I'm leaving in a couple days for Haiti with Medical Student Missions to help teach a Wilderness First Responder course and work in a cholera clinic. Along with a small wad of clothes, running shoes, and Blundstones, here's the essentials crammed in a Patagonia MLC wheeled backpack.
Ben's DEET mosquito juice: combined with permethrin-treated clothing, this is nearly 100% mosquito-protective.
Ex-Officio bug-retarding, sun-protective shirt and Patagonia GI Pants, both sprayed with Ben's permethrin mosquito repellent.
Alcohol hand sanitizer.
Potable Aqua chlorine dioxide water purification tablets.
Sawyer SP140 water bottle with 0.1 micron filter.
Rx: Chloroquine antimalarial, azithromycine and ciprofloxacin antibiotics, loperamide.
Petzl Tikka headlamp.
Docs: Passport, emergency credit card, SOS International evac insurance, emergency contact list.
Sunscreen, sun hat.
Cocoon silk seeping bag liner, also nuked with permethrin.
Telecommunications: Dell Mini 10, iPhone, Panasoinc Lumix camera.
Stethoscope, nitrile gloves, scrubs
From my Outside Blog
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Wilderness Medicine Courses Demystified
From My Outside Blog
Summer adventure is nigh so arm your pack with a good first aid kit like one from Adventure Medical Kits. And learn how to use it. Here's the scoop on wilderness medicine courses.
CPR is a vital 3-4 hour class, endorsed by American Red Cross or American Heart Association.
Wilderness First Aid is a one- or two-day course that teaches basics of wound care and splinting. If you have time, find a more-detailed, three- or four-day Advanced Wilderness First Aid.
Wilderness First Responder, aka "woofer," is a 70-hour essential for guides, rangers, rescuers and travelers on expeditions to remote lands.
Wilderness Emergency Medicine Technician, or W-EMT, clocks in at 180-hours, and prepared one for a professional career in firefighting, ambulance response, and backcountry rescue.
Docs, nurses and paramedics can take a weekend-long Advanced Wilderness Life Support (sometimes called Wilderness Advanced Life Support); and they can get continuning medical education from a number of medical conferences.
For details, check Wilderness Medicine Institute, Wilderness Medicine Associates, Wilderness and Travel Medicine, Remote Medical International, Wilderness Medicine Outfitters and many others
Summer adventure is nigh so arm your pack with a good first aid kit like one from Adventure Medical Kits. And learn how to use it. Here's the scoop on wilderness medicine courses.
CPR is a vital 3-4 hour class, endorsed by American Red Cross or American Heart Association.
Wilderness First Aid is a one- or two-day course that teaches basics of wound care and splinting. If you have time, find a more-detailed, three- or four-day Advanced Wilderness First Aid.
Wilderness First Responder, aka "woofer," is a 70-hour essential for guides, rangers, rescuers and travelers on expeditions to remote lands.
Wilderness Emergency Medicine Technician, or W-EMT, clocks in at 180-hours, and prepared one for a professional career in firefighting, ambulance response, and backcountry rescue.
Docs, nurses and paramedics can take a weekend-long Advanced Wilderness Life Support (sometimes called Wilderness Advanced Life Support); and they can get continuning medical education from a number of medical conferences.
For details, check Wilderness Medicine Institute, Wilderness Medicine Associates, Wilderness and Travel Medicine, Remote Medical International, Wilderness Medicine Outfitters and many others
Monday, April 18, 2011
Cycling, Portland style
For the fifth year, hundreds turned out for one of the steepest road rides in the nation: Ronde PDX, officially known as De Ronde Van West Portlandia. The route: 47 miles, 7,700 vertical feet ascent, 26% max grade (twice). No prize but honor, no fee but massive calories, no support but what comes from your bibs, no sanction, no sponsors. Only the lion of Flanders mark the route. Yes, Portland has perhaps the largest cyclocross series in the world and yes, it's one of the most bike friendly cities in the nation. But the toughest hill climb too? Anyone got anything steeper?
From my Outside blog
From my Outside blog
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Big Avalanche on Hood
If you've ever grumbled about chairlifts delayed spinning for storm recovery, or sidecountry gates being closed, or even inbounds uphill traffic curtailed, know it's all about safety. A big inbounds avalanche slid yesterday at Mount Hood Meadows, starting probably from 10,000 feet on the Wy'East Face (Newton Clark Headwall) and extending below the Heather Canyon Chairlift load station, at 5,000 feet. It likely slid on the Martin Luther King Day ice, the solidified 6 inches of rain that fell during a 24 hours stretch in January. Check out the 40-foot-deep debris at the chairlift here or an overview of the slide path from a January 2010 avalanche here. Now a good time to be thanking lift operations and ski patrol that no one was hurt.
From my blog on Outside. Be safe.
From my blog on Outside. Be safe.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Top 5 Wilderness Medicine & Safety Trends
Check out my story on the five trends to watch for 2011.
the list:
Wilderness First Responder course may standardize.
FEMA regulations are trickling down to podunk, impacting search and rescue volunteers.
Sidecountry and Inbounds Uphill Traffic in ski resorts is all the rage, but access may be limited.
Need to be rescued? Carry your credit card
Electronics galore: a constant change.
Top 5 Wilderness Medicine & Safety Trends
the list:
Wilderness First Responder course may standardize.
FEMA regulations are trickling down to podunk, impacting search and rescue volunteers.
Sidecountry and Inbounds Uphill Traffic in ski resorts is all the rage, but access may be limited.
Need to be rescued? Carry your credit card
Electronics galore: a constant change.
Top 5 Wilderness Medicine & Safety Trends
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Your Skimo Valentine
Need a last minute gift for your ski mountaineer Valentine? Chris Davenport and his skimo cronies produced a pair of tomes as big, bold and beautiful as the mountains themselves.
Ski the 14ers chronicles Davenport’s year long odyssey to conquer the majestic peaks of Colorado; a feat which logged 200,000 vert. Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America, coauthored by Penn Newhard and Art Burrows, is reminiscent of Steve Roper and Allen Steck’s 1979 epic Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. Spanning the Messner Couloir on Mount McKinley to Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington, you’ll find a dearth of actual route information. But the point is the stunning jaw-dropping images accompanied by brief anecdotes from Alpine legends like Lou Dawson and Andrew McLean. Notably absent was a ski descent or two in Mexico.
Be advised: neither volume will find a place on your Valentine’s bookshelf, but will become a permanent fixture on the kitchen table. Just have a Kleenex handy to wipe up the drool. Available through www.wolverinepublishing.com.
From my Outside blog
Ski the 14ers chronicles Davenport’s year long odyssey to conquer the majestic peaks of Colorado; a feat which logged 200,000 vert. Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America, coauthored by Penn Newhard and Art Burrows, is reminiscent of Steve Roper and Allen Steck’s 1979 epic Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. Spanning the Messner Couloir on Mount McKinley to Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington, you’ll find a dearth of actual route information. But the point is the stunning jaw-dropping images accompanied by brief anecdotes from Alpine legends like Lou Dawson and Andrew McLean. Notably absent was a ski descent or two in Mexico.
Be advised: neither volume will find a place on your Valentine’s bookshelf, but will become a permanent fixture on the kitchen table. Just have a Kleenex handy to wipe up the drool. Available through www.wolverinepublishing.com.
From my Outside blog
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