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.

  • Jimmybander@champserver.net
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    4 months ago

    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.

    • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      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.

    • Kalkaline @leminal.space
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      4 months ago

      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?

      • growsomethinggood ()@reddthat.com
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        4 months ago

        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.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          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.)

          • growsomethinggood ()@reddthat.com
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            4 months ago

            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!

  • cybervseas@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    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.

    • treadful@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      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.

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      4 months ago

      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.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        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.

        • protist@mander.xyz
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          4 months ago

          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

  • ThrowawayOnLemmy@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    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.

    TIL.

  • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    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?

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      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.

    • Dashi@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      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”

    • PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      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.

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    4 months ago

    Might seem like a stupid question but that’s Fahrenheit right not Celsius? I like how in the article they unnecessarily clarify that he’s talking about temperature in degrees, (a concussed duckling would be able to work that one out) but not the unit of temperature.

  • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Death Valley, frequented in the summer by those looking to be in contention for the year’s Darwin award.

  • Hellnikko@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    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.

    • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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      4 months ago

      Belgian. So probably no freedumb buck based medical system. Wouldn’t be surprised if those systems also cover citizens while abroad.

      • PixTupy@lemmy.ml
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        4 months ago

        They don’t, you’re advised to buy the most expensive travel insurance you can find when going to USA or Canada.

        • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
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          4 months ago

          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.

          • PixTupy@lemmy.ml
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            4 months ago

            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.

  • ben_dover@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    was he German? they love going hiking in sandals, and then need to get rescued from mountains.

    why does anyone go into the desert with flip flops?

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      4 months ago

      Humans seem to have a special mental gap when it comes to mountains. It’s warm and sunny so they go up in flip-flops and tiny short shorts, but on the actual mountain it’s freezing cold and often raining and they require rescuing because at some point they either fall over due to trying to wander around in what are essentially plastic slippers, or they’re too cold and they can’t carry on.

      We know that the temperature drops as you go up and yet somehow that seems to fail to register for people.

      • batmaniam@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        As an American scout, it’s also been funny talking to my friends years after the kind of things you take for granted. I had a friend that took a bunch of people up a moderate hike, but they wound up in what could have very easily turned into a not moderate fuck up. I’ve never really considered myself a “survivalist”, but I was seriously in error in assuming people knew the basics.

        • catloaf@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Yeah. Even completely safe hikes, like even a flat and level trail in your neighborhood can turn into a survival situation if you trip and fall and hurt yourself. If you break something in your leg, you’ll have to hobble or crawl your way to help. If you hit your head, you could fall unconscious or even die outright if you hit it just right.

    • ours@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Sandals and flip flops are very different things for walking.

      There are awesome hiking sandals that provide excellent support, grip, and all. But flip flops? Oof.

      I’ve had the misadventure of having to do a small jungle trek with flip flops (my super duper fancy hiking shoes were soaking wet). I managed but it wasn’t ideal. The Australian rainforest is not exactly flip flop friendly.

      • shaman1093@lemmy.ml
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        4 months ago

        I’m one of those special kinds of idiot where I pride myself on my ability to traverse any terrain in my thongs (flip flops).

        • ours@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          The kinds of things they do and the places they go in thongs in South-East Asia. It’s humbling.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      In the 80s, and I was 7, we went to Italy and my parents and I went up Mount Etna and I was wearing flip-flops, making it pretty much impossible to walk up a bunch of lava rocks without them slipping off and cutting my feet. My parents only thought I was complaining about the walk until my mother looked down and saw my feet bleeding.

      I haven’t been a big fan of them since.

  • Cosmicomical@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    That’s the kind of shit i expect to happen in a place called death valley. I will only go if escorted by hokuto no ken

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      4 months ago

      I went to Death Valley once on a tour and the minibus fell off the road. We had to open the door so that we could get some leverage so we could push it out of the small hole that it had fallen in and in the time that we had the door open the plastics on the door completely melted. We were all very hungover as well so it wasn’t really a very good experience.