success AFTER the shit hits the fan comes down to a leader who has the training, knowlege and skills to implement while keeping cool. pick your partners wisely.

WFR training def helps, along w/ books and practice/practice/practice.

personally, i can’t seem to lose or destroy my 3rd copy of Medicine for Mountaineering…

I have a spot and have been pleased with it so far. Easy to use and fairly light. The batteries also seem to last longer than i expected. luckily i haven’t had to test the 911 feature.

The double-edged sword of readiness is that without practice, it all fades. If you live in a rural area, or have a ski hill nearby, volunteering as an EMT/First-Responder/Clinic Aid would be a good way to get some time in the hot seat. Plus, if you volunteer at the mountain, you usually get a free pass. I just recerted my WFR, and am working on my EMT now for my job. All of it worthwhile, especially because you invariable meet wicked-cool people at the WFR trainings. 🙂

Shep

I try to take some courses every few years. Did OEC several years back, then a WAFA, along with crevasse rescue and heli evacs. I’m currently lining up an EMT course for the spring. I’m don’t have a job which requires me to use any of this, so there is stuff that is not retained. I bring a fairly well stocked emergency kit if I plan on being anywhere that I can’t ride directly down to a road (maybe not the smartest thing to leave behind, but it’s nice to travel light and fast on quick trips). I bring a cell phone, which is always off (no potential beacon interference, conserves battery life, keeps a nice backcountry vibe). Unfortunately, I travel solo quite a bit, and often have partners that don’t have any specific training, which definitely has an effect on how much I push my riding. Fortunately, I’ve never actually had to deal with any major problems.

A variety of things, nothing official as of late. I’ve had what seems like a pretty regular diet of SABC (self-aid buddy care) courses through the AF that cover most of the pretty basic stuff. Always carry a first aid kit, and always carry a SPOT, almost always carry a cell phone.

Notes on the Spot: I think it’s a great piece of tech, but definetly is missing some features that would make it better/more useable. Reliability in sending messages has been great in the 6 months I’ve had it. If you’re not familiar with it, you can send “Ok!” “Help” or “911” messages to emails/cell phones of your choosing. I have structured mine beyond the basic included messages, so my ok message is:

Ok: “SPOT Check OK. Everything’s fine, but if I am overdue, take this to mean that I’m just late and will be out soon.”

Help: “HELP message! Please send for help ASAP. I may be injured, but not life-threatening. Contact local authorities.”

Both have different email lists, and the help message also sends a text message to both my parents. To be clear, 95% of the time, at least one of them knows where I am going prior to the trip and has a set time to expect to hear from me after I’m back. I decided to structure the messages as I did to allow for multiple scenarios. So, like early this summer when we were hiking out from Mt Stuart at 11pm, I could send an “ok” message and they wouldn’t need to worry. Not that I ever hope to use it, but I reserve the “help” message for something like a broken wrist/arm/ankle where I am still mobile and working towards self rescue, but help would be nice. “911” reserved for the most dire of times or locations.

I also believe very firmly in self-rescue so tend to play the “what-if” game pretty routinely. One of my inspirations for this is the story of Lance Sijan (Vietnam Medal of Honor winner). He got shot down, and while ejecting suffered a fractured skull, broken arm, fingers, compound femur fracture, and more. Survived and evaded capture for 6 weeks, dragging himself backwards through the jungle. After being captured, killed one captor, escaped, only to be recaptured. He succumbed in Hanoi, but repeatedly tried to escape until his death. Check out “Into the Mouth of the Cat” for a moving read. [/AF Story]

i like this – good to see poeple thinking about safety. let me take this moment to stress how important it is to take time before your tour for the safety meeting.

seriously though there was a good thread a while back about what splitters carry in their 1st aid kits if i can dig it up i will edit this and link to it (im feeling lazy now and searching is just too much effort!)

although it would be nice to think that there are some areas that you might be able to count on a rescue from some kind of emergency service, the reality is you damn well better be prepared to self rescue because there is NO WAY you can count on rescue services. so choose your partners wisely and dont take the risks that even put you in those situations to begin with, unless you are prepared to deal with the consequences. a couple years back i was involved in an incident (a friend hurt themself), wont go into details, but we kept our cool and managed to get the situation under control and get back to the truck safely. i had cell service and called 911 just to let them know we were in trouble and may need help, they were completely unprepared for a call like mine. it was most un-reassuring. i realize now that a call directly to SAR might have been a better idea but didnt have the number and 911 was just the instinctual thing to do.

@fullers2oh wrote:

seriously though there was a good thread a while back about what splitters carry in their 1st aid kits if i can dig it up i will edit this and link to it (im feeling lazy now and searching is just too much effort!)

I’m home sick on the couch and had the time… 🙂 Here you go: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4099

Oh – and there is this oldy but goody that I think inspired the thread above: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4065. Can you tell I geek out on the first aid stuff? 😀

@fullers2oh wrote:

i had cell service and called 911 just to let them know we were in trouble and may need help, they were completely unprepared for a call like mine. it was most un-reassuring. i realize now that a call directly to SAR might have been a better idea but didnt have the number and 911 was just the instinctual thing to do.

I have local rescue dispatch numbers in my cell for this very reason. This includes areas I frequent on the mtb. If you can get service, this will save you a lot of time.

@kjkrow wrote:

Sounds like a good time with some good hands on work.

I actually got to work on the other end of a first aid training exercise once, it was pretty fun. We had 4-5 actors trying to simulate the aftermath of an accident. One unconscious guy, a hysterical girl running around in shock and interfering with the students (she had a lot of fun), a guy with a sucking chest wound, and a guy with a compound femur fracture (usually me). The best part were the strap on wounds, etc, but the femur fracture was awesome. It had a hose connected to a little squeeze bulb filled with fake blood that would squirt out 2-3 feet. Nothing more fun than grossing people out and making them actually apply some pressure to stop the bleeding 😀

Oh man, my WFR instructor would have loved that. He was way into reality. During my practical, the victim I tended to tried to puke some sort of oatmeal mix on me when I was checking her airway. There was fake blood everywhere too. Good stuff…