Eating Snow with Wilderness Living and Survival Expert Mors Kochanski

[@kurtbaier6122]

Mors is a international treasure. The depth and breadth of his knowledge is truly amazing. I am sorry that I found out about him so late in life. I have been a woodsman for 50 years. How great it is to hear a true master. Thank you Mors!

[@Rubicon-ru8ff]

I always thought that eating snow was perfectly fine and just plain practical despite what everyone else said. Glad to hear an expert agree.

[@TheWoodedBeardsman]

In some cases, it might require more energy to build a fire and melt the snow that it would to melt the snow directly in your mouth - and likely in many cases, it's likely much less energy taxing to just eat snow than build and maintain a fire for such purposes.

[@jay90374]

I have always eaten snow to quench my thirst while working outside. Thank you for confirming my suspicions that it is normal practice of the Inuit and that the greater danger is dehydration.

[@outdoors-university]

This is how small details make the difference. Great information as always! Thank you for the free to use heritage you left us Mr.Kochanski.

[@CanadianPrepper]

Great video my only suggestion is that you give it the more alluring title "The Truth About Eating Snow"... may get it attention deserves. Cheers!

[@BB-bq1xd]

What are you doing here Nate ? Lol like your work bro keep it up 💪🏻

[@Wintertrekker]

Thanks Mors for providing the numbers on this. Most of us would have no problem melting a liter of snow per day. Another easy source of liquid water when traveling the lake ice as we know, is the often there is a liquid water "slush" layer available between the top snow pack and hard ice, which provides a quick drink. Hard to drink because its at 0.1 degrees C, but still a head start from melting snow at ambient air temperature.

[@brianspencer4220]

Hi Mors ; What you said makes a lot of sense. I'll be sure to share this with my Grand Kids. Thanks Brian nearing 76

[@mortenkalland]

Is there a squirrel behind Mors shoulder? 4:45

[@ultimaetsolder]

Be sure to avoid the yellow snow.

[@YouAreNotFree.]

+ultimaetsolder That's left for Bear Grylls.

[@adventureswithfrodo2721]

actual you need to ad void pink snow.

[@Taromovies]

Bon Appetit Mors:-) Thanks for sharing you thoughts, on my winter hike in the Swiss Mountains i always "eat" some snow, of course only is my body heat it quite high on my way up, but snow is also my main water resources in the winter up there, thanks for this very informative Video!!!! all the best, Taro

[@survivalcomms]

Excellent video and advice - Thank you for sharing !

[@johnsokirka4747]

Thank You for clarifying this subject. Over the years I've heard so many opinions about this, but in the back of my mind I always thought that it was ok precisely because of the Eskimo, which thank god someone of your background brought them up. Thanks again Mors.

[@4directionsbushcraft]

Very good explanation my friend. Thank you

[@DougsterCanada1]

Very nice to see you out and about, sir! How about making some snow taffy? Wishing you and all your crew well!

[@meccagold2009]

If you were a scientist you'd have a Nobel Prize. Always intelligent, measured analysis.

[@adventureswithfrodo2721]

lol you must have skipped science class.

[@jamesaritchie2]

+Seventh Seal If he were a scientist, he'd be saying not to eat snow. He also wouldn't be babbling all this other nonsense, either.

[@meccagold2009]

James Ritchie You obviously know nothing about this person. I won't embaress you by citing his qualifications.

[@adventureswithfrodo2721]

+Seventh Seal like most survival instructors he is self taught.

[@meccagold2009]

Tim Barton​ No, there are centuries of outdoor knowledge codified in numerous texts and passed down from man to man. He has quite the collection of these rexts. Unlike most "survival" instructors he has also spent most of his life actually living his methods. His experience and credibility are unmatched by anyone alive who claims to do what he has done. They rarely break down and explain their methods as he does thus the title of scientist. He has a Doctorate in this stuff. Not as a theoretician but as a practitioner.

[@NorwegianWoods]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the topic. I have been warned to stay away from the yellow snow where the huskies go :) - Martin

[@sergejsereda3078]

Thank you for, as usual, very informative video! But what is about problems which may be caused by low salt concentration in the snow? Water should allways follow salt concentration due to osmosis. Drinking distilled water (what snow should normally be) without additional salt uptake would lead to excessive water uptake into blood (because blood is saltier); then into blood cells which then burst (=hypotonic hyperhydration). But may be it is only relevant if you ate snow for a long time without eating something else (i.e. additional salt uptake). BTW yellow snow should have more balanced salt composition :)

[@canadianboyee]

Great stuff, as usual!

[@MrMacgyver69]

We miss you Mors. To others interested, 117 Calories is about a 1 mile walk per liter (1000grams). Not much energy compared to finding and processing firewood along with starting and maintaining a fire. Considering a pound of body fat contains about 3700 calories, most people can handle snow melting and lack of food for a CONSIDERABLE, number of days.

[@gregpine6432]

Wonderful! I've always worried that eating snow would lower my body temp, so getting closer to hypothermia. Thank you.

[@grindstone4910]

Like most misconceptions, they build on an element of truth. That being, warming up snow makes you feel a bit cold. This has been so prevalent that I was even instructed this when I was in USAF SERE school. We were told to put the snow in a container and put the container inside our coat so our body heat will melt the snow instead., which, when you think about it, makes as much sense as consuming the snow directly. Thanks for doing the math and the science Mr. Kochanski!

[@BBeemer1121]

+Grindstone Putting the snow in a container and placing it inside your coat uses the heat escaping from your body, thus utilizing calories that you have already burnt to stay warm (essentially utilizing waste heat). Eating the snow directly cools your core (to some degree). Also I have seen on a couple of TV shows where they say you can eat snow, if you are working hard enough to build up body heat, like hiking or chopping wood etc., but they did not recommend it if you were just sitting around or sleeping. so this misconception is getting SOME pushback, and now Mors is adding some more pushback. I am not saying that eating snow will kill you, just stating some facts (or at least some things I have been told) on the subject.

[@moose9906]

@@BBeemer1121 regarding using your "waste body heat". This is theoretically true but not practically. The heat inside your coat is not waste heat, it is still warming you body. It is providing a heated air layer that assists the coat in working properly. The USAF advice is poor and you would actually be warmer consuming the snow directly. It's Probably best to crash in a tropical environment.

[@RobertoDonatti]

Very useful information, thank you.

[@tomritter493]

amazing at that age to retain all this information amazing always said consuming snow would be a good way to hydrate on the run atb Mors ...tom

[@robbabcock_]

Great stuff, Mors! The old saw that eating snow will kill you by hypothermia always struck me as nonsensical. While drinking hot coffee might make you feel warmer there isn't enough heat in a cup of coffee to raise your body temp by any discernible amount. So the low amount of heat required to bring snow up to body temp shouldn't be much of an issue, but it's nice to actually see the math! Thanks!

[@nacholibre1962]

By the way, one liter of water at melting point weighs one kilogram. A liter is 2.1 US pints (hence a liter and a quart are virtually interchangeable terms in many applications in Canada) or 87 Imperial pints.

[@ibmoosed]

What a wealth of knowledge. Mors rocks

[@hobbexp]

really good stuff,, thanks

[@kyliejassy101vlogz3]

what is yellow snow?

[@ladymelisandre975]

If the snow is at -40 C does it not take an extra 40 Calories to melt the 1kg of snow?

[@SinSensor]

This fallacy is becoming accepted as fact, and I am very thankful that a man of your stature & experience is debunking it! Thanks.

[@stewartbuckley3937]

I think I remember the man who got lost. He suffered permanent nerve damage from lack of minerals. The bark he ate on did not provide enough.

[@tartssavage8551]

Mors i found nice colouful snow with seemingly chocolate pebbles in it, am i lucky or what?

[@m005kennedy]

I tried to figure this out once and forgot the 1000 factor of the calories!

[@57WillysCJ]

Does cold ever stop a kid from the north country from eating a snow cone or ice cream in the winter? Yeah they are flavored but watch them suck on an ice sickle.

[@gentokoyama2785]

I love this video

[@Thereal111t]

Ok but what about YELLOW snow?!

[@xseedlingx]

Watch out where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow. Great info, very scientific !

[@WillEyedOney]

I ate snow when I was 4 years old, got really sick and was paralysed from the waist down for 3 months afterwards. Never eat city snow. :)

[@carlostavares6052]

There you go again Mors; thinking! So excellent. My dog ate snow often and I would watch him and he would hydrate just enough for the endurance he needed either ski joring or simply running or fighting his way through deeper snow. Many other dogs don't. Is a kg weight? Have you looked in your old physics book. Maybe look at that book again and think: Can you weigh a gram on a scale? 1L H2O has the mass of 1 kg, but what is its weight? It's mass is 1kg, but its weight Newtons is ? Look it up and then keep thinking. You might even experiment. But better to understand mass is a scalar. That means it has no "arms or legs" (direction) and cannot make a weight scale either go up or down of any direction. Weight on the other hand is Force and that is a vector: "magnitude and direction". It can make something move in whatever 'direction' it is resolved to. Thanks Mors. I will eat snow - as long as it is not yellow. Thanks

[@JackOLanternBob]

Carlos Tavares if water weighs a kilogram it is 1 liter

[@jhanks2012]

@@JackOLanternBob nothing 'weighs' a kilogram lol I think that was one of his points

[@Fyronill]

To be clear. Melting ice in your mouth burns calories, so if you CAN melt snow by a fire or other means you should. In the long run you need calories to. Well done Mors!

[@mackenzieite]

I thought the issue was not calories but the fact that converting snow to water in your mouth required more liquid from the body than was gained. But if it's good enough for the Inuit, it's good enough for me!

[@Roarmeister2]

Nothing wrong with eating snow.... while out for winter walks I often grab a handful to eat to keep myself hydrated. I think the idea behind not eating snow relates to how much energy it takes to melt and convert to water and if you are borderline hypothermia that it could put you into a worse condition. But for 99% of the time that isn't the case, so eat up and hydrate.

[@Andyjamesontheweb]

you are a boss!

[@thomasmusso1147]

👍 .. Common Sense Wisdom back up by Science .. thank you.

[@gman77gas]

Just add juice and you have a snowcone!

[@Macrosill]

Why should the snow not touch your lips when "eating the snow"?

[@orbits2]

+fruity quack they wont its an old wives tale

[@Macrosill]

+fruity quack I missed Mors talking about chapped lips. Tnx

[@ghanaboyz]

Cool (just HAD to say it).

[@artjaazz1]

Hmmm... Strange math. If to melt 1 gm of ice takes 8 kiloCalories, then to melt 1 kg (a daily amount of water, at least 1 liter) will take 8,000 kiloCalories and this is way over the head (3-4 times to be exact), if the daily amount of calories a man need is 2.000-2.500 kiloCalories (as Mr. Kochanski himself mentioned).

[@FidoHouse]

80 cal would be .08 Cal

[@poland_stronk3044]

Here comes new youtube survivalist game I DARE U TO EAT BOWL OF SNOW !

[@bushcraftnorthof6012]

Myth debunked, right there. Thanks!

[@frankstain9791]

dont eat yellow snow. eskimo saying.

[@jeffreyyenior9757]

Love his examples. A medical student who knew exactly what he was doing who also apparently had a steady food supply. I guess if you get lost, you had better be a medical student. Then he wants you to simulate Eskimo's who have adapted to the cold over thousands of years of evolution. Go ahead and follow the footsteps of the Eskimos and eat snow. You will be found by the Eskimos deader than a door knob, frozen solid, with snow in your mouth.

[@jhanks2012]

I'm confused by your comment are you saying that the Eskimo can eat snow bc thousands of years of evolution allow them to, but anyone else should not try bc it will cause them to freeze to death ?

[@neohubris]

just don't eat the yellow snow