For most people, the winter season is a time for winding down and relaxing at home without exerting yourself too hard, especially when it comes to outdoor activities. This is, after all, a time when the snow starts to fall. It serves as a nice thing to look at, but it’s certainly not easy to traverse on or over.
But there are some people who still insist on doing outdoor activities, from something as simple as going on a jogging run to going hiking despite the temperature and weather.
And that’s all well and fine, people are free to do what they want with their own free time. Plus, there are a lot of benefits of hiking during the winter that you will not get to experience in any other season.
But with every good, there is a bad. Injuries are, unfortunately, as common as ever in the winter. Some range from minor nuisance and when you’re doing more extreme activities like hiking, it can go as far as being fatal as well.
This article is here to break down some very common causes that might cause accidents and injuries to happen, and what you should be the most cautious of if you ever decide to go out about for something like a hiking trip.
Frozen paths
With the roads and sidewalks iced over, one can easily slip with one wrong step. During a normal walk, this is a bit of an annoyance, but at worst, all you will get is a broken bone if you somehow fall in a bad position.
This can get dangerous fast if you slip during a hike, especially if it’s in a more isolated or dangerous location, like a mountain. One slip near a cliff can be all it takes to send someone plummeting to their deaths down below.
It’s why even for something as simple as slippery floors, you should always watch your step. Gravity and momentum are not your friends here.
Frozen rivers
Frozen rivers are also dangerous, but not for the same reasons that frozen roads and paths are.
While paths that are frozen over are usually rock solid, especially if the ice encasing it is more than a few inches thick, frozen rivers instead operate under deception: what might seem like a thick sheet of ice covering the flowing water from above is in fact, as thin as a piece of paper.
So much so that even one step might be enough to crack open the entire thing.
This is not usually a problem, as you will not really be crossing rivers without a bridge in place anyways, but it is possible that one can slip on a surface and land on the thin sheet of ice that is the river, or cross the river using the ice as foot holding because the bridge, for whatever reason, is unavailable.
It is heavily discouraged to do this, because if the ice gives way, you will be greeted with water in freezing temperatures. To make matters worse, you will have to swim out or have someone pull you away from the ice, which needs to be done quick. The longer you stay in the freezing area, the more likely you will contract hypothermia or frostbite.
Falling snow or ice
Look at the sky! Falling snow or ice is something you need to watch out from up above.
And no, not the snow from the clouds, those come in little increments.
Hail might be dangerous, however, and if it starts hailing, it would be best if you seek shelter immediately.
Instead, what we aim to point out is the piles of snow that you might see on top of a tree or a roof. Think of it like mini avalanches waiting to happen. While they are unlikely to break and fall off their elevated surfaces, the possibility still lies there, and you don’t want to be the unlucky person caught under if they do.
It would be best if you avoided trees or roofs that contain a large amount of snow and might seem like they would break off at any moment.
Winter sports activities
With the advent of snow comes the popularity of sports that accompany it.
Skiing, ice skating, sledding, ice hockey, these winter sports are guaranteed to bring fun to the family, especially those who enjoy feeling the wind while they exercise. Plus, they’re just amazing experiences all-around, and something you can only experience during the winter, although some of these sports can be remade in an indoor scenario (like ice hockey and ice skating).
However, like most sports, this comes with a risk of injury. Broken bones and bruises are just some of the most common injuries to occur here, thanks to most instances occurring when the person goes out of control at a high speed and hits a solid object like a tree or a rock.
While you cannot completely eliminate the risk of injuring yourself (This is something all sports inherently have a risk of), you can at the very least minimize it as much as possible. Even wearing protective gear will do so much to protect you.
Extremely cold temperatures
During the winter, cold temperature is already a given, which is why many people dress in multiple layers and even wear hats or mittens just to go out, depending on how cold it is. But sometimes, the temperature can get really really cold, to the point that it stops being simply annoying and moves on to being quite dangerous and potentially deadly.
As mentioned earlier, it is too easy to get hypothermia or even frostbite with these temperature drops, especially if you get caught out in the open with insufficient winter wear. The worst-case scenario is getting caught in a blizzard, where not only is the temperature working against you, but so is the weather and wind.
This can be combatted by seeking proper shelter, drying oneself up, and warming themselves via a heat source like a fire, which is much easier to do when you’re close to your home. Not so when you’re out on about, such as if you’re on a hiking trip or in a more secluded area.