Frostbite First Aid on Murree, Naran and Skardu Snow Trips (Video)

Transcript

What's the one mistake that makes frostbite worse? Stay for the answer.

What's the one mistake that makes frostbite worse? Stay for the answer.

Frostbite First Aid for Snow Trips

Here's the short, honest answer, and one tip most people miss.

Frostnip first, frostbite next

Frostnip is the warning shot. Skin feels freezing cold, stings, then goes numb, and looks red or pale. It's common on cheeks and fingertips after snowball fights, and it recovers fully once warmed. Frostbite is when tissue actually freezes. Skin turns hard, waxy, white or blotchy, and feeling disappears. After warming, it may swell and blister. And here's the trap: frozen toes don't hurt, so nobody notices until it's bad.

Wet feet cause most injuries

Now, the part most people miss: water steals heat from skin far faster than cold air does. Day trippers arrive in canvas sneakers or formal shoes, step into slush at the first viewpoint, and spend six hours with soaked socks. Add a shoe laced tight over two pairs of socks, and toes have both cold and poor blood flow. Rented snow boots are often damp inside. Check them with your hand before putting them on.

The two-sock bag trick

Here's my favourite habit. Pack two spare pairs of wool socks per person in a zip bag, plus a plastic carrier bag for the wet pair. Change socks the moment feet feel damp, not when you get back to the hotel. It takes two minutes in the car and prevents most foot cold injuries on a day trip. Think about it: you wouldn't sit in wet clothes for six hours, so why let your toes?

First aid, step by step

So what should you do? First, get the person indoors, into the car, or behind a wall out of the wind. Remove wet socks, gloves, rings and tight boots from the affected part. Then warm the whole person: dry clothes, a blanket, warm sweet chai or water. No alcohol. For fingers, tuck them into armpits. For a friend's feet, hold them against your stomach or in your lap. Body heat is the gentlest rewarming there is.

Kids and elders need watching

Children lose heat quickly and won't report numb toes while having fun. Their mittens get wet within minutes. Check their hands and feet every half hour, bring them into the car for a warm-up break, change mittens and socks, and look at the skin. Older relatives, like your nani or ammi, may already have reduced feeling in their feet, so they won't notice damage. Check their feet at the end of the day too.

Stuck in snow? Heater danger

Every few winters, families stranded on snowbound roads sit in cars with the engine running for warmth. If snow blocks the exhaust pipe, carbon monoxide can fill the car. It has no smell. Early symptoms, headache, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, look exactly like tiredness from a long cold day. If anyone gets a headache, confusion or vomiting, turn the engine off, open doors for fresh air, and call for help.

Run engine 10 minutes per hour

And this is where it gets interesting. The safe way to run a car heater in snow is in short bursts, about ten minutes each hour, not all night. Open a window slightly on the side away from the wind. And never sleep with the engine running in a car buried in snow. Ten minutes of warmth, then off. It beats a silent, invisible gas filling the cabin while everyone sleeps.

Keep feet warm in snow

Now, how do you keep feet warm in the first place? Waterproof boots, one size bigger than usual, so thick socks fit without squeezing. Wool, not cotton socks, since cotton holds moisture against your skin. Keep laces loose, keep moving your toes, and eat and drink regularly, because a fed, hydrated body makes more heat. And leave the snow before dark, when temperatures drop sharply.

When to get help now

Here's when you stop playing first aider and get real help. Call emergency services, 1122 in Pakistan, 112 or 108 in India, or go to the nearest hospital if skin is hard and frozen, blisters appear, feeling doesn't return after warming, or skin turns dark. Hypothermia is an emergency too: constant shivering, slurred speech, slow breathing, unusual sleepiness. Keep the person warm, talking and lying flat while help comes.

The one mistake to avoid

Here's the one mistake. If you're still on the mountain and the frozen foot will have to walk through snow again to reach the jeep, do not thaw it there. Tissue that thaws and then refreezes is damaged far worse than staying frozen. Keep it protected and dry, get to the vehicle or the hotel, then rewarm once and for good. It feels wrong to delay, but that decision can mean the difference between recovery and lasting damage.

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Read the full guide

The full guide is on thecareonline.com. General information only, so check with your doctor for your own case.