A Hiking Blog…

Frostbite is a condition when the human tissues freeze. This condition can happen to anyone exposed to temperatures below the freezing point of skin. Another cold related disorder is hypothermia, which refers to a condition of developing an abnormally low body temperature.

Mostly, frostbite affects the nose, ears, fingers, cheeks and toes of the human body. As these areas are exposed to cold without major protection, anyone living in cold climates can get affected.

The earliest specimen of frostbite has been found in a pre-Columbian mummy (5000 year old) that was discovered in the Chilean mountains. The first modern mention of frostbite came in the year 1812 by Napoleon’s Surgeon General, Baron Dominique Larrey during his army’s recoil from Moscow.

Factors causing frostbite

Factors like wet clothes, extreme cold, poor circulation of blood, wind chill and inadequate clothing leads to frostbite. People working in chemical laboratories if exposed to liquid nitrogen and other cryogenic liquids are highly prone to frostbite. Poor blood circulation caused by tight clothing or cramped positions or fatigue can affect the blood vessel and cause frostbite. Even diabetic patients taking trip to cold places can be affected.

People at greatest risk for frostbite are those who spend time outdoors, like hikers, hunters. Aged people and excessively dehydrated people are also prone to frostbite.

Stages of frostbite attack

The three stages of frostbite are:

Stage 1 (Frostnip) – “Frostnip” is the name given to first degree frostbite. It is a condition of superficial cooling of tissues without cellular destruction that makes the skin appears white or yellow. It may also involve some burning sensation and can be cured by slow warming of the affected area.

Stage 2 (Chilblains) – “Chilblains” refers to second degree frostbite. These are superficial ulcers of the skin that occurs on people exposed to repeated cold. There is disappearance of pain, reddening and swelling of the skin in this condition.

Stage 3 (Frostbite) – The stage 3 of frostbite involves tissue destruction and leads to hard and waxy skin. In this stage, the skin dies and swelling occurs due to lack of blood.

Frostbite Treatment

Treatment of frostbite refers to re-warming or defrosting the area. Always remember, if re-warmed tissues again refreeze, it will cause more harm. So, precaution should be taken not to warm up the affected area quickly unless further refreezing is prevented. Warming is done in two ways:

Passive re-warming – It involves body heat or ambient room temperature to help the affected person’s body to re-warm itself.

Active re-warming – It involves direct addition of heat to the affected person usually along with treatments included in passive re-warming. Active re-warming involves a lot of equipments and warms the affected tissue as quickly as possible without burning them.

But the best natural treatment is prevention.

Spending a lonely night amidst a cold forest calls for building an instant shelter with the materials in hand to survive the deadly night. Thus, learning survival techniques is an essential requisite for a daring adventurer. Survival is a decision and the techniques involved are meant to offer a fighting chance. Food, clothing and shelter being the 3 basic needs, the last is important on several fronts.

A shelter acts as a shield protecting you from rough weather and wildlife intruders, thus providing psychological comfort. Seeking the best shelter accounts for the following strategies.

•    Smaller shelters located near water sources are best to retain heat. Survivor of wreckage should better stay at a visible spot near the wreckage. Natural hazards like dead trees that could fall, cliffs and dry riverbeds could better be avoided.

•    A ventilated shelter facilitates fire making inside or near the entrance. Branches and boulders prevent animals from getting in as well as retain heat inside. Sleeping on a pile of grass or pine needles helps maintain body heat. Fir tree branches and snow offer great insulation from the cold. Stacked up heated rocks provide extra warmth.

•    Frozen water over thatched roofs act as protective insulator in freezing weather conditions.

•    For the rainy season, make cover on flat or sloped land to allow drainage of rainwater, instead of burrowing a hole on the ground and covering with boughs.

•    When using caves as shelter, its better to remain close to the mouth.

•    Metals should better be avoided for roofs, as they tend to reflect away sun while deflecting the rain and wind.

•    To avoid suffocating conditions due to formation of carbon monoxide gas, make sure you turn off the stove or lantern or any fire source inside the shelter.

Alternative shelter options

Since an emergency shelter is required just for survival and not for comfort, so anything could be used as a temporary refuge. While hollow trees could be used as sleeping burrows, an overhang could also prevent you against wind and rain. Dense tree branches act as instant canopy, as logs and rocks help check the wind.

Shelter building

•    On hand materials like bits of discarded climbing rope, ripped plastic sheeting, old hiking boot, ponchos, nylon hammocks or parachutes come to best use for building shelters in worst of conditions.

•    The basic idea is to spread something above you to serve as a temporary roof. A poncho or any kind of plastic sheeting could be tied to two or four trees to form a canopy. While a lean-to shelter can be made by tying two opposite corners of the poncho to trees leaving the other end to slant diagonally to the ground secured with stick stakes or heavy rocks.

•    A tent shaped shelter may be built by running rope down the center of the poncho between two trees and staking the sides into the ground with sharp sticks to create an A-frame. A one-person tent may be built from tree branches without even using rope. The prime concept is to make a frame and then wrap a cover overhead and to the sides.

•    Hanging cots could also be created by rolling sturdy branches into the sheet like a long scroll, leaving some exposed wood at each end, while lashing the cot to four trees a few feet above the ground. Added overhead covers give shape to an elevated platform.

Field Expedient Shelters are shelters built employing the same techniques, except for the roof that is built by branches and thickets in slanting manner for insulation and drainage of rainwater. It built by using Field Expedient tools when there is nothing else at hand. Well-insulated and easy to build huts are known as debris huts, while those built with evergreen tress amidst snow are called tree-pit snow shelters.

However, the most important thing is to remain calm and in control during emergency situations. Basic shelters are easy to construct and essential for surviving the harsh elements of nature.

Leave No Trace is a national and international program employing a combination of science and common sense for enjoying the outdoors responsibly. The program seeks to educate public land visitors about nature of their recreational impacts and the techniques to prevent and minimize such impacts. Apparently harmless activities may also account for critical risks due to unavailability of wild lands. The program is intended at protecting the limited resources and future recreation opportunities.

It employs certain principles to arrive at a desired solution of changing behavior through education, research and partnerships one person at a time. The principles include:

•    Planning beforehand
•    Traveling and Camping on Durable Surfaces
•    Proper disposal of wastes and found materials
•    Minimizing campfire impacts
•    Consideration towards wildlife and other visitors

The Origin of ‘Leave No Trace’

The origin may be traced back to the 1970s and 80s when various groups started to advocate for the first time the minimum impact camping techniques. Thus, a national education program was developed in 1990 by the joint effort of United States Forest Service and National Outdoor Leadership School that was later shaped into “Leave No Trace” in 1994. It was due to the act of wilderness advocates who turned wilderness ethics 180 degrees, from ‘woodcraft’ to ‘Leave No Trace’. Dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and active stewardship by all people worldwide, the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is an international nonprofit organization that provides training in every state of U.S. and over 5 other countries.

Membership of ‘Leave No Trace’

Supporting this noble movement calls for subscribing as a member. Membership is easy and guarantees the following benefits:

•    Personalized Membership card
•    One-year subscription to the ‘Leave No Trace’ Canada newsletter
•    Bumper sticker and reference card
•    Pocket Guide
•    10% discount on ‘Leave No Trace’ educational materials and merchandise
•    Ethical satisfaction

Types of membership include:

•    Hiker Membership
•    Backpacker Membership
•    Tripper Membership
•    Explorer Membership

Training and Courses

Master Educator Course – The ‘Leave No Trace’ Master Educator Course is a five days comprehensive course providing overview of ‘Leave No Trace’ skills and ethics through practical application in a field-based setting. Master Educator Instructors teach through skits, discussions and hands-on activities. Successful graduates are eligible to train others the same course and hold awareness workshops.

Two-day Trainer Courses - Designed for educators, guides, agency employees, and other outdoor professionals, the two-day Trainer Courses ensure graduates to teach the ethics to clients, friends and family.

Awareness workshop – 30-minute chats or a full-day awareness workshop is also conducted from time to time.

State Advocate Program – The State Advocate Program assists in building communities of volunteers and educators, state-by-state.

Module based program - A module based program known as PEAK helps promoting environmental awareness among kids. Creation of “Packing with PEAK Fund” enabled to make the program available to youth-serving organizations across the country for free.

Apart from these courses, the center also facilitates a tailor made course called the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Program.

Thus, this educational and ethical program helps to understand and practice minimum impact skills and ethics.

Altitude sickness, also known as Acute Mountain Sickness or AMS can occur to anyone at heights around 2,500m above sea level. But serious sickness occurs at higher altitudes of above 2,500m. It can happen to even physically fit people who are in a hurry to ascend heights. If you ascend up quickly, you are more likely to have altitude sickness than if you ascend slowly through road travel.

High altitudes

High altitudes refer to heights around 2,500 to 3,500m. But altitude sickness can occur even at a height between 1,500 and 2,500m. Some very popular examples of high altitudes are Cusco, Peru (about 3,300m) and La Paz, Bolivia (about 3,600m).

Symptoms of altitude sickness

You are likely to experience altitude sickness from six to twenty four hours after you have reached the place of high altitude. If you are suffering from altitude sickness, then you will most likely feel:
•    A headache
•    Sick or vomit
•    Irregular breathing when sleeping
•    An increased heart rate
•    Tired
•    Lack of appetite
•    Dizzy
•    Difficulty in sleeping

All these symptoms usually start to relieve in about two days when your body gets used to the high altitude. But if your symptoms get worse, then it is better to descend to lower altitude as soon as possible.

Serious cases of altitude sickness

Altitude sickness is very common but in some rare cases, it can lead to two serious medical conditions that can be fatal:
•    High altitude cerebral oedema (HACE) – It is a condition in which excessive fluid collects in the brain and causes it to swell.
•    High altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPE) – In this condition, fluid collects in the lungs.

Both these conditions can occur if you ascend above the height of 4,000m.

Factors leading to altitude sickness

There are certain factors that can trigger altitude sickness:
•    If you are unfit
•    If you rapidly ascend to high altitude
•    If you had altitude sickness before
•    If you have a lung infection
•    Do strenuous activity or exercise at high altitude

Treatments

If you have mild altitude sickness, it is better not to ascend further. In such a condition, you should:

-    Take painkillers for headache
-    Rest
-    Drink plenty of water
-    Take medicines like cinnarizine (eg stugeron) or promethazine (eg avomine), which are very effective against dizziness and nausea.

But if the symptoms become sever, then inhaling oxygen is the best treatment. You can get more oxygen in the air you breathe if you descend by 500 to 1000m. You can also carry oxygen tanks or hyperbaric treatment with you. This is important because lack of oxygen is the main reason why people suffer from altitude sickness.

The best way to avoid altitude sickness for a climber’s initial journey is to stay away from a height of 8,000 feet or above.