On January 1st, actress Lee Si-young, carrying her 5-year-old son on her back, testified that she climbed Mt. Halla in Jeju Island, is a hot topic. He announced that he “climbed safely without getting hurt,” but some expressed concerns about carrying a child on his back during a winter hike with many risk factors. In particular, it is difficult for adults to climb snow-covered mountains alone, so you need to be fully prepared for hiking.
Winter hiking with many risk factors requires full preparationㅣSource: Getty Image Bank
Safety accidents hidden behind beautiful snow scenes, especially in January
Winter hiking is attractive because you can see beautiful snow scenery, sanggodae, and snow flowers. However, the risk of accidents is much higher than in other seasons. This is because there are many unpredictable weather events such as heavy snow and strong winds. In particular, in January, when many people visit the mountain to make New Year’s resolutions, they must be more careful about safety accidents.
According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, a total of 13,864 mountaineering accidents occurred in the last two years (2017-2018 total), and 10,396 people were injured in these accidents. Among them, 216 were killed, 9,952 injured, and 228 missing. In winter (December-February) alone, 2,364 mountaineering accidents occurred (17% of the total), and 1,716 people (35 dead, 1,650 injured, 31 missing) were injured or killed .
In particular, in January, the number of mountain climbing accidents (860 cases, 36%) and casualties (637 cases, 37%) were high, but above all, the number of people missing due to distress (16 cases , 52%) was the highest. In terms of the causes of mountaineering accidents, trips and falls caused by tripping were the most common at 33%, followed by non-compliance with safety rules at 23%, distress at getting lost at 19%, and accidents due to personal illness at age 11. %. As winter is the season with the highest rate of safety accidents relative to the number of hikers, special care is required when hiking in winter.
Increased risk of hypothermia and heart attack
In the mountains in winter, the days get shorter and the temperature changes significantly. A sudden drop in temperature can lead to serious illness such as hypothermia. Hypothermia is a condition where the body temperature falls below 35 degrees to maintain normal body temperature. Hypothermia occurs when the body’s heat production decreases or when heat loss increases. When hypothermia occurs, blood volume decreases and blood viscosity increases, leading to poor blood circulation, which can lead to arrhythmia or heart attack.
For every 100 m increase in altitude during mountain climbing, the average temperature drops by 0.6 degrees and the perceived temperature drops by 2 degrees. As the temperature in the mountains is lower than on the ground, special attention needs to be paid to maintaining body temperature during winter hiking.
Initially, hypothermia causes cold, with severe shaking of the whole body, and a contraction of the hair-raising muscles called chicken skin occurs on the skin. Skin blood vessels constrict, making the skin pale and bluish lips, becoming lethargic or trying to sleep. Symptoms such as stuttering and poor judgment also appear. In severe cases, the pulse and respiration decrease and blood pressure drops, leading to memory loss and hallucinations, which can lead to coma. In addition, edema, pulmonary hemorrhage, etc. may occur, and cardiac arrest may occur due to fatal arrhythmia such as ventricular fibrillation.
If symptoms of hypothermia appear, change into wet clothes and raise your body temperature with a sleeping bag or blanket. Drinking warm drinks and eating high calorie foods such as chocolate or candy can also help.
As well as hypothermia, cold weather increases the risk of heart attack. If you immediately climb a mountain without stretching because it is cold, the sympathetic nerve is activated and the heart rate increases, like a sudden increase in heart rate. As a result, not only the constriction of blood vessels, but also the pressure of the restricted blood vessel increases, causing a heart attack. In addition to this, poor blood circulation increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke.
The most common symptom of a heart attack is chest pain. If you experience chest pain earlier than usual, dizziness, lightheadedness, or headache, you should quickly move to a warm place and change wet clothes. In the event of an emergency, such as cardiac arrest, without even feeling the preceding symptoms, first check if the patient is conscious and breathing, and if there is no breathing, perform CPR repeatedly or use an external defibrillator automated.
When the heart stops due to heart disease, CPR increases the survival rate if CPR is performed within 4 minutes. A total of 73 automated external defibrillators will be installed, including all shelters at Mt. Jirisan and Mt. Seorak, and the Visitor Support Center at the entrance to the main routes of the national park. Of course, in order not to fall into such a dangerous situation, you should do enough warm-up exercises such as stretching before hiking.
What to prepare for winter hiking and how to climb a mountain safely in winter
When climbing a mountain in winter, when it is cold and the hike feels long, it is more important than other times to prepare appropriate winter clothes for warmth and to hike in a safe way.
First, you need to check the weather, snowfall, and temperature changes of the mountain you want to climb before you start hiking, so that you can predict the appropriate course, hiking time, and necessary equipment. Also, make sure the walkways are closed or there are no dangerous parts. In the case of long-term hiking, you must check the weather trend through the Korea Meteorological Administration or the weather forecast, and it is good to prepare for weather changes by carrying a radio and thermometer.
If your clothes are wet from sweat or snow while hiking, your body heat is lost faster than dry clothes, making it easier to suffer from hypothermia or frostbite. Therefore, it is important to maintain a moderate pace and control the amount of water produced in the body. It is best to put a jacket or down jacket in an easily accessible place in your backpack so that you can quickly put on and take off clothes according to the temperature change, and wear several layers of thin clothes rather than one thick one. .
Before hiking, you must do warm-up exercises to warm up your body. The same is true when climbing a low mountain. Before hiking, you need to stretch your entire body for 15 to 30 minutes to fully loosen your muscles and ligaments to prevent injury.
In addition, even if there is no snow, the ground is frozen and the risk of injury is high, so you have to take care of your walking equipment. Crampons to prevent slipping on icy roads or paths, sunglasses to protect eyes from light reflected by accumulated snow, spit to protect legs and feet from moisture and snow, and pressure on the joints and spine to reduce the use of physical strength walking sticks, etc., that must be prepared to reduce the risk of injury by distributing the weight.
Falling accidents can be prevented by shortening the stride length by 70% compared to normal when hiking in winter. Wearing slightly loose shoes when climbing a mountain and wearing tight shoes when coming down helps prevent accidents and injuries by keeping the shoes and feet in close contact. Mountain climbing in winter has a high risk of distress, so it is better to go with an experienced person rather than alone.
