Coloradans hit slopes as temperatures drop but doctor warns of frostbite ahead of frigid holiday weekend
On the slopes at Echo Mountain, Denver's closest ski area, the cold was blowing across the slopes as night skiing was on.
"This is like another level of cold," said Anola Sejour, out for her first skiing effort during a visit from Miami. "I have to do it, so I'm going to do it," she said.
Temperatures were in the single digits at the ski area at 10,500 feet. At times the wind would kick up and the snow would scatter.
"This is what we signed up for and love doing it. The colder the better," said Matt Feller, a ski patrol worker. He looks for people having trouble in the cold. "Once things don't feel normal, and don't feel right. Things are going number that's a good time to go inside and warm up."
Looking ahead at the approaching sub-zero cold, Dr. Arik Wiktor at the UCHealt Burn and Frostbite Center, is concerned.
"I wish I could not treat any patients with frostbite, and no one have would have to go through this injury because it really is terrible," he said.
There are three main categories most of the patients they treat fall into: the homeless, who are hit hard by cold weather, people with drug or alcohol problems, who may not realize they are exposing themselves to dangerous cold and outdoor recreationalists who can end up with injury if they are not prepared or end up lost in the cold.
"You have first, degree, second degree, third degree, and that depends on the level of the cold, and how deep it goes from the skin to the fat to the bones," explained Wiktor.
With frostbite, much of the damage comes after the cold. Blood clots can form in the affected areas. The good news is, that blood thinners are an effective treatment to help restore blood flow and keep tissue from dying. However, treatment cannot be delayed.
"The window for that is very short. So, if you are exposed to the cold, and you think you have frostbite. Try to rewarm yourself with warm water, and if you still feel that your hands or feet are cold or pale, or purple, then you should seek immediate medical attention," said Wiktor.
Hypothermia less frequently causes severe injury.
"The survivability, I would say, reasonable for hypothermia, just because it cools everything down, including the metabolic processes, the heart, etc., and the emergency departments around the Front Range are really good at hypothermia treatment," said Wiktor.
But severe cold that lowers the body temperature can compound the effects of frostbite.
"The body's natural response is to shunt the most important blood and warm blood to the most core areas," he explained.
It goes to the vital organs like lungs and brain.
"And so that's why the fingers, the toes, the legs, the hands, though vasovagal constrict, which means the blood vessels, will squeeze down significantly, so the blood flow gets diminished to the hands and the feet to try to keep the core warm. And again, that also perpetuates the cycle of damage."
For people who work in the cold, it's important to stay dry.
"I got to go out to the snow gun, I'm getting wet. I got to go test the snow, so I'm getting snowed on," said mountain ops worker Micah Shulman, about some of the colder nights he works. "We like to keep the snow cat close by and warm."
Ski area workers have face masks to pull over exposed skin and lots and lots of layers.
"I have a big puffy insulating layer," Feller showed CBS News Colorado. "And then under that I have a base layer made of wool."
Anola Sejour made her way down the mountain and took a tumble. Skiing wasn't so easy, but she kept at it, thinking about what cold is like in Florida.
"My fingers and my toes are going to fall off. It is so cold out here, I'm not used to this… we've had cold fronts these past couple weeks and they're like, 50, 60 degrees."
