English tourist has died while walking near Kalbarri in WA

[Papewaio]

Extreme heat kills walking tourist (http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/extreme-heat-kills-walking-tourist/2008/02/14/1202760456024.html)


A 54-year-old English tourist has died while walking in extreme heat in gorges near Kalbarri in Western Australia.

Police received a call at 1pm (WDT) yesterday, saying a woman had died on the loop walk trail in the Kalbarri National Park, almost 600 kilometres north of Perth.

The body of the woman and her partner were found a little way off the track, Kalbarri police Sergeant Michael Tite said.

...

The temperature in Kalbarri was about 42 degrees yesterday with intense humidity caused by Cyclone Nicholas off the state's northern coast.

I've done two 3 day hikes through the Kalbarri gorges in my last two years of school. So this grabbed my attention. The gorges are beautiful to hike in. I wouldn't go so far to say that 42 is extreme heat. The gorges have (fresh) water running through them most of the year, so either they have dried up or they wandered to far from the river. Most hikers take in enough water to last the hike and only dump drinking water if the rivers are up and they will boil their own later.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
RIP. Ironical paradoxes of life. It was snowing over here yesterday. :shrug:
.

[Fragony]

You are fimiliar with the effects of dehydration, 41 degrees may not be much for you but if you are comming from England that's quite hot.

[Big_John]

42 is like 105-110 fahrenheit for those of us using the british system.

hiking in that is pretty extreme if the humidity is high. maybe they weren't experienced hikers. heat stroke can kind of sneak up on you.

[LittleGrizzly]

42 degrees Centigrate (sp?) that is damn hot for any english person!!! anything over 30 is practically unheard over here, poor people that would have probably killed me as well!

[Viking]

I think I have may have experienced 30 degree C+ maybe once or twice. ~D

[Mikeus Caesar]

42 is like 105-110 fahrenheit for those of us using the british system.

hiking in that is pretty extreme if the humidity is high. maybe they weren't experienced hikers. heat stroke can kind of sneak up on you.

Just for the record, 'fahrenheit' isn't the British system, if that's what you were implying. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone under 50 (if that) who still uses fahrenheit.

[LittleGrizzly]

yeah the british use centigrate (sp?) but i think most weather shows will tell you what it is in farenheit after telling you the centigrate.

[Ronin]

It get to the 40's over here in the summer all the time....but we have dry heat....so it´s not so bad...

sad stuff what happened...but I don´t really see this as a relevant news item.

[Viking]

sad stuff what happened...but I don´t really see this as a relevant news item.

May I say interesting, though?

[Ronin]

May I say interesting, though?


uhm....yes....54 year old english man dies hiking in 40 plus temperature and high humidity....

it might even be Darwin Award material :book:

[Viking]

uhm....yes....54 year old english man dies hiking in 40 plus temperature and high humidity....

it might even be Darwin Award material :book:

It was in fact a woman. :clown:

[LittleGrizzly]

wasn't it a man and a women (a women and her partner) or was her partner still alive ?

[Viking]

From what I get, only one died, and that would be the woman.



Police said heat exhaustion might have been a factor in the death.

[Ronin]

It was in fact a woman. :clown:

It´s ok...the Darwin Awards don´t discriminate....

Stupidity sees not color, creed or gender. :laugh4:

[macsen rufus]

I've been in 40+ degrees a few times, and to be honest, I wouldn't even consider trying to stand up, let alone hiking in it. The British climate does not acclimatise us for that sort of thing :no:

[Big_John]

Just for the record, 'fahrenheit' isn't the British system, if that's what you were implying. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone under 50 (if that) who still uses fahrenheit.iirc, fahrenheit is the temperature measurement for the imperial british system of weights and measures (along with feet, pounds, gallons and such). only the US still uses it though, a left-over from our colonial days.

edit: there are probably a few inconsequential countries that still use fahrenheit also.

[ajaxfetish]

We get plenty of summer temperatures between 100 and 115 fahrenheit in my hometown, and though I prefer to spend midday's inside or well-shaded, hiking or walking is not a problem if there is plenty of water and shade to retreat to. We also have extremely low humidity, though, and high humidity feels like death to me, whether it's cold or hot.

Ajax

[Big_John]

We get plenty of summer temperatures between 100 and 115 fahrenheit in my hometown, and though I prefer to spend midday's inside or well-shaded, hiking or walking is not a problem if there is plenty of water and shade to retreat to. We also have extremely low humidity, though, and high humidity feels like death to me, whether it's cold or hot.

Ajaxthe humidity is the killer here. that said, most people would survive a hike in humid 100 degree weather if they are reasonable fit, drink enough water and have some sort of shade.

maybe she had some sort of medical condition, who knows.

[Papewaio]

You are fimiliar with the effects of dehydration, 41 degrees may not be much for you but if you are comming from England that's quite hot.

Plenty of people who grew up in Perth have died in the Outback. One needs to plan and understand the environment you are going into. And the less familiar one is the more planning one should do. I came from NZ where unless you are exercising you don't sweat. In Perth, WA you just need to be outside and you will start to sweat, if its really hot then your forearms start to sweat.

[English assassin]

I can see how this could happen quite easily. I consider myself quite an experience hiker, in the UK and abroad, but that's "experienced" as in with an instinctive understanding developed over the years of the problems of fog, rain, snow, high winds, and hypothermia.

The first time I hiked in Greece in the summer I soon discovered that sun and heat are very different issues, and most of my previous experience counted for nothing.

41C and humid would be pretty exhausting. Heatstroke could get you pretty quick, if there was no shade, and/or if you didn't have the sense to wait out the hottest poart of the day. (I guess. But windchill is more my specialist subject :beam: ) Even if you have water could you sweat enough to stay cool if the humidity was very high?

[Big_John]

Even if you have water could you sweat enough to stay cool if the humidity was very high?i'm not physiologist, but i think the problem is that the high humidity prevents the sweat from evaporating (or at least retards the process), so your body is not cooling down from the sweating. you probably sweat more-or-less the same amount in high-humidity, it just doesn't help like it would in 'dry' heat.

[English assassin]

i'm not physiologist, but i think the problem is that the high humidity prevents the sweat from evaporating (or at least retards the process), so your body is not cooling down from the sweating. you probably sweat more-or-less the same amount in high-humidity, it just doesn't help like it would in 'dry' heat.

Exactly.

[Vladimir]

i'm not physiologist, but i think the problem is that the high humidity prevents the sweat from evaporating (or at least retards the process), so your body is not cooling down from the sweating. you probably sweat more-or-less the same amount in high-humidity, it just doesn't help like it would in 'dry' heat.

But it feels so good! Love the jungle.

Core temperature is the key, sweating is largely relative to the individual. :sweatdrop:

[Papewaio]

I wonder how humid it was (Kalbarri is pretty dry, so for them it would be 40 to 60%)?

In Sumatran Highlands the humidity sat around 97 to 99% humidity. Just hiking for 20 minutes and your gear would be saturated. At lunch I was able to scull 2 large cups of cordial before eating and one during... then back out in the field my forearms would smell sweat from the sweet.

[Mikeus Caesar]

iirc, fahrenheit is the temperature measurement for the imperial british system of weights and measures (along with feet, pounds, gallons and such). only the US still uses it though, a left-over from our colonial days.

edit: there are probably a few inconsequential countries that still use fahrenheit also.

You're correct - according to Wiki, the United States and a few other countries such as Belize still use fahrenheit.

Hah, you live in a backwards third-world country ;)

[Big_John]

You're correct - according to Wiki, the United States and a few other countries such as Belize still use fahrenheit.

Hah, you live in a backwards third-world country ;)prepare to be bombed.