Frostbite Severity

[AbacusAvenger]

One of the first things taught about winter survival (from various sources) is to beware of freeze-thaw-refreeze cycles. Perhaps there should be varying degrees of frostbite in The Long Dark:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/2669 ... CALLS.html

Relevant excerpt:

A fisherman froze his feet while ice fishing on a lake. He built a fire and thawed them out, then refroze them while hiking back to his car that evening. He eventually lost eight toes. Frostbite is the freezing of tissue. Surface skin goes through several phases before this occurs. The freezing process requires outside temperatures below freezing, at least 28 degrees Fahrenheit and another authority says between 22 and 24 degrees F before tissue will freeze.

Deeply frostbitten flesh will not indent when pressed upon and will feel solid, like a piece of wood. Superficial frostbite will indent when pressed upon. Both will be waxy looking and cold when felt. You can't judge the degree of damage until after rewarming has taken place. Even physicians have to wait until thawing has occurred before judging as to the extent of the injury.

Frost-nipped hands can be treated anytime, anywhere, by having the victim breathe through cupped hands or by putting the hands in the armpits. If left untreated, it can progress to frostbite.

The story I always heard was of a mother and her children travelling to/from the store to buy food during a blizzard, only to inadvertently freeze, thaw and refreeze their extremities. But I can't find a reference to it right now.

[Jaredtherocker]

+1 Very cool... Maybe frostbite could go into effect from 'freezing to death' but have different penalties. Like you'd have to be careful when you travel from warm locations to avoid frostbite. Anyways, still a cool thought.