14-1 with most bookmakers. Connections have been pleased with his two runs so far and he has been aimed at this race since returning to action behind Acambo at Windsor before Christmas. Expect hi to step up on what he’s done so far this season.

The main attraction on Newbury’s supporting card is the Game Spirit Chase, a two mile and a furlong conditions chase that is often used as a final preparatory race by trainers for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

This year’s race is likely to be won by the current Queen Mother favourite Kauto Star, who will be using the Newbury event as a stepping-stone to Festival glory. Over at Warwick course specialist Voy Por Ustedes will be treading a similar path as he bids to earn a place in the Arkle Trophy line-up at the Festival by running well in the coralpoker.com Kingmaker Chase at Warwick on the same day.

On the following weekend – February 18 – all eyes will be on Champion Hurdle aspirants in the Axminster Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton. Trainer Alan King may well let Penzance, his Triumph Hurdle hero of 2005, take his place in the line-up at the West Country venue after a series of disappointing efforts so far this season.

Who knows, maybe even the elusive Lingo will return to action for Jonjo O’Neill. He won easier than most horses do at Cheltenham in November and following good support for the Champion Hurdle in March would be a fascinating runner.

Up at Haydock on the same day Grand National hopefuls will go on trial in the Red Square Vodka Gold Cup, a punishing test of stamina over Haydock’s big drop fences in a contest that has sometimes exerted a strong influence upon the outcome of the world’s most famous race at Aintree in April.

Trainer Ginger McCain, a four-time winner of the Grand National courtesy of Red Rum and Amberleigh House, looks to have another leading Grand National candidate in the guise of Ebony Light, a surprise winner of January’s Peter Marsh Chase from the joint Gold Cup favourite, Kingscliff. McCain plans to run Ebony Light in the Red Square Vodka Gold Cup before going to Aintree for a crack at the Grand National.

The best of February’s action closes on the weekend of February 25 with Racing Post Handicap Chase day at Sandown Park. The betting is often a strong guide to the outcome of this classiest of chases and well-fancied runners boast a good record.

Take note too of the winner and placed horses because this influential contest has frequently yielded a winner or two at next month’s Cheltenham Festival. Among the more potent contenders this season are likely to be the well treated Ladalko, who has been talked about as a possible for this prize by his trainer, Paul Nicholls, and Lacdoudal from the Philip Hobbs stable that has sent out three winners of this race in recent years.

On the same day at Newcastle there’s the four mile and a furlong Tote Northern National, a marathon chase in which shock winners are a rarity. Stamina is of the essence here and the locally-trained Ossmoses, who relishes racing over long-distances and has long looked a natural for this race and will be a name to note among the entries later in the month.

There are certain games you’re supposed to win, and certain teams you should regularly trounce.

The Chicago White Sox should always beat up on Kansas City, but somehow, the Royals scrap and tug and pull out victories against the Windy City World Champs.

At the same moment, those surprise Detroit Tigers have clawed their way to a victory against a team they should beat: the Twins.

Now, Detroit is just a half-game behind the Sox in the Division race.

If this keeps up for the next four months, the Sox are going to be sorry.

Detroit keeps-a-comin’.

They’re hot, and they can hit, having smacked three big ones out of the park against the Twins.

Believe it or not, the Sox might not win the division with anything less than taking three out of four games all year long.

This means they can’t slip against this year’s cellar dwellers, the Royals and Twins. Also, they had better beat up on Cleveland and at least split with Detroit if they hope to prevail and make it to October.

I still don’t believe these Sox are tough enoughyet.

Manager Ozzie Guillen needs to drive home the point that it’s NEVER okay to kick back, especially when you have these Tigers on your tail!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com. For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com

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In a normal day of teaching golf I walk back and forth to the range numerous times. On this journey, I usually watch the different variations people have when they swing the golf club. Some of the swings are quite good and others need a lot of work. I usually think to myself that if only they could change the way they practiced they would become so much better so much faster. What do I mean exactly? Well … 99.9% of all golfers I see on the range are just whacking golf balls out there. If this is you, I’ve got some bad news … you will never improve. So what should you be doing? If you are working on your swing, you have to work on your swing. This means you should forget about trying to hit every shot perfectly on the range. No pro can do this or even attempts to do this. It is called a practice range because you are there to practice what you have learned so you can take it to the course without having to think about it. If you have just been whacking balls on the range and not improving you should follow the outline below.

Find a Teaching Method That You Can Relate To

If you think you can figure out the golf swing on your own without lessons, books or videos you’re kidding yourself. What you think you’re doing is never what you are actually doing. Just when you think you have it, it’s gone. Wouldn’t it make sense to follow a step by step method that takes you through the various parts of the swing and explains them in a manner you can understand. There are many different teachers out there with many different thoughts on how to swing the club properly. I myself, teach the golf swing based on the 3 elements of the Iron Byron swing machine that was modeled after the swing of Byron Nelson. In my many years of trying to figure out the swing, I didn’t see it clearly until I say Iron Byron hit a golf ball. Once I understood the simplicity of the machine and I related it to my own swing, the pieces started to fit together. If this sounds appealing to you then following my method would be a great idea. If not, lessons from your local pro or a quick search at a bookstore or on the internet will give you many other choices.

Create a Neutral Grip

Your grip is your connection to the club. If your hands are not placed on the club in a neutral position you’re really making the game much more difficult. I say this because if you have a faulty grip your shots will spin one way or the other. If this is the case, how do expect to consistently hit the fairways or greens? Once you learn the proper grip, you will not only be copying the pros but you will also narrow down the possible cause of your inconsistent shots. If the grip is not the problem, it must be something else that is causing your wayward shots. So now you can move on to fixing the other parts of your swing.

Square Alignment is Critical

In my last tip I explained the importance of proper alignment. To sum it up, it’s vital that you align squarely to your target. I say this because if you are aimed way out to the right or left and you hit a perfect shot it would go in the trees, water, bunkers or out of bounds. This means you need another flaw in your swing to get the ball on target with a faulty alignment. To make sure you are aligned squarely to your target, lay one club down on the ground pointing directly at your target, then place another club parallel to the first club about 1 foot away. Finally, pick up the first club you placed on the ground and hit balls from that spot with your feet parallel to the second club. This is known as being aligned parallel left of your target.

Do Tons of Practice Swings

Once you have chosen a teacher and a method it is time to practice what you have learned. Again, it’s not as simple as just whacking balls out there. You have been shown certain positions that you need to incorporate into your swing. The best way to do this is by doing tons of practice swings in a mirror or at the range. By doing plenty practice swings, you will re-enforce your new swing positions so you can do them consistently when you hit actual shots. The whole point of making a change is to make the change. By just whacking balls out there you will continue to do your old swing that’s full of flaws.

Hit Different Shots

Once you have made the necessary changes to your swing it’s time to hit various shots. Golf is not a just a game of hitting the ball 300 yards down the middle with your driver. The game also requires good fairway woods, long, mid and short irons as well as a great short game. Try to practice all parts of your game with all of the clubs in your bag especially the clubs you dislike the most. If you keep ignoring certain clubs you will continue to hit them poorly.

Take Your Time

Building a great golf swing takes time. If it could be achieved in a week everyone would be pros. If your changes are minor a few weeks or a month of consistent practice and practice swings should ingrain these new positions. If you are totally re-building your swing it may take you a couple of months or longer. This is because your new swing will present new problems like hitting the ball over the green or through the fairway because you are not used to your new distances. Once you have hit enough better shots you will be able to choose the appropriate club for the situation and you score will finally come down.

If you want to become a good golfer it’s time to change how you are currently practicing, understand what it takes to get better and create a game plan that you will follow religiously. If you start to make these changes now, you are on your way … if you start next week, you are week behind.

Until next time,

Paul Wilson

Paul Wilson teaches how to copy the perfect swing of the Iron Byron swing machine. For more information please visit: www.paulwilsongolf.com .

Hypothermia is considered the number one killer in the outdoors. It can occur in both warm (summer) and cold (winter) climates and is usually the combination of two factors, cold and wet. If you are in a warm tropical place and you add rain and wind, hypothermia can rear its ugly head.

It only requires an exposure time of several hours, but it can take up to a day. The myth that you will die in your sleep if you try to rest, is just that, a myth. If you are asleep, you will wake up to uncontrollable shivering and then progress into a state of disorientation if nothing is done. So if you want to try and huddle under a blanket and rest, by all means do it. But on the other hand, if you can’t stop shivering, you need to take action.

So what is it? Hypothermia is the lowering of the body’s core temperature. The victim is usually dehydrated, exhausted, calorie depleted, wet and cold. As a result they often get what is known as the “umbles”, they fumble, stumble and mumble.

Symptoms of Hypothermia

1. Uncontrollable fits of shivering.

2. Vague, slurred speech.

3. Memory lapses and incoherence.

4. Frequent stumbling.

5. Drowsiness.

Treatment of Hypothermia

1. Get the victim out of the wind and rain. Create a shelter.

2. Strip off all wet clothing.

3. Give warm drinks. Warm fluid will act as a blood volume expander.

4. Get the victim into dry clothes and a warm sleeping bag.

5. Feed the victim. Calories are a unit of heat, so stoke the furnace.

6. Allow the victim to rest until they have recovered.

Treatment of Severe Hypothermia (slow re-warming is highly recommended)

1. Get the victim out of the wind and rain.

2. Strip off all wet clothing.

3. Place the victim in a sleeping bag with another person for maximum warmth. Use hot water bottles inside a sock or heat packs, placed around the neck, arm pits, groin and in applied to the palms and soles of feet for best heat exchange.

4. Give warm drinks when the victim is alert.

5. Give food when possible.

6. Allow the victim to rest until they have recovered.

Note: If you are unable to climb into the sleeping bag with the victim for evacuation or other reasons, you may want to use a Hypothermia Wrap —

Hypothermia Wrap

1. Lay a tarp or rain fly down on the ground.

2. Lay an insulating pad and/or two in the center.

3. Lay a dry sleeping bag on the pad.

4. After removal of wet clothing, place the victim in the sleeping bag.

5. Place hot water bottles or heat packs around the neck, arm pits, groin and applied to the palms and soles of feet.

6. Close the sleeping bag and place another sleeping bag or blanket on top.

7. Wrap the victim up in the tarp like a burrito and keep monitoring them.

* A key point to remember is that if you wrap a frozen salmon up in a sleeping bag, it will stay frozen. So, you must have external heat sources in the bag and they need to be check to make sure they remain warm.

* Also, be alert For “Afterdrop”. Afterdrop is where the victim’s core temperature goes down during the re-warming process. The cooled blood stranded in the extremities (vasoconstriction) will begin to return to the heart and to the regular blood volume.

Prevention of Hypothermia

In the Northwest, hypothermia occurs most often in cold, wet and windy weather. In the outdoor environment, hypothermia can occur rapidly if the backcountry traveler fails to dress for the conditions. Use hats, neck gaiters, and insulating layers to keep warm.

1. Stay dry. Wear raingear in wet conditions and wind gear as needed.

2. Be aware of the wind chill factor.

3. Eat and drink frequently.

4. Pace yourself and avoid fatigue.

5. Wear proper layers of clothing, made of synthetic fibers or wool.

As a final note, always handle a severe hypothermia victim with great care to avoid cardiac arrest. An irregular and ineffective heartbeat can occur from rough handling of the severely hypothermic victim.

Also, if you are unable to detect a pulse in a severely hypothermic victim, because of their fragile state, it is recommended that you first perform rescue breathing for a couple of minutes before you attempt CPR compressions (compressions are not very gentle). If there is a mild and undetectable heart beat, the warm oxygen will often increase the rate and strength of the heart beat so that you are able to detect it.

About the Author:

Greg Rouse has been teaching wilderness sports and emergency response at the university and college level for over a decade. He is also the founder of a unique web site called WildernessTrip.com, a one-stop resource for self-guided wilderness trip planning. This web site is basically; a free online guidebook that photo-documents trips with interactive maps and detailed route descriptions. Each trip has free pictures and free topographic maps of the trail, all in a print-friendly format. Check it out at http://www.WildernessTrip.com