549
submitted 4 months ago by Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

According to a National Park Service news release, the 42-year-old Belgian tourist was taking a short walk Saturday in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in 123-degree heat when he either broke or lost his flip-flops, putting his feet into direct contact with the desert ground. The result: third-degree burns.

"The skin was melted off his foot," said Death Valley National Park Service Ranger Gia Ponce. "The ground can be much hotter — 170, 180 [degrees]. Sometimes up into the 200 range."

Unable to get out on his own and in extreme pain, the man and his family recruited other park visitors to help; together, the group carried him to the sand dunes parking lot, where park rangers assessed his injuries.

Though they wanted a helicopter to fly him out, helicopters can't generate enough lift to fly in the heat-thinned air over the hottest parts of Death Valley, officials said. So park rangers summoned an ambulance that took him to higher ground, where it was a cooler 109 degrees and he could then be flown out.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] frickineh@lemmy.world 226 points 4 months ago

I feel like if you go to Death Valley, in July, when we're having record-breaking temps all over the world, and you wear flip flops...look, I'm not saying anyone deserves to lose a foot just because they're making stupid choices, but maybe like, a toe. Because man, that is wildly stupid.

[-] ConstipatedWatson@lemmy.world 40 points 4 months ago

While I fully agree with you, for a second there I wondered what could have been proper clothing and footwear for this type of trip. I normally wear Chaco sandals in the Summer and they seem to be sturdier and more appropriate footwear for this walk and then I thought they could melt too, so... Hiking boots? Those would possibly not melt, so maybe they would have been appropriate, but I'm not sure...

A strange game, the only winning move is not to play... You don't go to Death Valley in the boiling hot summer (I myself have been in June of many years ago and it was a chillier day)

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 77 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It’s Death Valley.

You want at least mid-rise hiking boots. Trail hiking shoes might be okay, except in the case you step on a rattler.

The boots aren’t full proof protection but they’re much better than a sock.

The biggest reason to go down to shoes is if you plan to be moving over boulders- it’s pretty hard to edge.

Biggest things are that they’re comfortable, sized right and sturdy enough to not fall apart. (Also? Bring lots of socks. Swapping socks frequently will help with the perspiration)

(ETA) For general clothing avoid dark or bright colors- light tan is best, wear light breathable pants and similar shirt. Id recommend avoiding cotton (it sucks for wicking,) and go with linen. I recommend long sleeves but a lot of that has to do with me having 3 shades- white, pink and burnt.

Hat and sunglasses that are comfortable.

Also? The biggest rule? Tell someone where you are going, what your route is, and when you expect to get out. I recommend checking in and out with the parks service cuz they’re gonna be the ones looking for you.

[-] VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works 13 points 4 months ago

You've gone straight to hiking though and are talking about crossing boulders, thats a world away from what happened here. It says he took a short walk from the carpark, likely a footpath to a scenic view, the path is probably suitable for kids and old people. It did say he was with family and other tourists carried him to the carpark so this was not a trek or hike, it was a brief walk

I think the story here isn't 'idiot fails to prepare for hike' it's more like 'hot sand can be more dangerous than you think' which is important because I would never go hiking unprepared but I would take a short walk to look at the view without really considering the possibility that the sand will melt my feet off.

[-] weeeeum@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

Yeah, this is akin to wearing a bikini to Antarctica.

[-] raef@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

"some folks will never lose a toe; then again some folks'll. Like Cletus the slackjawed yokel. "

[-] Jayb151@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Aye! What's goin' on on this side!?

[-] AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 months ago

Yeah even if he had the flip flop he'd still be leaving with burns when the flip flop flips and flops some sand between the shoe and his foot.

this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
549 points (100.0% liked)

News

23616 readers
2960 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS