Highland MYTH BUSTING - Did they WET their KILT before sleeping in WINTER? Historical Survival
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- čas přidán 29. 03. 2023
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Many years ago I did some winter camping (I'm in Canada) with a friend, his father and grandfather. The grandfather had fought in the Korean war and he showed us a lot of what they did to make it through those winters. One of the things he did was to cover himself with a wet WOOL blanket before going to bed. The blanket would freeze solid forming a solid, wind-proof shell that kept him warm and dry inside. Once it solidified you could literally lift it off of yourself and it would keep its shape. It was like a turtle shell. He told us that the key was that it was a wool blanket as no other fibers would behave the same way and still maintain their insulation when wet. I never tested it with any other types of blankets but I can say that a wet wool blanket will keep you quite warm in a cold, windy Canadian winter.
not true and you would freeze to death if you did that
Yup it's alone among the fiber in still providing insulating value once wet
Doesn't make any sense at all. No offense to them but they are dead wrong about everything. ANY fibres will freeze solid when frozen as it is ice holding the shape and nothing to do with the material. Once frozen ANY material will be 100% windproof as its the ice doing the wind proofing not the material. The insulation properties are also caused by the ice and not the material so again makes no difference. I am sorry but what they told you is complete nonsense and likely just something they heard down the bar. If you could shape tissue paper without ripping it, that would work just as well as wool and have all the exact same properties when frozen if the ice is equal on both.
@@paulsansonetti7410 no its not at all, why does nobody understand even the basics of this? It is the ice that provides insulation when it is frozen, NOT the material.
@@richbob9155 are you saying wool doesn't have insulating value even when water logged ?
The minute you read that quote I thought someone was engaging in the great Scottish tradition of having him on. 😂 Nice to know our ancestors were telling tall tales to Englishmen even back then.
Ironic that the joke worked on a Scotsman 300 years later.
@@jjb2004mk2 it didnt exactly work as they mostly tested it out of scientific and historic curiosity.
@@cowboy4378 Agreed, but in a way it did work because they ended up laying in the snow in a wet blanket, whatever the motive was.
Tht wee on it yes its to do wiv lanolin in sheeps wool thrn its to hide thr smell of haggis to because thets thr cure for pneumonia ther its both together
Cool. You may enjoy a video here on CZcams of a Scottish reporter in Australia learning about the fearsome Australian drop bears on television. It's hilarious.
We used something similar up North on the oil rigs, We would use a pressure washer and lightly wet the outside of our coveralls and cloth jackets, it would freeze into a suit of armour that would stop even the worst wind and keep you super warm! The only catch was you had to stay outside the rest of the night because if you went in the ice would melt and soak you to the bone and you’d freeze going back outside
Lol yeah I had to wait at a mall ontop of hill for my boss to grab me back in the day, my jeans would get so cold they would turn into a shell, it broke the wind for sure but by that time I was pretty numb and wasn’t feeling anything anyways
20th Century Highlander here.
The idea behind this is to damp the plaid on a freezing night, not soak it though, so the wind freezes it to ice on the outside.
This does actually provide a hard thermal layer. 👍
Yeah, that’s exactly what he said in the video.
I have a friend here in sweden who use a wool blanket as an tarp setup, he soaks and freezes it to make it more rigid in windy conditions so it doesn't flap around. However it has to be melted before it can be packed on the sled again.
Although, one could stand the frozen blanket against a tree and beat it gently with a stick, breaking the ice so that it would flake off. Not a complete solution, but at least you could eventually roll it up to pack it out on the sled.
@@Cetok01 it does make much better sense to wet a second plaid or a woollen blanket to use as a windproof tarp when frozen, than to have it immediately against your skin, which would just wick away warmth from your body. Defrosting this in the morning does seem a bit of a hassle.
@@stonemarten1400 True, but in camping or survival, hassle is part of the game. The art is in minimizing it.
@@stonemarten1400 I wonder if you could successfully soak just one end of the plaid, and keep the dry two thirds against you, so that just the outer shell freezes? Or if there's more than one of you soak one plaid, and then bundle?
@@Cetok01 I feel like the frozen fibers would break on the inside and you would end up with rips in the fabric
When my dad went camping (before I was born) he said he always would get his wool sweater (jumper) damp, not dripping, in cold weather… because it was warmer. He swore by doing this, and he was a person who hated the cold.
Wool does have the interesting and unusual property of getting slightly warmer briefly when exposed to moisture. But, you don't want it soaked--that will be cold no matter what.
I think the old school wool was and is a better material than the sponge we have these days that soaks up tons of moisture. Wool wasn't stripped of its lanolin back then and was often rough spun or some such. This made a brutally resilient material that was largely water resistant.
I doubt old school plaids would wet through, ever.
I have a homespun raw wool-> cloak I made myself (processing, spinning, weaving, tailoring). It is so much more effective as a raincoat than any plastic coat I've ever worn
@@purple-flowers that puts into perspective how effective old school wool really was.
Good point!!!
Also, the current day dye processes are much more chemical than in the old days.
Today they make wool superwash - so it can be washed in washing machines, actually a wholly unnnecessary processs, as wool does not like dirt, and just soaking it in soapy water, with no hard washing, gets rid of the dirt.
To test for natural fibers, you burn them. Plant based fibres like cotton, linen, bamboo, smells like paper. Animal fibres smells like burning hair. Sinthetic just melts, and smells like burning plastic.
Highly processed wool fibres, with chemical dyes, and superwash, also looks and act like sinthetic fibres, which for me means it does not have many of its original properties left.
@@annak4045 True! And superwash actually soaks in the rain, and grows/sags making for sloppy looking clothing and causing the wearer to be cold. This is exacerbated in damp/rainy environments such as PNW or UK. The benefit of superwash is that the fibers run more so parallel so it lays smooth and takes dyes extremely well. I dislike it, though and avoid it in clothing that I make
When I was a kid I always wore wool socks and when playing in the stream out back on the farm I soon learned that when my rubber boots filled with water and we're dumped out that my wool socks got extremely warm which led to me wetting my socks on purpose whenever it was cold out to keep my feet warm ! Wool now days doesn't seem to act this way and it's almost impossible to find pure wool socks anyway !
I'm into hand weaving, being a Scot I am also very interested in the kilt. In the old weaving books it is mentioned that the plaid is dampened not soaked. The theory is the wool swells when wet so the wind doesnt come through. The plaid was wrapped as a cocoon so your breath will heat the interior, the textile freezes on the outside , this allows the heat to say in.
Thats stupid. Any generated body heat would melt the ice and then you would just be damp and uncomfortable. These myths are stupid and sound ridiculous.
Stick to Florida@@FLORIDAMANIAM-he2lz
@@FLORIDAMANIAM-he2lz Insulation works both ways. It prevents the equalization of temperature. That means that the icey outer layer is insulated from the warm interior layer just as much as the warm interior is insulated from the icey outside. If rate of heat transfer from the interior to the icey outer layer is less than the rate of heat transfer from the icey layer to the outside, then it will stay frozen, and that will almost certainly be the case because of the insulating layers of wool between you and the ice slowing that rate of heat transfer down.
@@FLORIDAMANIAM-he2lz its counterintuitive but it absolutely works but i was taught to soak it not dampen it.
PREACHHHHHH!!!!!!
Our weather here in the Pacific Northwest of North America is wet and cold most of the winter, very similar in many ways. I've spent many days getting wet all the way through while hiking or working outside but I do everything I can to be completely dry at night. I don't know what may have created those spots bare of snow that they claimed were highlander nests, but here the deer do that, so that is immediately what came to mind. You can find the little dry indentations from where they bedded down at night and now I want to point them out and tell people, "Oh, that's where a bushcrafter slept."
haha! Thats exactly what we thought. Either the Highlanders were as cold adapted as the deer. or the marks on the ground were left by animals and Burt's guide was winding him up.. that was our conclusion
Ha! I’ve seen what you’re talking about too. I live in Spokane and it is much the same here. Deer all over the place ( i live north of the city in Mead actually)
Maybe just say hiker lol. A bushcrafter would've left a half burnt firecircle, a small clearcut and one of their three hatchets. One is none 😂.
@@gadblatz4841 *lmao*
"yea thats where Bear Grylls slept in his piss"
When I was in massage school, we did a hydrotherapy technique that is similar to this. The short version of this hydrotherapy was to wrap a person in a cotton sheet that was thoroughly soaked in ice water, wrap the person tight to their bare skin. Lay them on the table and cover them with a wool blanket (wool is a good insulator even when wet) as the person's body heats (and though shivering) the wrap heats up and the wool keeps the heat. The person goes from cold to being in their own personal sauna. The sauna part takes about 30 minutes in a 70° F (21° C) room. The person actually starts sweating so we have to give them water until the competition of the treatment , witch is about 60 minutes in total.
I think that what was written in your book is totally possible, as described.
Kneipp method!
I was trained in survival school in those conditions to wet our outer layer of clothes to freeze them to trap heat and to stop wind stealing our heat. I believe the Highlanders did this. Think about Vikings rowing for weeks soaking wet in storms and bad weather. Having your wool frozen would be the original anoraks. Enjoy your videos!
This is an old school survival technique. Pa passed it on to me when young .I often woke up with my hair froze to the wall growing up in midwest . My pa and ancestors were straight up survivors of ojibou and irish german decent . Grampa wore the barrels off two 22 sears deringers in his life just on trapping kills .
@Survivalnerd the old school of listen to the old timers or die .
Frozen on outside like you said and using the Wim Hoff method on inside to creat the steaming effected talked about in the video would be the best. If only the guy knew about Wim Hoff and the Buddhist monks that use nasal breathing to steam wet blankets.
its only wool. no other materials work like this.
Not to forget to mention, I put frozen socks and shoes on in the morning. (didn't have any dry ones anymore) And was still warming up from that. Hence why the comment on the toes❄️
Where is your accent from, if you don't mind me asking? Geordie?
That coat looks warn what is it
Fun fact - even after frozen clothes are dry, they remain like cardboard until warmed.
Frozen sock can be used as emergency axe to build an igloo. 😃
we did this stuff for years in the snowy highlands and did a LOT of tai chi. As super fit people we gave off a lot of heat and were able to camp in the snowy hills and swim in freezing rivers and bays .. you can become super fit with very tough muscles and give off a lot of heat. i'm kind of over that now lol. in the cold your body heat does give off steam for sure and it would dry a cloth eventually. We were bloody fit tho.
I make a bet that those plaids were still saturated with lanolin from the sheeps wool, and that also makes quite a difference.
I had once a jersey from , lets call it , "unwashed" wool, although it was quite "sticky" to the touch and smelled a bit funny, but that jersey kept me very warm during the winters of 1984 - 1986, with average temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius during the nights and minus 15 degrees Celsius during the day.
I vividly remember the mechanics in the Brewery lying beneath the delivery trucks fuel tanks with blow-torches in the early morning hours to get the diesel-fuel warmed up, because it had become sort of jelly-fied from the extreme cold.
Those "raw" wool jumpers are excellent. I had a yak jumper from Nepal that was greasy and smelly and still had little sticks and bits of grass stuck in it. It lasted for 15 years before it fell apart. I never washed it and it was great in the rain.
@@ashmaybe9634 - I still have my one, although the grease is gone now since I washed it after I moved to Africa.
The smell was simply to overpowering for the missus.
And it still keeps me warm during our winters here in South Africa.
Good point about the lanolin. You used to be able to buy knitting wool that still had the lanolin in it. Fishermen's sweaters were always made of it.
@@nikiTricoteuse you still can! You need to take extra care to protect them from moths though as the smell attracts them.
The breeds of sheep used back then probably had warmer wool too. The more coarse the wool is, the warmer (and more durable) it tends to be. Today super soft, fine wool is more popular - like merino - and is often superwash treated, which removes everything good about the fibre in my opinion, just to make it machine washable.
Several years ago I read a book about the history of Poachers which included a chapter about 1700s High Land cattle rustlers , it made note that the Rustlers could not make a fire as it would give away their position. It stated they would make a Heather bed then wrap themselves completely in their plaids as you did, then lay down together ' As if sheep ' for shared warmth, then the boy would use his pail to ' dampen ' the top layer of each man's plaid, when done his reward for being the last to bed down he would get into the middle of the group . I hope this is helpful. I will do my best to find the book and post the ISN number for your reference.
Oh thank you for your excellent posts.
I think I may know what this is. We used to do it in scouts and our scout leader was a retired green beret guy. We were stuck out after playing a twilight glow stick version of capture the flag one night as night closed in on the face of the mountain we'd been camping on so the scout leader had us wet the huge bath towels we'd been directed to bring from home in the creek and waited as he piled more wood onto the tiny stone-lined fire pit we all shared. As the fire blazed up and slowly died down, each one of us gingerly wrapped our damp towel around a single large, blisteringly hot stone and scurried away with our prize into our cheap 1980's sleeping bags. As the night went on and the temperature fell well below zero, the hot rock towels and the warm steam they continuously generated kept us all from dying in the wind on the face of that rocky mountain cliff face. It was even comfortable. Until the towel finally dried out and I had to sacrifice the last of my canteen water to re-drench it...and myself.
So I'm wondering if the highlanders were using this trick on an inside layer to create a sort of "danger taco" that actually kept them alive and warm inside the plaid.
They certainly had access to stones... and all the other tools that'd be required to make this happen. Then again, maybe it wasn't plausible in their case. I'm not an expert. But also...maybe so?
I think highlanders were much tougher than these blokes, with a lot more body mass and lot more used to cold and wet conditions. They probably had a technique to increase their body heat naturally- they didn’t always have time to start a fire and often wandered. Odds are they are still not doing it properly. Being naked seems like 90% of it. Linens automatically bunk this experiment. The only way it steals without rocks is with body heat, so what you say is plausible. But I think this has more to do with a controlling of one’s own body temperature much like the Wim Hof iceman method. Between the berserkers and the highlanders I’m sure they had some rugged techniques that would be described more as “mystical”.
I recently moved all the way from the South of England to central Scotland..... the cold is an issue.
After two winters I am well on my way to adapting. I used to be a heatbug but now for about five months a year my flat is incredibly cold and Im damned if IIm spending £400 a month on heating.
Apart from the obvious changes to my clothing and habits, most significantly, you body does start to adapt. My three biggest takeaways were...
1. Your body adapts very slowly to the cold over months and years
2. Activity in the cold keeps you warm inside afterwards for many hours
3. Cold shock is very helpful.
It sounds counterintuitive but the worst thing you can do in Scotland is wrap up in as many layers as possible and stay still. Even iif its below freezing, its better to get up and do a bit of digging in the garden. Then come inside and have a shower and you will be warm for half a day.
Similarly, the odd cold shower, and exposing yourself to the cold when you first get up, shocks your body's metabolism and makes you feel warmer.
Ive even got to the point where Im camping in conditions that I would have considered unimaginable a few years ago. You body and your techniques just adapt.
But yeah the worst thing to do in Scotland is try and "hide" from the cold. The more you expose yourself to bursts of bitter weather the warmer you feel in the long term.
As for soaking your blanket in water ... I think that was some journalistic "flourish" from a guy trying to oversell a story.
Great video once again.
I used to clean windows even in icy winter conditions, I and the lads would hold our hands in a bucket of ice cold water for a minute or so, for the first 10 minutes after was terrible but after that I hands would remain toasty for the rest of the day.
Same technique applied in snow when out walking or working etc 👍
@fiendbastards Doesn't help much when you need to work outside.
@fiendbastards I only go home on weekends, and i get my travel fees paid for by my employer.
My house is totally off grid with a nice big log burner. So no, i dont have to worry about gas bills it makes absolutely no difference to me.
Mark Twain once wrote. Chop your own wood and warm yourself twice.
@@rogermellie8068 My relatives, now gone, used to hang wet clothing on the outside line twelve months a year. Their reward for their labours was osteoarthritis.
I heard a lecture by a textile expert who said the insulating properties of wool increased exponentially when wet.
He said that Scottish regiments on the western front during WW1 were known to damp down their kilts before settling down for the night.
Maybe that’s the trick - dampening rather than soaking.
It's untrue. Wool doesn't increase its insulative value when wet, it merely keeps more of its value than other fibers. Most fibers lose the vast majority of their insulation, whereas wool can lose much less than half of its value, depending on the fiber quality, weave, and other factors. So wool is still very valuable for dealing with moisture, even just the small amount of moisture that comes from sweat, but it does not get *better* with moisture.
@@keithklassen5320 you may be right. All I know is that this guy was touted as a textile expert.
I'm surprised there was a need to wet the plaid, surely good Scottish weather/rain would ensure it was nearly always wet!
👍That's a very good point
The wet wool is true. I come from a sailing and boat building family. Before wetsuits and spray jackets, woollen jumpers were best for staying warm when you are constantly being wet. From my great-grandfather (and I guess before), and down to me when young, were made to wear thick woollen jumpers when sailing because even wet (and heavy lol) it keeps you warm and stops the wind coming through. It needs to be up against you, not flapping and letting cold air in.
You did your experiment in way way colder temps lol
From a 1970s jumper when I was little to 2000s-era socks bearing the pure wool mark of the British Wool Federation, wool has been the coldest and absolutely the least windproof clothing I have ever known. Looking at other comments here has given me the first reasonable suggestion of how to reconcile my experiences with others claims: modern practice is to strip the lanolin out of wool, but without the lanolin it's half-way worthless.
a similar story in ireland, documented by captain francisco de cuellar, a spanish captain whose spanish armada ship was wrecked off the sligo coast in 1588. his facinating account that is free online has a similar reference to the irish rangers who rescued him.
Always a good day when Fanbabi dozi posts!
So I've worked on the oil rigs up in Northern Canada over several winters. There have been a few times when I've had my coveralls soaked through from crap coming out of the hole when pulling pipe in the dead of winter, and after that hardens to a shell it does in fact create an amazing wind barrier! It also seemed to prevent my body heat from escaping my outer layers, likely because air couldn't penetrate it at that point.
Mind you, that was with a proper under-layer during both extremely cold and very windy conditions. You also couldn't go inside to "warm up", because that would thaw out the ice and you'd freeze. I was still wet under my coveralls, but my body heat had warmed up my under-layers enough that it was still comfortable.
I think it's very plausible under very specific conditions. I don't believe you were in NEARLY a cold or windy enough environment to properly test this yourself from what I saw in the video. I saw a lot of benefit during temps below -25 C as long as I didn't try and thaw anything out. It really has to be cold and windy enough to see any benefit from it. Testing it at -5 C would be like testing a parachute from 10 feet off the ground.
While that does work, it's still much safer to avoid getting wet since the conditions not being optimal for that to happen means you freeze to death lol
@@Breadbored. The only conditions that would need to be met are colder temperatures. The other condition is getting the outer layer wet, which is what you were testing but you were testing in conditions that weren't cold enough to make it effective.
I agree it's not a safe thing to go out testing, and I'm not asking you to. It's safer to stay in a cabin with a small woodstove keeping you warm, but that's not what you were testing.
I'm just telling you that I've been subjected to those conditions and in my experience it would work, but only if it's cold enough. It's like if you test whether parachuting is effective from 30 feet off the ground... your test would show that it's highly ineffective because you weren't up high enough. Or if you tested how effective of a swimming method the butterfly stroke is using a pool that's two feet deep.
But my God, please be safe. You certainly don't have to prove anything to me, I already know it would be effective. I really enjoyed learning about the legends of how they did this, and I imagine those people were well conditioned to deal with harshness of it... I certainly wouldn't want to try it!
Love the videos!!
That's pure badassness, you guys trying to sleep in freezing weather wrapped in wet woolen kilts!
When I was younger and did a lot of Rendezvous and living history events the Old Timers always said to get your Kilt wet but not soaking just kind of moist, they said wool stayed warm wet and that's what made it so valuable in the Highlands, idk if its any warmer wet but its definitely better than cotton
As soon as the Delaware saw that they could trade buckskins for duffle, wool became the material of choice for clothing. When asked what they did before they had wool, their answer was 'We were cold."
I once made a blanket of wool straight from rough textured sheep. Just as it was when sheared off. All the lanolin in. It took three weeks of working every day. Later I was in a tipi (or teepee). I did not know how to adjust the top so a misty rain was falling in. I was wrapped in my blanket. Some of the rain fell on my blanket. No fire. And I was not feeling well. To my surprise I was unbelievably warm. I was steamy warm in fact.
The lanolin in the wool is absalutly magic .
I can not imagine a situation where wet wool pressed close against you would actually keep you warmer in extreme conditions, but a shelter made of wet wool propped up and allowed to freeze into a useful open shape could definitely be useful. Basically an instant igloo.
The way I heard it explained was just wetting the end of the plaid to freeze/"seal" the end of it to you to help prevent it coming unwrapped as you sleep. But I've always been skeptical of even that bit.
Brilliant experimental research. fascinating to see you both put it to the test.
My guess is it can work. I would soak the last meter through, then let it drain before wrapping myself. That will leave it wet enough to freeze and block the wind, but not soak through and sap body heat.
I'm inspired to try. Thanks for the cool idea.
Very interesting. I live in Australia and use to do 17th century re enactment were i wore highland clothing of the time. We had a living history camp ( no modern gear) we had a snow storm blow in after dark we had about a foot of snow. Now by mishap I ended up falling into a stream up to my waist i was wearing my plaid,knowing of the story of soaking the plaid I thought time to do the experiment.
I shook out most of the water and then re wrapped the plaid I walked around for about 30min. I could feel myself warming up quickly.( I felt warmer with it wet then dry. Hope it wasn’t hyperthermia) now I didn’t sleep in the open but slept in a very windy half collapsed tent. After about a hour of being wrapped up i was feeling very warm the inside of the plaid was feeling very dry while the outside was still damp. I felt comfortable and fell a sleep.
So after watching your video and comparing my experience. I say way my test worked is that the wool wasn’t completely soaked i all so warmed up before laying down and i had a layer between me and the ground and some cover.
I have never repeated this because I didn’t want to do it on purpose.
This was a great experiment to watch, and Jason seems a fun guy to hang out with. I wouldn't hate it if he showed up in more of these mad adventures of yours. To other viewers I would like to remind them to like, share, and comment on this video, as the longer ones tend tend lean toward more risk than reward for a channel.
Indeed longer videos do not often do well with first time viewing of a content creator. This is my first video from this guy but I've already subscribed.
I think they were also keeping their heads inside the plaid and trapping their breath. "Steaming like a kettle" might be the clue. Also, as others have mentioned, they may have only wet a portion of the plaid.
Hypothermia occurs when the water next to the skin evaporates. The trick would be to keep the water layer from evaporating too quickly. I just wonder whether the plaid you used was as oily (lanolin) as the highlanders had 300 odd years ago.
Good point ,I wondered if they held the corners dipped it slightly so it had a thin bead of water on the outer side . Slightly dampened
That's not how hypothermia works.
@@BillOweninOttawa It's (a major) part of the heat/energy exchange process (which can lead to hyopthermia), but it is not the whole of it. Water is about 20x more thermally conductive than air, so there is that factor as well. But, the evaporation of water is indeed on a whole other level of how much heat energy it can and will carry with it.
@@BillOweninOttawa : It is, however how an evaporative cooler works. So it does make sense.
I was wondering something similar, what were the general material qualities of woolen garments back then? How thick? What kind of fibre count? Yes and how much lanolin?
Frozen wet blankets! Luxury! In wales when it snows we purposely jump in a frozen lake naked before bed and then sleep naked on a the most windy side of a hill. Frozen wet blankets are for the frail
Interesting video. Just two thoughts:
- Wetting wool and canvas does help make it more windproof, it used to be common to throw buckets of water on ship's sails to help them draw.
- How clean is your plaid? 17th century sheep herders might have had a lot more lanolin bulking up their clothing.
In all the years of my sleeping rough through the military and camping hiking adventures this sounds absolutely crazy! I love it, love the video, love the idea, love the channel. Been subbed for many years and love to keep seeing what you come up with next!
Love your videos, Tom. I'm wondering if they might have just wet (sprinkling, not soaking) one half of one side in freezing, windy weather, and wrapped themselves, dry side inward, so that the wet portion was external, and would freeze to provide a wind barrier of sorts. Not exactly a Snug-Pak sleeping bag, but with several wraps of dry wool inside, it may have helped.
That's exactly what l was thinking too.
Check out my comment above.
A textile expert mentioned Scottish soldiers in WW1 dampening their kilts before turning in for the night on the Western Front.
like a Highlander igloo
Exactly he should try the experiment again in this way, just wet one section and keep the under wrap layers dry against the top wet one
I recently took a trip to Scotland from my homeland of Northwestern North America. Your homeland is a beautiful place and there’s no better place to Bushcraft than Scotland. I saw you in your converted van as well! Cheers.
Imagine you're already wrapped up and laying down, someone wipes you with a wet cloth to leave some water that quickly freezes and makes a wind resistant shell that keeps warmth inside. I can definitely see this being beneficial.
*IVE BEEN COLD ADAPTING* for 3 years - I no longer heat my house in winter - it averages 13ºC and honestly I dont feel it unless I am ill.
I had to heat it to 16ºC this winter when I had a cold, but it really is AMAZING how you just adapt
Interesting. I have done cold therapy on an off, but never consistent enough to get very cold adapted. Perhaps after years of training I could repeat the experiment
@@FandabiDozi - I get a freezing cold shower every morning as well, except the coldest couple of months of winter, but Im getting there LOL.
The thing about cold adapting its it NOT the torture you are expecting, the trick is to NOT get warm and then cold, warm, cold. Just get warm and cold with the seasons.
BTW - MAD RESPECT for the experiment...!!!
Why, if I may ask?...
@@VertexCarver well if you’re so used to discomfort that it’s not uncomfortable anymore you have an excellent Basis to develop further survivalist abilities on. Only thing that interests me is whether they have issues in warmer climates (wouldn’t have been the biggest issue to our ancestors since traveling was sparse especially such long distances). Like whether they have a lower heat tolerance
@@VertexCarver it's kinda like fasting. When you know you won't die, or even feel particularly uncomfortable, after a week w/o food, your perspective on food changes drastically; you no longer stress at the inevitable missing dinner here and there due to work; and should you find yourself in a really dire situation, your morale will not immediately plummet. Heat is much like food in this regard, except a cold season is guaranteed to arrive every year at least once, so you'll get a lot of use out of being "heat-fasted".
You have a great channel!!! As a Scottish American ("Wallace") I love all your work, especially the history and weaponry. I'm now 74 and don't camp anymore, but still very interesting to contemplate how our ancestors lived! Keep up the great work!!!!!
Hello !! I think you forgot something important !! In the 1700 , they were for sure using untreated wool , it means wool with all its grease in it !! And that may be much more important to protect from the cold than wetting your plaid in icy water !!
I was once exposed to freezing rain. My coat got a quick coating of ice that stopped most wind from penetrating. Perhaps the same deal with the plaid?
I live in Alaska, where it is very cold and dry in winter. I can see how freezing a portion of the plaid would make sense, but only if one could suspend it away from the body. A frozen cloth barrier to stop wind from coming through, with a dead air space behind it, would make a reasonable defense against freezing wind. The actual technique to do so would take much practice. Overall, this would be of rare use and little practical value.
But as he said towards the end, the wool is well felted (and decently wind resistant) and when you wrap around 3 layers or so around yourself, it will be pretty wind resistant.
Example or rare use ,the bloody English Kings men are about the moors an highlands looking for the Scots.
They wouldn't be wearing any other clothes like how sleeping bags work, using your body heat to dry what's inside, and then you have dry clothes in the morning.😊
Nah its of great use. If you come under attack you can throw it up like a mantlet to stop arrows😂
Scots don't have the same climate as boreal areas. I live in Lapland - imo incomparable.
I admire your courage and tenacity. This is not the kind of research I would willingly undertake.
Well done.
Yes this works very well only if you know what your doing. First they only soaked haft. Then they hung it on a tree branch for a hour to look let the lose water run off then they would take off as much close not to get soaked up and put it in the skins to stay dry. It works best on naked skin. The body radiates heat, drying the blanket sheet or what the highlanders would call it right on the skin keeping you warm. This has been used for thousands of years. People found out when sleeping in the rain without shelter. After the rains the body would dry it. As you watch you can see the steam roll off the blanket that drys it and the vapers between your skin and the blanket will stay 98.6 keeping your body warm using your own body for heat. It's very important to know the temperature should be around freezing 32° or colder to use this method beat. When its snowing. Wet clothes doesn't work because of the different fits your wearing it should be the same. That's why it works the best. The Buddha monks use this method only using a thin sheet to stay warm as there body drys the sheet rapped around your body. They still use this method till this day and how I learned how to do it myself. Most people sit first before laying down. To start the action of body heat drying the sheets. The more wet the longer you'll sleep. As soon as it drys you want to wake up and build a fire or get moving. To kickstart your body to warm up your close again. Hope this is useful and better explaining how to use this method.
Mayhap, the trick is in the twirl. If held right and you twirl with 3 or 4 layers of dry first and the last twirl brings the wet corner over you, when you lie down it may create a barrier from the cold. You are then lying on dry wool and with your head under the material, the warmth of the air expelled from your breathing may bring warmth as well.
In the same period as when Burt was writing his letters, sailors would sometimes wet their canvas sails (in the 18th century, sailcloth was linen) to decrease its porosity and consequently increase its ability to drive the ship in a light wind, but this practice was considered an emergency move because the weight of the water greatly increased the strain on the mast, spars, and rigging.
It also wears the fibers out much more quickly, since any normal flexing is resisted by the ice between the fibers, pulling more strongly on each fiber, and pushing the fibers apart.
Great video - true scientists at work 😅 Hadn't heard this description, but it definitely sounds like the Highland sense of humour (I'm from the Outer Hebrides) The author probably asked his Highlander guide a dumb question first, and got this story as a response 😂😂
Canadian oil patch workers know life at -40C. We used to use the pressure wash guns to lightly spray our coveralls just enough to ice them up and break the wind. One particularly difficult hitch, was 2 weeks of -42, 60 km/hr blowing winds. Working outside at those extremes is a whole other thing. CONSIDER, however, wetting only the portion of the plaid that comprises the outermost layer. With thicker felted kilts of yore, wetted with direction, I think the notion has merit.
I would believe the story 100% true. Like the gentleman said below your plaid is missing all the nature oils from washing. Also the story mentions being warm enough to create steam. Wetsuits work on the same principle warming a small amount of water against your skin. Try it again with no base layers it’s preventing you from warming the plaid and natural wool or try to re-introduce the oils. Your comment about hiking is also important, the Highlander would have been wearing this for weeks without taking it off it’s already warm and sweaty before getting damp.
I think just the outer layer should be damp, so it would freeze into a protective shell. Your body heat & breath would then help keep you warm inside all other dry layers...
Using the plaid as a frozen shell (shelter wall or bivy) and not wrapped up in the wet plaid, maybe. Excellent video! Looking forward to more like this!
Wool actually does have the reputation of not loosing it's insulative quality even when wet.
Back when it was windy winter days in Wales, if we had to do something at night. We would wear a woolen coat, on the throw another wet coat over. Wool keep you dry and warm, the wet coat keep the wind completly out
After 50 years in the mountains and as a guide and bushcraft instructor I have adapted to the weather. I have always worn shorts no matter the weather. It's conditioning and I have worn shorts in -20degs. This is not bragging, it's just that I find that I can. I'm still in the mountains, still tramping the hills, and still wearing shorts. The only time that I wear 'longs', is at weddings and funerals. Enjoyed the video. Cheers from the mountains of NZ 😀😀
I can only imagine they were hoping that Burt would actually try it out himself
Exactly hahahaha
winters down in Georgia are typically right above freezing at the coldest point, even at night, yet there is still no way in hell i'd wrap myself up in a wet blanket wearing shorts. that is bananas.
I remember there was wool made by" sunbeam" had the original lanolin still in it. Used to knit Arran sweaters for fishermen that was never washed. It was waterproofing for the fishermen, quite a heavy garment but wind and waterproof to some extent.
It definitely sounds like they were 'winding him up'. However, I think it may have derived from a summertime practice of trying to stay cool and protecting one's self from midgies.
I've not seen the video yet but two quick thoughts. I wonder about the lanolin preventing the plaid from becoming saturated with water but acting in a third manner. Secondly there Is an actual tradition where monks of a particular system test themselves by accessing their autonomic nervous system and increasing their metabolism and body temperature. The test is to dry off wet blankets wrapped around their bodies in frigid weather. (Hmmm... could there be lanolin in their blankets?) *Edit - having seen the video I am in agreement with you (impress the foreigner who looks down on us!) No doubt a perspiration damp plaid would steam in certain conditions of brisk cold. Also re: monks drying wet blankets in freezing weather there are a couple of videos documenting this I believe including on youtube. I think the caloric costs to this would argue against this being a normal practice though.
The monks you refer to are Buddhist monks and they are supposed to wrap themselves in a wet sheet and control their body temperature to dry the sheet.
Experiments with Buddhist monks practicing Tum-mo produced dramatic results. Just using the power of their minds, the monks produced enough body heat to dry wet sheets placed on them as they relaxed in chilly rooms.
imagine hearing something in the bush and then rounding a bend to see these two guys spinning around and around trying to wrap themselves up lol
I expected this to be clickbait, because apart from creating a windshield in really, really cold and windy weather, wetting your clothes to keep warm just sounds absurd. However I was pleasently surprised by you really testing this and coming to a similar conculsion. Thanks to your logical approach and calm attitude I subscribed to your channel.
Thank you for your videos, they are a spark of joy and knowledge amongst the doom and gloom that seems to wash over social media
I read a book from the 1800s about Russians exploring the Taiga. In the book the author comments multiple times how they would wake up natives who decide to sleep outside in sub zero conditions, with no fire, in just clothes, with there whole bodies covered in frost. I think there is some reality in these descriptions, we have become so domesticated and soft we can't comprehend the hardiness of our ancestors
I absalutly concur
If you have a warmer inside cocoon, you might get your outside covered in crystals/frost..
What was the name of the book?
Thank you in advance!
That's still done today in Siberian Russia and Northern Canada!
The trick is to dress warm enough to sleep in the open in the bush!
Temperatures typically are between minus 50 and minus 70 degrees Celsius. It just makes life more convenient to dress warm enough to sleep in the open. The coldest I've slept outside in the bush was minus 55 degrees Celsius with a windchill of minus 67 degrees Celsius in the Northwest Territories, Canada! When it's so unbearably cold, your energy level is really low, and sometimes is quite strenuous pitching a tent with stove and whatnot! Much easier to just sleep by the fire outside wearing very warm clothing!
Frozen clothing actually blocks wind really well. I use to do alot of winter backpacking and my face covering (usually a bandana of some kind) would freeze solid on my face but I'd be much warmer than if it were dry with the wind cutting through the fabric.
I went hunting when I was younger. we were wet through by the time we made camp. I was told to get into my dry sleeping bag with my wet clothes on and that they would be dry by the morning. Not the most comfortable sleep, but sure enough, my clothes were dry by the morning.
Since wool retains 80% of its insulation properties when wet, it makes sense that making it wet would stop the wind that normally goes straight through the wool.
You should also not wear linen, it saps your heat like crazy when wet.
Watching this and processing I was thinking in possibly a dire situation you could make a tarp covering and it would freeze making a good shelter however you wouldn't want to forgo your warming Insulation.
Good video, great experiment
"Hard times create strong people, easy times create weak people"
We are not our forefathers in the sense that we have created things to make life easier which in turn makes us weaker.
For every action and all that
Thanks for doing what you do!
What I learned today from this video: Scots have got to be the absolute best sports to ever walk the face of the earth. Not only can they dish out a dose of teasing, they can take it as well, even teasing themselves a bit! I always knew I had a dash of Scottish blood! I lost my English blood when I skinned my knee as a child...😂
I'm amazed you would try this in linen, which as far as I know is noted for strength but not for warmth. I'd think wool would be the preferred material, thickly woven and with the lanolin intact.
I think wetting the plaid just partially (maybe just a 5th of it) at the end-side of the wrapping, would also make a difference. It doesn't say in the book that they "soaked" the whole plaid, right? Thx for this experiment. As always it was fun, educating and inspiring.
Maybe just so the outer layer being wet would make it hard like a sheild
This is a fantastic experiment and I hope there's a part 2 coming up. I've found that cold wet nights are a great reason to get up and get moving early in the morning as well.
Perhaps
Thank you for this video. Wetting the plaid to fend off wind is a fascinating concept. I can imagine it might work in some situations. Perhaps the Highlanders of old knew just the right way to wet the plaid... A technique passed from Father to Son, perhaps? A technique employed only when the wind made the advantage of wind resistance to be of greater value than the advantage of dry wool?
Sometimes, a very small change can make a very great difference.
From my own experience, I can attest to the following example of adaptation:
Over ten years ago, I began wearing my sandals later and later into the Fall and beginning their use earlier and earlier each Spring. Now I wear them every day, regardless of the weather, making exceptions only for those days when the snow is over three inches deep. (That would be roughly 7.5 cm..) One benefit of this habit is that my feet no longer get cold. I was accustomed to wearing a medium-weight pair of wool socks to sleep throughout the Winter, even at home in my bed. Now, I find it necessary to let my feet stick out the bottom of the blanket.
I think this is especially interesting when one considers the fact that I was 60 years old when I began this effort and am now 71, so I have not benefitted from any "from the cradle" conditioning.
I found a book one day, written in the 60's, I think, of a kind of 'tourist trek' that you could do back then, walking the old cattle trails from Inverness to the Southern Lowlands, where the men would take their cattle to the Spring markets. It described how the journey for them was so long, and so slow (it was slow because the cattle had to feed along the way so they would arrive in market in good shape), that they had to leave while it was still winter. It described in there how they would soak their plaid in the burn and wrap it around themselves and just lie down in the snow and go to sleep. By morning, not only would the plaid be dry but the ground all round them was also dry and clear of snow .......... I might've thought this was a bit of a stretch, but I remembered when I was studying Zen Buddhism back in the day, reading stories of how the monks, who walked from one monastery to another looking for the right teacher, would often be caught out on snowy nights on their travels and would just lie down in the snow and go to sleep; and in the morning, there would be a dry patch of ground all around them ......... The story of the cattle drovers continued ... Apparently, one night as they were all laying down in the snow in their wet plaids, the son of one of the men there laid his head on a tussock for a pillow. His father, seeing it, cried out, "What's the matter with ye, boy? You're turning into a woman!" They must've burned with an inner fire! ........... And then there's Wim Hoff .........
Exactly, it’s already scientifically valid that humans can survive freezing temps with mind over matter. Monks, highlanders, berserkergang, likely all knew this. There’s also the guy who survived 24 hours at the peak of Everest and survived. His story is one of the best examples of some supernormal phenomena in regards to cold.
Even though wool is one of the few materials that will still keep you comparatively warm when it is wet, I wouldn't want to be wet in the cold if I could choose either... I wonder if a separate bit of wool, soaked, then laid out until frozen stiff, then to be used as a shell to go over you in your dry sleeping gear, so that the water in the shell wool layer, isn't free to soak you while frozen, and will probably slowly "steam" off without soaking you as your trapped body heat rises through what you are wrapped in...... in an unrelated but similar situation, I have heard, in the older times, the inuit or Eskimo tribes of the arctic north, would soak their animal hides thoroughly in water, lay them out in the snow in the necessary shapes, allowing them to freeze solid hard as iron, to be lashed up to make a sled, or whatever other implements they needed... using the materials at hand, by adapting using them along with nature of the environment they were in... which is an important aspect of survival in any situation... it is possible this English soldier wasn't being given the "true" recipe... fun video, because I wasn't freezing watching you get more information.... 😂
You fellows spread great vibes. It's nice nowadays to see people interested in such an approch of History. Stay tuned :)
The wool keeps you warm even when wet. A temperature range of -5 to 5 C degrees is kind of lightest freezing.
To isolate from wind you would soak only the outer layer and very light, such to not wet the inner layers.
And once again I am blown away by the beauty of your settings!
I live in the Alleghenies at about 3,000 feet. You just described a modal winter’s day here. My ancestors were lowlanders mostly in the …er “cattle” business both by land and by sea. By sea they specialized in Manx cattle, but often neglected to pay for them. Before they were Border Reavers and they lived in a maritime climate too, tough men all!
I use to work as a Tow Operator at the top of a ski hill here in Canada, and I've noticed something with my beard that may apply to the Plaid. If you wet down your beard, either with water or with your breath catching frozen on it and then melting from your body heat, you eventually create a two-phase impermeable barrier to the wind that is as warm as a scarf. The outer layer freezes solid into a beardcicle, and that solid block of frozen beard keeps the wind from hitting and wicking away the water/sweat near your skin under your beard and making you cold. I assume the wind, and operative to this is wind, as it only happens otherwise in very very cold weather, freezes the top exposed layer of wool before it can freeze the wool through, at which point you've now recreated the mechanics of an igloo, which has an icy frozen exterior that keeps the wind out and traps the air, and the inner walls are coated with a thin layer of melted water, making the inside non-permeable, at which point your body heat will eventually raise the interior to a survivable temperature. That said, you guys should be lying curled up instead of longwise, and preferably with your head at the highpoint on the hillside so the moves up to your torso/head.
There are wool and fibre festivals throughout America. A good wool blanket is a fantastic wedding present and student going away to college. Also for folks living in cold climes. Car breaks down and you'll survive. They last forever and you'll be helping weavers preserve a nearly lost art.
I have a medical condition that sometimes causes extreme sweating when I sleep, sometimes I wake up absolutely DRENCHED, and I can confirm that when this happens during a cold night, and I’m wrapped up in a 100% wool blanket, I do get exactly the effect described in the introduction. The moisture insulates my body heat enough that I wake up extremely warm, although getting out of bed to pee is a horribly cold experience when you’re dripping wet.
I had this issue and figured out it was related to an omega 3 deficiency.
I think, with a little practice, maybe you could dip one half-wrap worth at the end of the plaid. Then you have 2 or 3 inner layers that stay dry and a layer of ice on the top outside to stop the wind. Kind of a portable igloo!
Lol, that must be one of your most entertaining episodes yet. But no, I don't believe they deliberately soaked themselves, that's daft. Thanks for checking it out, though, I admire your dedication!
This is what history is all about. I’m a history student from Florida and I’m very jealous of y’all.
I'm just gonna say that it's nice to know that people in New England aren't the only ones who can strip of completely and become invisible against the snow. Thanks, you two!!
I have heard of freezing wet cloth to form a shell as protection from the wind and snow, but not wrapping up in wet material of any kind, that seems like a recipe for disaster!
Also we were taught to use VBL gear in emergency conditions and the kilt frozen stiff completely enclosing you does create a Vapor Barrier Liner and the wet would actually not freeze next to your skin and would retain more heat than air. I think this was a thing that Vikings and Highlanders and US Army soldiers did ;-)
All you need for an insulation barrier is air, they need to do this buck ass naked or it’s kinda pointless with the linens. It can’t be dripping either
When I was young my family was living in Alaska, and we went to a Burns night celebration, of course my father and I were in our kilts (my Father and Grandfather were a bit fanatical about tradition), that night it was -34 C. Only my feet were cold (stupid dress shoes) after spending nearly 4 hours out in the cold because the car would not start. The kilt or Plaid is the ultimate survival clothing.
Your videos are excellent. You have a great bunch of friends and associates. When we try to use some of the various methods in books or CZcams, we usually end up going back and re-evaluating what we are doing versus what has been written or shown. Something as simple as hand position or angle of attack when chopping wood or starting a fire makes all the difference for succeeding or failing. The myth busting with an end summary is very valuable. Always be safe and have a backup plan when trying something new in the wilderness or otherwise. Thanks.
Awesome comment man. I was thinking this myth busting episode could have gone better if it was compared to the Buddhist monks that dry wet blankets by nose breathing until it steams if the cold iced the outside and you Wim Hoff method to steam inside it would be insane!!!
Brilliant video! Funny and very informative. Please do more scientific myth busting experiments 😁
Jason: ‘ . . . I think that idea would hold water’
Fandabi Dozi: ‘Well plaid!’ 😆😝
Got stuck in the rain with a wool blanket it got soaked and kept me significantly warmer than the people around me. we passed it around and it was agreed wet wool retains heat. I do t know if I'd purposely wet it but I think it may work.
I once read how a homeless girl advised wetting newspaper to cover yourself in during winter because it kept her warmer. Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺
Someone recently sent me this video of wet wool being tested: czcams.com/video/LomSDfhUIHw/video.html&ab_channel=WeatherWool
Looks like I will need to revisit this topic again in the future. Potentially the wool I was using is different or maybe cos I had a linen base layer which was keeping me cold. Although Highlanders are described as wearing linen shirts, maybe these recorded observations were only in the made summer time where linen makes sense to wear. To me it makes way more sense to have a wool base layer and in that case maybe there is something to this.... MORE DATA!
There was a reason our military supplied woollen shirts and jumpers. Canvas jackets which have changed over the years to our goretex.
On your post id have to agree the Scottish families of the past were definitely a harder breed than what we are today. The thought of wet plaid is the body heats the water in the wool which keeps the body warmer.
If I have shorts on and there's a wind I'm back in for some jeans 😁.
Saying that being in Moray ourselves the changes in weather has been substantial, a lower dried out Spay river and less snow than when a lad.
Can't remember the last time my snowboard had a good run in deep snow. Not sure I'd be wearing wet clothing though 😁
It been a recorded fact that the American Indians of the Mountain and especially Plains variety would wrap up in a large Wool blanket and toss themselves into a nearby Snow bank for warmth through the US Plains nights.
Hey I know this is old but listen to this! There are Tibetan monks who sit in freezing weather and are draped with soaking wet towels and they sit and meditate in the cold air until the towels steam off and become complexity dry. I think part of this “myth” could be apart of old cold weather body techniques. I immediately thought of these monks when you started talking about steaming off the wool.
Hello, this isn't a myth. I have a friend that did training with the monks and they did fully dry and warm their frozen clothes through meditation techniques...@@humphreyjones1828
I thought of this too, and maybe the Highlanders also had this resilience of working with their energy and body in this way?
I suspect sleeping position is also important as I'd imagine that they'd be more fetal position shaped than straight plank. The idea being of creating a pocket of insulating air on the inside which is heated with the persons body and breath.
Think of it like a more engineered version of breathing down into your tshirt to essentially recycle the heat rather than getting rid of it; or a small fabric based igloo.
The hard shell certainly feels useful against the wind.
Honestly it's a shame Wales doesn't have quite the same level of historically praised clothing as the Scottish Kilt your stuff on the highlanders and their kit is fascinating.
Ever heard of the flannel
@@ioanjenkins7014 outside of the material not really (and the wash cloth)
@@ioanjenkins7014 that’s welsh!
The Welsh have always used wool to keep warm - however it was the English in 1782 that suggested to them that perhaps they should take it off the animal before getting inside...
Frozen wet blankets! Luxury! In wales when it snows we purposely jump in a frozen lake naked before bed and then sleep naked on a the most windy side of a hill. Frozen wet blankets are for the frail
If the wool had higher levels of lanolin it wouldn't get so soaked from dipping it. Only the top layer of the quilt would have time to get wet, and if it the instantly froze you would get a very nice block against the wind.
Lol, typical Scottish winter, where you can get rain, wind, snow, hail, sleet, possibly sunshine, perfectly describes Alberta's early springs and late fall. Great vid