People who go out in winter should have a good knowledge of frostbite. It’s essential to be mindful of the risks of frostbite whether you are practicing bushcraft and survival techniques or you are out for winter camping, snow machining, skiing, snow-shoeing, hunting, ice fishing.
Generally hypothermia is one of the biggest risks in the great outdoors but when the mercury truly drops, possibility of frostbite increases noticeably. Avoidance is obviously the most important goal and this has much to do with organising yourself and your garments. But an awareness of freezing cold injuries should form an element of the information with which you inform your backcountry activities. Here we have a look at what a freezing cold injury is and how to remedy it.
If you suffer with a freezing cold injury, essentially you have frozen flesh. This is otherwise known as frostbite.
Frostbite is usually a localised injury. Frostbite can be categorised as either superficial or deep. Superficial frostbite is limited to the skin and the tissue just beneath the skin. The first evidence of this are characterised as a stinging, pricking pain and the 1st visible signs are a pale area of skin, looking somewhat waxy, like a candle. Frostbite is most typical in the nose, cheeks, ears, hands and feet.
The concern in treating superficial frostbite is to stop it becoming a deep injury. First treatment in the field should be re-warming with body-heat from a warm part of the body. Armpits are excellent. Don’t use external heat like a fire. If it’s your own hands that require re-warming, you can start by placing your hands in your own armpits.
The disadvantage of warming your hands in this fashion is that opening your clothes and placing cold hands on your skin will only cause more heat loss from your body. Much better to consider, if you’ve a buddy with you, you should re-warm you hands on your buddy’s skin. You should put more garments on, have warm drinks and try to raise your activity rate to generate some body heat internally.
If it’s your feet that need re-warming, then you should re-warm them on your chum. As with hands, contact should be skin-to-skin. This will have a significant cooling effect on your mate! If there are more than two of you in the group, the others in your group should each take a turn to re-warm your feet.
If, after 30 minutes of attempted re-warming, the area is still pale, waxy in character and numb, then the frostbite should be considered as deep rather than superficial. Deep frostbite casualties should be evacuated to somewhere where they can receive medical care. As blisters appear after the flesh has been thawed (generally inside 6-12 hours), do not burst them.
Paul Kirtley teaches bushcraft and survival. Paul is passionate about nature, the great outdoors, remote travel and the abilities required to remain safe. This is something that comes across clearly during his bushcraft courses.
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California is where skimboards appear to make their rounds. They originated at Laguna Beach, and have worked their way throughout the country. Many lifeguards used this strategy in order to quicken their way down the beach so that they could get to other areas of the beach as quickly as practical. The skim board gained acclaim from there and finally became known in every surf shop around the country.
Skimboards have kind of the same idea behind them as surfboards. It does happen to have the same shape but is used in a similar way, but in much more shallow waters. When you are looking to buy a surfboard, then remember, they have a tendency to be at least as taller if not taller than the individual that it riding it. A skimboard is nearly half that size. Ideal skim boards will have to be chest high when standing beside them. The thickness of the board itself may alter anywhere from .375″ to 2″, with the most common boards being around .75″. The thicker skimboards are the more probable it's considered a high-flotation kind of board.
Skimboards have not increased greatly in popularity over the past decade or more as surfboards have, but they're simple to use, and even if you are not the strongest swimmer you can still enjoy riding a skimboard. This sport is practiced in the shallow part of the water, and you can still enjoy the water, waves, sand, and sun. All you have got to do is watch till the waves come in, throw down your board and ride them back out. The new waves will carry you back to shore giving you quite the fun backwards and forwards.
Like almost every activity skimboards come with their own set of hazards. Like so many activities that require you to throw your body around pulled muscles and soreness are quite common, at least till you get used to using those muscles on a consistent basis. Broken bones and splinters can also happen when it comes to skim boarding. Scrapes, bruises and other types of abrasions have a tendency to occur regularly too. Overall these injuries are risks you have a tendency to take with about any activity that you do. Who shy’s away from a sport for fear of wounds?
Skimboarding can be enjoyed almost anywhere as long as there's a volume of water. It is more fun if there are waves, but skimboarding can be done even on a lake. The expenses of skim boards are rather cheap, and they are far cheaper to buy than if you were to take a position in a full size surfboard. Skim boarding can be done by people of all ages, and you do not have to worry about the high risks that are connected with deeper water excursions. You won't have to worry about getting pulled under by waves, getting cut up on coral, bitten by sharks, or getting pulled out to sea. Taking up skimboarding is a way easier and safer way to enjoy the water. You and all of your chums will enjoy a fun day at the beach at a low cost.
Remeber to get a skimboard bag with your purchase. Read this brief overview of the history of skimboarding.
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