Jump to content

cold feet


letsroll

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 26
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

My fiance had an interesting experience with frostbite/frostnip this weekend while we were hiking Ruckle Ridge in the Gorge. We spent 10 hours soaking wet and wading through knee deep slurpee snow. We stopped twice to attend to her cold feet and they showed early signs of frostbite (i.e. cold to the touch, waxy white appearance, don't change color when you squeeze them).

 

When we got back down and warmed up, her feet looked pretty bad. There were black sploches in many places on the top of her foot, her toes were completely white, and there were a couple smaller black marks under some toenails. By Tuesday morning, the dark spots had spread and her toes were pink again but a bit swolen. No blisters or skin sluffing though. Our (and the doc's) consensus is that it was a mild case of frostbite.

 

So my question is this: Is it really possible to get frostbite in temps above 32 degrees? Technically, frostbite is cellular damage caused by ice crystals forming in the flesh. How can ice crystals form in above-freezing conditions? Is there some other affliction that might cause that kind of damage?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...