No Jack Allowed: A Real Hazard of Snowshoeing

With the temperature several double bogeys below zero, it was time to start a training regimen, 4:15 a.m., on a two mile undulating snowshoe course laid out on the fresh snow cover at a nationally known golf course close to my home. Four hours later, completing the session, getting home, showering, and, as Gomer Pyle would exclaim on the Andy Griffith Show, finding a “surprise, surprise, surprise!”

Mr. Jack — Frost that is, not Daniels — had found his way onto my toes and almost completed his bite, completely shocking me as I had never, ever experienced such a phenomenon. The sight of black and purple toes almost caused my favorite trail food, turkey sandwiches, to regurgitate right then and there. Warming over the heating grates and pulling on wool socks solved the problem and left no permanent damage — this time.

But the warning was received and noted . . . that is what practice is all about. Training helps one find weak points in the program and fix ’em. When NHRA nitro fueled Dragsters first went 300 mph in a quarter of a mile, they blew parts, hoses, all sorts of equipment. Each piece was methodically replaced and improved. Now they turn the same lap in speeds exceeding 330! They break new pieces, but keep improving and in the not-too-distant future one of them will break the 350 barrier. In a quarter of a mile!

This methodology works for whatever training you are pursuing, too. Find faults, repair, go longer, go faster, identify new faults through more practice.

I trail run in the warm months and snowshoe during the season because the exercise helps keep my — and how does one say this kindly? — maturely aged body standing. Certain muscularity can keep the skeletal system upright versus keeling over like a warm Gumby, imitating my demographic. Although I do not necessarily require six-pack abs, a few canisters would sure look better staring back in the mirror rather than, say, the results from decades of Coke ™ and the other Jack.

Losing excess body fat by losing toes or other important appendages is not the plan.

No Siree!

Never having the problem before is not the temperature’s fault . . . it is this snowshoer’s by not having experienced trail this long in this frigid of weather. Frost burn almost hazed me, not up in the frigid Superior National Forest winter, but less than a mile from the front door of my house in suburban Minneapolis.

What went wrong, and how does one solve this problem? One cannot train successfully for endurance snowshoe events if body parts are falling off. . . So, here is what I did:

First, I checked out my gear. My running shoes, covered by rubber booties (of the sort used to protect dress shoes from rain and such), strapped onto my mellow-yellow Atlas Race snowshoes, and the calf-high Outdoor Research gaiters, kept the abundant snow out of my socks. That system worked.

Second, my first layer of socks were Injinis, check, but my main sock, a national name recently acquired, seemingly was inadequate for the task I asked of it. I slipped them on, getting dressed for the session and never thought about it, frankly . . . that won’t happen again. Last season at the Tartan Terrific USSSA Championship qualifier, St. Paul, Minnesota, a minus teens day with terrific north winds, I wore Injinis and two pair of socks, one a thick wool which worked great. The 10km race of 75 minutes or so was significantly less time of exposure. Saturday’s training felt nice enough, but I didn’t respect the hours I would be out on the snow and chose the wrong ‘part,’ in this instance, socks.

How do snowshoe endurance athletes combat Jack Frost? In the state where the Arrowhead Ultra is raced, 135 miles of running, skiing and cycling on snow in extreme northern Minnesota, with temperatures that can stay at minus 25 F degrees for days, there is plenty of information to mine.

One way to train for the Arrowhead challenge is pull your sleigh around the Afton State Park, east of St. Paul (okay, it’s not a sleigh, but a sled one has to tow during the event carrying critical supplies necessary just to survive, literally, the race). Taking time to answer my inquiry during a tow break, Scott Wagner offered the following tips:

“Use an anti-perspirant to keep the feet from sweating. Use a separate stick for this for hygiene purposes (Thanks for reminding us, Scott). Some folks swear by putting aluminum foil under the shoe insert to help reflect heat back up into the foot. If you are in a controlled environment with frequent aid stations you can have extra socks or shoes in your drop bag if needed if one gets cold feet. If you are winter camping or at Arrowhead or Alaska, it is imperative that you experiment what works for you, or if it doesn’t, (know) how to trouble shoot the issue before you become too incapacitated to care for yourself. Lastly, you can put a Neoprene bike booty over your shoes . . . . “

Arrowhead 135 race director, Pierre Ostor and his wife, Cheryl, have a great deal of cold weather survival information available at their website http://www.arrowheadultra.com. Before you check it out, here are some of their thoughts:

“In extreme temps, the key is to not expose flesh at all or as little as possible. If you cannot cover your cheeks for example, put Vaseline to keep moisture in and help keep windchill off. Hydration and caloric intake are extremely important factors. Your body core temp affects your ability to warm your appendages. Don’t touch metal or white gas. Avoid getting wet or perspiration. Mukluks work well with snowshoes because they are breathable. Use the buddy system to remind each other to check face, hands, toes for signs etc. If you feel pain you probably do not have frostbite yet but may be starting frostnip stages and is good to check to make sure. It is when you feel numbness or nothing that you must really worry. Usually the area turns waxy white or pink and when rewarmed in water, changes to black for severe frostbite. “

Larry Pederson, President of the Upper Midwest Trail Runners, a group accustomed to spending hours and hours on trails in all kinds of conditions and temps, talked about some specific solutions for potentially ‘special’ problems:

“Ahh . . . frost nip. I just always try to dress in lots of lighter layers that can be removed as necessary with a windproof layer on top. For us guys some type of additional protection is needed for more sensitive areas, either additional layers, or they do make special windproof shorts just for that. This time of the year I always try to start my runs going into the wind so that you don’t end up out somewhere all sweaty and tired and have to run back into it . . . that will chill you down real fast.

An option that kept recurring is to stuff those little bag ‘warmers’ into gloves or socks. Several, like those advertised at http://www.zombierunners.com , promise 12 hours or more of heat. Some Twin Cities snowshoers like Tim Zbikowski and Jim McDonell swear by them. Jim is the guy you’ll see in snowshoe races, with frigid temperatures in many cases, competing in his summer running attire. These little disposable heaters are the secret.

Adam Chase, captain of Team Atlas, the snowshoe racing arm of Atlas Snowshoes, says the Canadians call these warmers “Shakies” since you do just that to get them started. His advice is that with shakies and mittens, one’s fingers should be comfortable. Coldest temperatures then use bigger mittens like those worn by snowmobilers. He should know, after all, since completing the Rock and Ice Ultra with minus 39 degree temps for 57 km of distance. Real life experience shows the maximum heat produced by these little bags drops dramatically about half way through their advertised life, so Adam suggests one take that into account for cold weather planning.

For exposed flesh and particularly the nose, Dermatone’s facial stick is most commonly used by Team Atlas. Combined with a Balaclava one should be safe.

Adam talked about acclimatizing oneself by “getting out in cold on a regular basis, just like you would train for altitude by going to the mountains or for heat by jumping rope in a sauna.” Think about it: first experiencing winter’s cold, one is, well, cold. By spring those same temperatures feel comfortable. You’ve become acclimated.

Interestingly, his suggestion is that snowshoers consider using shakies on the ankles, warming the blood flowing to the toes, as opposed to just placing the bags on top of the toes. His favorite sock is constructed of Merino wool . . . sheep don’t get frostbite! He advises that snowshoe racers insure their shoes and bindings are not too tight which can occur when wearing multiple pairs of footwear . . . circulation becomes restricted, not enough warm blood flowing through, toes become vulnerable to Jack’s bite.

No matter what Pink Floyd sings, there is no such thing as being “comfortably numb” in winter’s extremes. Numb is a warning to the active snowshoer and winter enthusiast – pay heed to its call by adapting these ideas to your own program and avoid Jack on appendages. Leave it in a bottle where it belongs.

Phillip Gary Smith snowshoes, runs trail and writes in Edina, Minnesota. He donates the royalties from his book, ULTRA SUPERIOR, about the Superior Trail Races, to support the work of the Superior Hiking Trail Association in building and maintaining trail along its 250 mile and growing trail system.http:// www.ultrasuperior.com.