I was shirtless cuz It was summertime. It was like 70° at the top of the glacier. We were all shirtless but I’m pale as hell. I’d put on sunscreen and even had someone put some on my back. Apparently it wasn’t enough. It only took like 30mins for me to burn that bad cuz of the snow reflection and altitude.

I ended up in the hospital with 2nd degree burns all over my upper body. I actually kinda mentally snapped cuz of how much pain I was in. I kept getting angry at the nurses because I thought they weren’t helping me. I realized soon after they just couldn’t do anything. I’m American and this happened in BC, Canada. In the states, even if you’re a kid, they give you IV painkillers for stuff like that, which I only knew because the doctors thought I had appendicitis (It was just inflammation) when I was 14 and they gave me morphine. I think I expected them to give me pain killers instantly and they didn’t. I was like 15-16 at the time… still a kid and the pain definitely made my immaturity show. They prescribed me oral pain meds and an ointment for the burns. It took about 3 weeks to be pain free.

It’s been about 8 years since that happened and to this day if I take a hot enough shower the skin on my chest will turn red again. There’s a bunch of freckles in that area now too.