Dan's future as a foot model is in ruins today as the full extent of his frost bite has become apparent. Take a look at these disgusting toes (minus big toe nail).

The good news through is that it is healing well, and the story of how Dan got frost bite is growing and many a lady is impressed.

How did this happen?

Well, it largely came down to his ski boots. Usually on an expedition like this you are constantly moving and once you are active ie. moving and excercising, you stay active and warm. The problems come either when you are too warm, often from wearing too many clothes, from stopping for too long or from wearing incorrect clothing. If you get too warm, either through clothing or excercise you will sweat and sweating is designing to cool the body down. As soon as you stop, you can get very cold very quickly.

In Dan's case, his ski boots were a little too tight (fine for Alpine use) and he wore two pairs of socks on a few days thinking that it would be warmer. Unfortunately wearing more socks compounded the problem. This reduced the layer of air between his foot and the boot, a layer that would normally keep his foot warm. This combined with the regular stopping because we were usually flying the kites in very light winds meant that Dan was sweating more and then getting cold. This constant cycle led to frostbite.

We had exceptionally good clothing and particuarly boots but unfortunately the boots couldn't be worn when skiing. Once we realised Dan's problem though he stopped wearing the ski boots and only wore the expedition boots, got into the tent and sleeping bag and was feed a constant supply of food and hot drinks.

It might look a big grim but actually it isn't so bad, he's still smiling and we're already talking about the next expedition.