Letterman a survival lesson

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/02/2004 (8198 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG’S so-called Prof. Popsicle says his appearance this week on Late Night with David Letterman is more about education than entertainment.

Gordon Giesbrecht, who teaches thermophysiology at the University of Manitoba, will stand in a tank of ice water at the corner of Broadway and 53rd Avenue in New York for 15 minutes Thursday afternoon.

The demonstration, which will be shown on Letterman that night, is meant to illustrate Giesbrecht’s message that anyone who falls through ice will not perish from hypothermia in a few minutes, contrary to popular belief.

“Five million people will get the message,” said Giesbrecht, who returned to Winnipeg yesterday from a conference in the U.S.

“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

Giesbrecht says he was initially leery of accepting Letterman’s offer because it would be perceived as a publicity stunt. But he has received assurances from the show’s producers that they are interested in the science and practical lessons that can be learned from his demonstration.

He says he was first approached by the show a year ago January after he was profiled in Outside magazine.

The offer had nothing do to with his highly publicized trek last month across Lake Winnipeg in sub-zero temperations.

On Letterman, he plans to wear light ski clothing while he stands in a tank of ice water nearly two metres deep. He will also demonstrate how to crawl out of water onto an ice surface and how to rewarm properly.

He will be accompanied by two Winnipeg colleagues, his long-time collaborator, Dr. Gerald Bristow, and technician André Worms.

The demonstration is identical to the one he did for Canada’s Discovery Channel two years ago. He has shown that video to smaller groups on numerous occasions.

morley.walker@freepress.mb.ca