Mountaineering experience
"What you need is combat experience. That's what keeps you alive in real combat."
"OK, but how can you tell the difference between combat experience and real combat?"
"Simple. If you're alive at the end, it was combat experience."
(From The Ballad of Halo Jones)
Saturday's trip to the hills started inauspiciously: I slept through all my alarms, and ( Read more... )
"OK, but how can you tell the difference between combat experience and real combat?"
"Simple. If you're alive at the end, it was combat experience."
(From The Ballad of Halo Jones)
Saturday's trip to the hills started inauspiciously: I slept through all my alarms, and ( Read more... )
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On the one hand, some of the people who read this blog have never climbed a hill in their lives; on the other, we have at least one Himalayan first ascensionist, so it's a bit tricky to know how much detail to put in :-) I've done a fair bit of hillwalking, some of it in the winter, but this kind of edging-into-mountaineering stuff is on the edge of my abilities, so I'm really hoping someone more experienced than me will come along and point out my errors.
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TBH, we were lucky, and it's good to have this kind of scare occasionally to remind you that safety precautions are necessary. I was talking to a doctor friend on Sunday, and she said that scalp wounds bleed a lot, and the fact that they glued it rather than stitching it suggests it wasn't very deep. But she could have broken a leg, or hit her head on a rock, or anything... *shudder*.
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In addition to your list, here's my suggestions-
Always make sure that every member of your party understands the full use of the equipment you use. Jo's accident could have been if not avoided, certainly been made less severe had she the knowledge of how to use the axe more effectively.
As you've said, be certain to do a check of your first aid kit before you head out, even if you haven't used it for anything for a while. You may discover there's something sensible you've forgotten to add. (usually it's ace bandages, which I know are called something else over there, but I dont know what, so here's a picture.)
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BTW: any chance you could get nastyicydeath to have a look at this? I'd appreciate as much commentary from mountaineers as possible. And first aiders, and doctors, and anyone, really, but especially mountaineers.
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Thanks for the advice on head injuries. I wasn't consciously testing her memory, just trying to find out the extent of her injuries. TBH, I wouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't known what hit her: it was all pretty quick. Disposable gloves might have been an idea, but I don't think I had any with me - the thin gloves were just my ordinary going-around-town ones (as opposed to the thicker ski gloves I was wearing for much of the day).
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sounds like fun :S Glad you both made it back in one piece ( ... )
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It was, right up until the accident :-(
Sling them in your bag and use them if it becomes necessary but don't make decisions that *require* the use of equipment that only one of you has - certainly not whilst there's another option you can take.
That was the idea, but I guess I was too eager to go ahead - the alternative would have been turning back once we reached the snowline. But you're right. Even another axe could have made all the difference.
My first aid kit used to have some paracetamol in it, but I think it all got raided and not replaced. I've now got a load of codeine that I'm probably not going to use all of - would it make sense to put that in, or are the side-effects too much of a problem?
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The first thing that leaps out thought is that while Andy says, keep your car keys in an inner rucksack pocket I keep mine in an inner jacket/trouser pocket. I've been separated from my rucksack before.
Most canoeist keep theirs in the buoyancy aids if there is any chance at all that you will be losing a boat.
Sam
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I've had a better chance to read the story in full now and I'll comment below.
First up, who am I? Well, I'm Andy's sometime climbing partner, ex flat&course mate and he pointed me here. I'm also an outdoor instructor based in North Wales with about 12 years of hillwalking and mountaineering experience. I've probably climbed less vertical feet than Andy but I am out several days each week in the mountains with beginners. I also work with several guys on the rescue team in Llanberis and so I hear a lot of first hand rescue stories.
What am I not? Well I hope I'm not a patronising know-it-all instructor. I am very impressed that you have asked for comments on the incident and that your reporting is so honest and open. I always say my advice is "freely given and gladly ignored". If you think I am an interfering busybody feel free to disregard my thoughts. As always, the below represents only my personal thoughts on your tale ( ... )
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