this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2024
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I'm indigenous in northern Ontario and in the winters, especially late winter and the start of spring when we have lots of sun and lots of snow everywhere, snow blindness is no joke.
I've had snow blindness three times as a stupid little kid. It's like having an uncontrollable itch behind your eyeballs. There's nothing you can do about it and you can't keep your eyes open either. The most comfortable thing to do is close your eyes and keep them closed until it gets better ... which is usually a day or two ..... which makes you literally blind during that whole time.
We live just north enough to deal with some risk to snow blindness but south enough that it isn't usually a problem for us. We live in the trees and forest so the light is always broken up even on the brightest days. The Inuit north of us have it worse, they live in the wide open unbroken snow and sun all winter long.
It isn't a problem unless you're a dumb kid that doesn't want to listen to his parents.
That sounds awful, but also that's kind of fascinating? I've never heard an explanation of what it feels like. And what kid entirely listens to their parents when it comes to being outside? That's where we learn our best, painful lessons, yeah?
I lived in the mountains in Colorado for a most of my childhood into mid-teens, and had some absolutely insane snow goggles for the few times I was allowed to go skiing (my mother was terrified I was going to injury myself, and couldn't compete in screw-up-your-child athletics), and I definitely remember that if you went out without your goggles, your eyes would hurt so quickly, you'd sure as heck remember to put them on. I guess that makes sense for Colorado, since it's in a weird position for, uh, extreme sun.
It is called "snow blindness" in norway. I spent a day with the medics, with salt water running into my eyes. And 2 months of very dark shades and pain killers.
Kind of like having sharp gravel under the eyelids, moving them was horrible.