When I first started hiking, I went mainly in the summer, so for a long time I had no experience of winter routes. And then one day, as I was already quite experienced, I was invited on a difficult ski trip to the Polar Urals.

We set out on the route and I had no luck from the start. On the first day I was sick. We stopped and rested for one day. When I felt better, I had a desire to prove that I was not the weakest in the group. I took on a lot of physical activities and tried to actively participate in the life of the group. It was a very snowy winter, at first we walked for a long time along the site with an ascent, then I volunteered to collect firewood – and all this without normal warm mittens. In the evening in the tent, I discovered that I could not feel the fingers on both hands, sensitivity had completely disappeared. By morning the bubbles swelled and it became clear that I had frostbite.

When you’re on a big hike, it’s impossible to return right away; it took us another week to get back to the city. All this time I was completely helpless, my comrades were assembling my tent and even tying my shoelaces – that’s how it turned out in the end.

At home, doctors wanted to immediately send me for surgery and cut off the frostbitten phalanges to prevent gangrene. However, fortunately, I came across a good doctor who advised me to do dressings with ointment on time and control the situation. As a result, after a month everything healed, but I had to spend all this time with a fever.

This is why it is so important to have the right equipment in good condition according to the weather conditions of the upcoming route.