Day 11 - December 31 - Cruel Hindsight

Despite being couch-bound for probably the rest of this ski season, I was in MEC yesterday checking out skis and came across these toe warmers. I normally don't use these things so even in hindsight I wouldn't have brought them with me. In the future however, I might just keep a few handy if things turn out to be a bit colder or drawn out in time.

Hindsight is usually 20-20 they say and I've been trying to figure where things went bad for my toes that day in the backcountry.
Being my first time out in a few years and not wanting to slow the group I tried to be well prepared. I replaced my lexan avi shovel with an aluminum one (read http://www.telemarktips.com/TeleNews69.html) and finally bought a real probe since the ski-pole probes that I've been relying on (but have never had to use) are garbage. I had new boot liners custom fitted at the Intuition factory in Vancouver, bought and studied a topo map, carried a compass, headlamp, a transceiver of course, extra batteries, plenty of trail snacks and lunch for energy, some water, and I left a thermos with hot soup in the car for afterwards.

What I didn't anticipate however was the bitterly cold temperature, and time spent in that temperature due to 1. the bushwacking (oh the bushwacking), and worse 2. the long waits due to the (slow) pace of the group.

First the bushwacking. You could hardly call what we did that day skiing. There was very little snow. We bushwacked amost all the way up and bushwacked all the way down. The slopes that were supposed to be our ski out were still fields of densely packed slide alders. Stepping through, around, under and over these fields was both exhausting and horrendously time consuming.

Second, the waiting. I had certainly not anticipated the group dynamics that caused the waits on this trip since it seemed abundantly clear that a prerequisite to join the group was fitness, experience, training, and field tested gear. While all of us were fit enough, and almost all were far more experienced than I, not all of us were. This made for a few long cold waits as the leaders charged ahead (myself among them) and then were forced to wait for the rear to catch up. The pattern went something like this ski, ski, ski (bushwack rather), stop and wait. Ski, ski, ski, stop and wait. Despite the warmth generated while moving there was a net cooling effect on my core, so that by the time we decided to turn back at 1:30pm, I knew that I had to keep moving or I was in trouble. The ski down proved to be much worse for losing heat - in my haste to keep moving, I found myself alone - ahead of the group with no one following - I thought I had taken a wrong turn. Believing I had fallen BEHIND the group, I was alone, in unfamiliar backcountry, getting constantly snagged in slide alder fields with one hour of light and at least two, maybe more hours of bushwacking, the temperature dropping (later confirmed to be -20 to -25C for most of the day) and my core temperature falling fast, I lost all concern for my finger and toes, and instead was dead set on finding my way back to the car. Somewhere on that trip down is when my toes took the worst of the damage. As it turned out, the leaders had sent two skiers to follow my tracks and the rest fared similarly as I did on their own bushwacking adventure. I emerged at the parking lot 30 minutes ahead of the two skiers sent to follow me, and 1-1.5 hours ahead of the rest of the group. Thinking I had become lost, I was convinced that I had fallen behind the group.

So what would have saved my toes?
Basically it comes down to experience. It's been some time since I've been in the backcountry and I've never been in a situation where it was so important to conserve body temperature. On this day, when it was so important to conserve it, I wasted mine:
My down puffy, waiting for me in the car, would have kept my core warmer; I watched with envy as the leaders pulled theirs out of their packs to keep warm during the long waits. Strike one.
I wasn't the only one without a puffy though. Others without puffys, obviously more experienced than I, were certainly capable of keeping up with the leaders but chose to move at the pace at the rear, so that they would not have to wait (and while waiting, lose core temperature). Smart. Strike two for me.
I should have avoided drinking water. I wasn't dehydrated, only a bit thirsty. My water was ice cold and cooled my core each time I took a drink. I took two. Strike three.
All of the above might have helped to keep me just warm enough to avoid the frostbite. Maybe not. But chalk this up to experience. The next time I hit the backcountry I'll know the importance of staying warm. It's a tough lesson.