How Do You Traverse Across a Waterfall to Avoid Hypothermia?

[CasualCupcake]

I came across a waterfall inside of a cave, and in order to move deeper into the cave, I **had** to travel across the waterfall, there were no other paths around it.

What is the best way to travel across a waterfall, in order to avoid hypothermia? When I crossed the waterfall with all of my clothing on, the outer layers got completely soaking wet, and my body temperature instantly dropped to 0, which forced me to immediately build a fire on the other side of the waterfall to avoid dying of hypothermia. Running across a waterfall doesn't seem to reduce exposure time to the freezing cold water.

I tested out removing all of my clothes before running across. The result was that my body temperature still got dropped instantly to 0, but since I was not wearing my clothing, they weren't wet, and putting them all back on when I was on the other side started to warm me back up again. I'm not sure if it's still necessary to build a fire using this method, it seems kind of risky.

Is there a better way to travel across a waterfall to avoid hypothermia, without having to build a campfire immediately on the other side in order to warm back up?

[ajb1978]

Take off your clothes and walk through the waterfall naked. Put your clothes back on when you get to dry land on the other side. You will be Freezing and have Hypothermia Risk, but if you put your clothes back on right away that Hypothermia Risk will go away in seconds. Then just hang out in the cave for a bit to warm back up.

Maybe start a fire and cook some tea if you're in a hurry, but really all you have to do is place a bedroll and sleep an hour and you'll be warm again.

Edit: If you're looking for a way to pass through a waterfall and NOT drop to Freezing, there's not one. You just have to plan on dealing with the problem.

Edited June 7, 2021 by ajb1978

[acada]

I would like to add, there is floor covered by water in the Ash Canyon mine. If you step into it, your shoes go wet instantly (possibly socks as well, I dont remember). I always take them of when pasing it. One cannot avoid the immediate freeze damage, but at least shoes are dry and ready to warm my feet after crossing.

[hozz1235]

We need umbrellas added.