Urine~ was Re: NPS Morning Report: Pandora”s Box Rescue

This topic is a real pisser!! Stories abound about the horrors of thirst and that it can strip the veneer of civilization from the most cultured of folks. I love the story of Corti trapped on the Eiger, above the exit cracks, without water, gnawing his teeth to the nerve endings to try and extract some water from ice next to him. Yikes!! I have heard it brings on madness, dying of thirst.

Dave made reference to getting permission to “eat your partner” if he were to die. This was a private joke of ours from a “getaway day” descent of Off White Roost Canyon (AKA West White Roost). When hiking up to the rim, we encountered a multitude of cairns, to which we play acted that we were in deep doo doo (as opposed to urine), lost and in peril. I gave Dave permission to eat me if I died on the way out. It may not seem funny to many now, but it had us in tears at the time. Perhaps a “you had to be there” type of thing. 😉 Ram

— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Dean Kurtz” wrote:

You guys are funny!

I think, in general, that your time frames are relatively accurate, Dave. It is going to vary widely though depending on temperature, environment and exertion.

Check out Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls by Edward Leslie. It starts out slow but picks up about halfway through and has plenty of good survival stories, many where people drink their own urine.

> Dean Kurtz

—–Original Message—– > From: “davewyo1” To: I think a person would be down but not out for a couple more days after that. > And I think that drinking the pee would never help physiologically but may help psychologically for a very short while. > Dave

— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “davewyo1” wrote:

I believe that any short term benefits of drinking your pee would soon be outweighed by the dehydrating effects.

So, maybe just maybe, if you were trapped in a pothole and reeling with the effects of dehydration, you could drink pee to make one last try to get out. But shortly thereafter you will likely be floored for good.

The thing is, if you were going to drink pee it would need to be diluted with something. And so, of course, the question arises that if you have something to dilute your pee with, why wouldn’t you just drink that?

I think if you’re going to drink your piss, it would be best to do it right before you leave your vehicle in the morning.

Maybe a new question for potential partners would go something like;

“Oh you say you haven’t been canyoning before, well that’s not a problem, but tell me, if you were in the desert and got into trouble, at what point would you start storing your body waste in a bottle?”

“And, if you die, can we eat you?”

😉

Dave

— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “TomJones” wrote:

But…. if you collect the urine from early in the event, before it gets “thick”… so, for instance, would beer piss or Rockstar piss be worth drinking if available, when considerably dehydrated???

Tom

— In Yahoo Canyons Group, Curt Walker wrote:

I’m a canyoneer and a physiology professor at Dixie State.  Drinking your own urine when you are dehydrated is a terrible idea.  It really does dehydrate you further, as described in wikipedia.  Urine is highly concentrated in thirsty people, and full of salt and urea.  It sucks more water from your tissues to dilute these products and form urine.  Hence, it will NEVER improve your situation, unless it’s very dilute.  Of course, if you are so thirsty you’ll drink your own pee, the pee is not dilute.  What you need is to find water, or a person who’s been drinking beer, so you can drink their dilute urine. Seems unlikely…ÂÂ

Just think, if you die of thirst anyway, the last thing you did on Earth was drink your own pee!  AAAAGGHHHHH!

—

When you post, please change the Subject appropriately, to make reading and searching easier. You can use the following abbreviations: TRIP = Trip Report; BETA = Canyon Beta; PARTNER = Partner and/or Rides; ETHICS = Ethics; TECH = Technical Questions and Tips; BIZ = E Group Business; SALE = Stuff for Sale. Please use a Tilde ~ after the abbreviation, so we know you are coding for us, such as:

Subject: BIZ~ New Abbreviation List – working?

To change your delivery options, go to the Canyons Egroup page on yahoo: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canyons/

> This will require logging into Yahoo. Click on the "Edit My > Membership" link, and change your delivery option. Press "Save > Changes".

DAILY DIGEST OPTION will deliver one email > to you each day summarizing that day’s messages.

WEB ONLY OPTION will not deliver email; you > must visit the web site to view messages. Groups Links >