Hot aches

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The hot aches is a very painfully physical reaction to the cold, most often felt in the hands or feet. When exposed to the cold, blood stops flowing normally to the extremities. Later once you warm up, the blood begins to flow again; this causes the pain known as the hot aches.

Andy Cave (2005 winner of the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature) describes it well in his award winning book Learning to Breathe:

"I had the hot aches... As the blood began to creep back into my hands I bowed my head. It felt like small shards of broken glass were being hammered into my fingertips."

In North America it goes by the more colourful name of the "screaming barfies".