I’m looking for something a little more in depth than “very quickly.”
I suppose they could urinate quickly enough (though it sounds risky), but what about defecation?
Also, did they use toilet paper or just “drop and run”?
Very quickly.
Maybe something like truckers use, except instead of going into a bottle, they have a little tube running out the bottom of their snowsuits.
Having peed in 0-20[sup]o[/sup]F weather, I wouldn’t dare try it in polar climes.
Sorry about that. Posted too “quickly.”
Inside a tent, where there is no windchill, a modern camp stove (or , I assume, an old kerosene lamp if you are asking about the earliest explorers)will provide enough heat to keep your privates from freezing while you squat. And some tents sold today have a flap in the floor for just that purpose.
Eskimos obviously survived for hundreds of generations before modern conveniences and electricity–what were you thinking, that they never “did it”?
Eskimos did not go to the poles. They were smart like that.
I am not a polar explorer, but it’s not unusual in Montana to have wind chills of -60 farenheit.
For urination (males) you just go quickly, pull out no more than you have to and put the wind at your back.
For defication, the same rules apply. You basically try not to expose yourself to the wind.
And it takes more than a few minutes exposure (under most conditions) to get frostbite. You hold it as long as you can, whip it out or pull it down, and go as quickly as you can.
I would guess that they used some version of toilet paper, for cleanliness.
Whitlepig, who isn’t looking foward to the part of winter skiing when my contacts start to feel like they are freezing.
The males testicles keep the “paypay” warm?
I think the answer is that polar explorers made a point of not going to the can in the windiest, most exposed spot they could find in a position with their rear end pointed straight up into the wind.
You can indeed get frosbite very quickly with a very cold strong wind blowing on unprotected flesh, but in a sheltered area, you can uncover long enough to do the deed, even in fairly severe cold. Remember your derriere has good circulation and is close to your body center, so it will stay pretty close to core temperature.
I’ve had it all hanging out below zero (F) and experienced no unpleasantness (to second whistlepig’s remarks).
And BTW toilet paper isn’t completely necessary when you have snow.