WET CLOTHING
Wet clothing by itself may not be a major problem when all factors are taken into account. Getting drenched by a summer shower on a hot day feels great. Add in a cool wind and this may cause trouble. Getting wet at a rainy winter camp on the other hand is a more serious matter.

Winter clothing by it's very nature is bulky in order to provide plenty of dead air space - something that keeps you warm. Wet clothing on the other hand enhances heat conduction, something that you want to reduce in cold temperatures. Proper layering is important so that moisture is wicked away from your skin surface and allowed to continue on it's way to be released to the atmosphere as water vapor. When something blocks this pathway, the water is condensed and the item gets wet.

Wet clothing transmits heat better so the body loses heat at a greater rate. While being active you do not usually notice this as there is plenty of heat to go around. Problems start when the amount of heat being lost is more than the amount of heat being produced. Unless something is done to either increase heat production in the body or increase the insulation value of our clothes, we are on the way of getting cold. The body reacts to this by slowing down blood flow to the limbs and attempts to maintain an even core temperature. If this doesn't work then the body's core temperature drops. Sounds familiar? Should by as this is the description of hypothermia