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.
I can’t feel bad for these people. Death Valley in mid-summer and you go unprepared. I suppose it’s a testament to our amazing transportation systems.
why do people keep going here. does nobody watch the local news there or is it all biden gone here’s herris, trunp maga pooble dooble and nothing actually local?
The average person has become accustomed to no threats to their life. You know how they tell you not to feed wild animals, because they become accustomed to it and can’t fend for themselves? It’s like that.
A more cynical way I’ve seen this put: we’ve made it too easy for stupid people to survive.
Technically, the reason they tell you not to feed wild animals is because they’re likely to maul you when you run out of food.
For those of you who don’t know Fahrenheit:
123F->50.5C
170F-180F-> 77-82C
200F->93C
109F -> 43C
So, basically it’s like checking how close the water in a pot on the stove is to boiling by putting your hand in it, then falling and putting all your weight on that hand as it sits on the bottom of the pot, and being unable to lift it again for a few minutes.
Something like that.
For those of you who only know temperatures based on internal temperature of cooked meats:
123F-danger zone of most meats, some bacteria will continue to grow at these temperatures
170F- all meats including ground poultry are safe to eat at this temperature, but most people would call steak way overdone at this temperature
200F- start of 6 pack number 2 for cooking brisket, depending on what texture you’re going for you might be able to pull it or drink another beer
109F- you trying to kill someone with that burger?
Thank you, it all makes sense now.
And for those of you who only know temperatures based on brewing tea or coffee:
123F: Probably insufficient for even fairly delicate teas. You could probably make “sun tea” at this temperature by leaving tea in room temperature water to be heated by the sun, but this is not recommended as anything below ~130F is considered the danger zone for bacterial growth.
170F: This is the appropriate temperature for delicate or green teas to preserve flavor, antioxidants, and prevent bitterness.
200F: An acceptable temperature below boiling (212F) for black teas and coffee where overextraction is minimal.
109F: Unacceptable for tea brewing, barely above body temperature.
We make sun tea by leaving it outside (90’s, 35c). In the sun. It’s a bit like cold brew, it takes longer to extract the flavors.
It’s also bitter so generally sweetened with lemon juice. And some form of sugar. (Honey preferred.)
Correct, I should clarify, you are likely safe brewing sun tea at those ambient temperatures because the glass of the brewing vessel will trap the sun and heat the tea higher than that, like a car traps heat on a hot day. You’ll likely hit 130F+ easily and be out of the danger zone!
This makes me want to see someone cook steak in Death Valley by merely using the heat of the ground.
Thanks for translating. It is so frustrating when people only use their weird localized temperature scale.
Hmm ‘tis an American news source
The Belgian burnt his feet in °c tho
Also -40F = -40C
I know what -40 feels like.
I’d still take that over the other end of the spectrum.
You can always put warmer clothes on. You can’t keep taking them off.
Yea, people look at me like a deer in headlights when I tell them that.
This reminds me of the story of the German family that went on a trip to Death Valley and ended up accidentally driving up an Arroyo they thought was a road, getting stuck, and dying of dehydration after they tried to walk to safety.
If you’re going to go to a new and strange environment, make sure you get some advice from a local and don’t push yourself. Many tragedies like this are caused by people making genuine mistakes, but they can be prevented. If he’d simply asked someone if walking around Death Valley in flip flops was a good idea, he’d be fine.
I live a half hour from Death Valley, and it’s not named ironically, it’s a death zone. It’s not really habitable for humans, you should never go alone, have full body covering clothes, heavy duty foot wear, lots of food and drink, and know how to get out from where you are at all times. It’s not safe, many people still die there every year. It’s just sad to me. I’m always sad to hear about anyone that dies or gets injured, we’re a little isolated out here and tourists are some of the best people we regularly deal with, I love tourists. They just aren’t always aware of the risks out there.
I just want to say I like the general tone of this comment. Compassionate, respectful, and warning.
I remember that! The write up by the guy who found their remains was pretty interesting.
One line really stuck out to me: ‘at that point they were in a survival situation, although they probably didn’t realize it yet.’ He really detailed out how, without making any obvious mistakes (from their perspective), they ended up in a deadly situation. From their point of view, it was situation normal… until it wasn’t.
The writeup is here, for anyone interested. I wholeheartedly recommend it, it’s a fascinating story.
Also it took over a decade to find their remains if memory serves me right, because all of the initial search and rescue attempts were done be folks who would know what to do in that situation. It took a dude putting his mind in “ignorant European” mode to find the skeletons, because basically no one from the south west would think to cross a desert to go to an old military base. Half those things are abandoned why would you try that, but that aint how it works in much of Europe.
Maybe don’t even go to a place called “Death Valley.”
“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and it melts your skin off.”
People almost dying in “Death Valley”?
People die there every year. People aren’t too bright sometimes.
Who wears flip flops to the desert?!
“sand? so it’s just like the beach!”
Have you ever even met a Belgian?!?
There’s a good reason their car numberplates are red, it’s so you can avoid the daft cunts 😂
Red number plates? Didn’t notice that, however they seem incapable of navigating roundabouts
Level of observation achieved - BELGIAN
The best part is no matter what health insurance he has (or doesn’t have), that’s gonna be expensive as fuck by the end of the year.
Belgian. So probably no freedumb buck based medical system. Wouldn’t be surprised if those systems also cover citizens while abroad.
They don’t, you’re advised to buy the most expensive travel insurance you can find when going to USA or Canada.
International travel health insurance is not that expensive in Europe. In Germany you can get it for the equivalent of around $15-20 a year. Then you are fully insured for a travel period of 8 weeks per year. Insurances like that also exist in Belgium.
True, I worked with travel insurance for a while in Euorpe. It’s still advised to get better coverage ones when going to North America, even several travel insurances, as the top amount in the cheapest ones will not be enough to even open an American hospital door.
Who the f enters Death Valley on flipflops?
Tourists
I wonder how much CO2 was released getting the Belgian tourist to Death Valley.
No one should ever do anything.
People need to reconsider modern indulgences. Things the people did without 100 years ago. I’m not talking about medical advancements, but this type of hyper convenient travel isn’t really necessary.
Commercial air travel is actually quite efficient per passenger.
Just a reminder that everyone preaching “individual responsibility” and not starting with the 1% responsible for the lion’s share of carbon emissions, is just carrying water for the 1%.
Travel itself isn’t necessary. This Belgian traveled half way across the globe to burn his feet in the desert. I won’t travel an hour to hang out with friends that can’t figure out discord.
We can demand the 1% fix their shit and fix our own shit. Not reducing our own consumption only feeds more profits to the 1%.
Do you also post comments on any article involving beef chastising people for eating it? Do you eat it? That has a dramatically higher carbon impact than people occasionally (or even frequently) taking a vacation.
Edit: from what I can tell, his share of the greenhouse impact of his flight to and from, is roughly equal to eating two 1/3 pound hamburgers.
~1650kg impact per flight each way / 200 passengers (low estimate) * 2 (to and from) = 16.5kg
Estimated 60kg of impact, per kg of beef produced / * 1/3 pound * 2 burgers = ~18kg of impact.
Edit2: found another source that estimated hamburger beef at 21.88kg of impact (the difference seems to be partly how they estimate the methane produced and its relative impact compared to carbon). If so, then it’d be 6 burgers for that round-trip flight.
Look mate, if I’m going to work myself to death generating profits for the billionaire class, I’m going to use whatever surplus value I’m allotted to live my life, and that includes travelling the world and seeing as much of it as I can afford to in the time I have.
And anyone who dares question my choice to fly economy to Europe/Asia/Oceana or wherever else I feel like visiting once per year, without first reining in the billionaire class that exploits me flying their private jets all over the world on a near daily basis, has revealed themselves to be a class traitor and my enemy.
Flying economy produces 33% fewer carbon emissions per passenger mile traveled than driving a hybrid vehicle (30mpg) without passengers.
The average American drives 14,500 miles per year in their car (26mpg average). A round trip flight between Seattle and Dresden (the flight this family took) is only 10,000 miles. So that flight produces about 3.3 tons of CO2 for one passenger, which comes out to less than 20% of the total average CO2 emissions per capita, and less than half of what is produced by driving.
Germans drive quite a bit less than Americans too, and produce about half the CO2 per capita than an American, so they’ve more than made up for any travel they do.
And there are people like me that live in the US, but live in dense efficient housing and don’t own cars and take hybrid/electric buses everywhere, so you can fuck off if you think I need to keep sacrificing my happiness while the rich burn the world down. If you live in an house or drive a car, you’re doing more damage to the planet than I am, so maybe take a look in the mirror before you throw a fit about one German family that visited America (and died here) 28 fucking years ago.
If you want people to make sacrifices to save the planet, go after the ruling class. If you come after the working class, expect to get what you deserve as a class traitor.
EDIT: The reason I don’t give a shit about the carbon emissions of the working class, is because the carbon emissions of the working class are just fine. The working class isn’t the problem, the ruling class is: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/co2-emissions-by-income/ <-- The top 10% produces 49% of all CO2 emissions. The bottom 90% produces 51% of all CO2 emissions.
So do we just need to close death valley or require permits in the summer or something? The safety issues seem to be compounding with the extreme heat.
I assume you have to pay a fee to enter Death Valley National Park, and like every National Park I assume the rangers at the entrance and signage all throughout warn you of potential dangers. You can easily get yourself in trouble at Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, or Big Bend National Parks, for example, if you don’t take the risks seriously and make poor decisions.
Sure but those other parks… they aren’t called “Deathstone” or “Death Mountain” or “Big Death”…
I feel like Death Valley is being very frank with you on the matter.
A group of European-American pioneers got lost here in the winter of 1849-1850, while looking for a shortcut to the gold fields of California, giving Death Valley its grim name. Although only one of the group members died here, they all assumed that the valley would be their grave.
I bet more people have died at each of the other 3 parks than at Death Valley NP. Maybe there’s data out there on that somewhere
Interestingly, the park service have a very nice dashboard to look at this:
https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/mortality-data.htm
However, it doesn’t give you the deaths per count of visitors.
This article claims Denali, to be the top park in deaths per capita.
https://www.backpacker.com/survival/the-10-most-dangerous-national-parks-in-america/
It looks like Death Valley is up there, but not the highest, due to motor vehicle accidents. This makes sense since going to death valley ends up just being a lot of time in the car.
Rangers can do their best to inform visitors and provide necessary services for survival, but at the end of the day, safety is one’s own responsibility.
People chronically underestimate nature.
They see some beautiful desert, a peaceful sea, or an idyllic mountain and assume that nothing so pretty could possible hurt you.
Forget about cute animals that are actually dangerous, any of the above can secretly store so much energy that humans are completely insignificant gnats, in comparison.
We’ve become spoiled by how much we’ve bent nature to accommodate us. We’re more fragile than we think.
I went on “a hike” with “a friend” (big quotation marks here because they’re no longer a friend obviously) that quickly turned into an unanchored free climb with no way back down with one another friend who was baked.
Our chance of significant injury or death was 90% at 2200 feet up, and we managed to get out of the climb and back down without so much as a twisted ankle. A literal fucking miracle.
When we went for food later, all I could talk about was how close we were to death, and how I’m never doing that again, but they seemed completely unfazed.
My best assumption? Brain worms.
Toxoplasmosis Gondii destroys the fear impulse in humans and causes them to engage in increasingly risky behavior, until it eventually kills them. It’s how the parasite procreates in mice (leading them to predators and wild cats).
Some people are just very bad at risk assessment. I’m glad you survived!
Others are bad at risk assessment by over estimating risk. They are boring buzzkills.
Much better to overestimate risk than underestimate it when the risk is death!
But how worth living is a life overly guarded?
Is “not wearing flip flops in death valley” or "not climbing 200ft up a tree really OVERLY guarded, though? 🤔
There’s a big range between “never takes any risks” and “takes stupid pointless risks.”
I feel like better temporary solutions could be found (than flaying your own skin on hot sand) like ripping your shirt off and tying it to your feet?
The burns probably happened in seconds.
So that is roughly 80-90 C, makes wonder if you can in a couple seconds burn your feet to a level where its skin falls off?
Scenario: You’re barefoot on a hot 90C surface that extends as far as the eye can see. Pain, panic, confusion sets in. How long before you gain the clarity of mind to dump your backpack, yank off your shirt and wrap your feet? With no assistance, because nobody else has any idea why you’re screaming in pain.
Yes, your skin could absolutely fall off in that time.
It is not like someone magically transported the sandals out of your feet. It should have been a more continuous process in which you were already probably long made aware how fucking scorching hot the sand is.
Group of pioneers in 1849: “This place is dangerous! Let’s call it Death Valley so people know to steer clear!”
Wow, people really wear flipflops there? That’s crazy.
Actually, going there is crazy too.
That’s what I’m thinking. Even in flip flops you should notice the sand being hot and think, “maybe I shouldn’t do this”
I went there in December and it was a perfect 67° F. This was especially great because we had originally come from below zero temps in Minnesota only a few days prior. In truth though Death Valley was not very exciting and I don’t think I would ever bother to return.
Don’t they do helicopter tours there? How does that work … and if/when it does, it seems like it’d be a dying industry…
Not in Death Valley as far as I’m aware, they do in the local area but not actually in Death Valley itself. I must admit though I’m a bit unclear about how far the really hot bit of Death Valley extends.
