First Aid preparedness in the Backcountry

[Cascade Addiction]

Just a FYI for those in the backcountry. I consider myself an avid backcountry rider and until last Monday I thought I was prepared for just about anything. I have just about anything you need to spend the night, start a fire, re-build a sled, fix a gourmet meal, etc... but found out that my first aid kit was really lacking. It was a blue bird day with fresh snow and we were one of the first ones in to Gallagher, saw the Alpine Assassins group in there, came across one of them stuck and got to give em a ski pull to get out, pretty cool, those guys shred, any way while out to the west I was sidehillin from the big cornice over to the peak and struck a rock under thin cover and slid out and got bucked into the mountain striking a rock with my knee. I have Klim freeride pant with the knee pads and figured that would provide most the protection I would need. After watching my sled tumble and stick itself, and during getting it upright I noticed a bunch of blood in the snow, well long story short the rock had sliced through my pants, my knee pads, and my knee cap to the internal joint, I was fileted open like a salmon. I got to the bottom of the hill and my partners took over, I realized that my kit would do no good here cause no one had a cut finger or needed a knuckle splint. Luckily for me one in my group had a large maxi pad and veterinarian horse wrap to place over my knee and hold my knee cap in place for the ride out, wasn't his first time in the mtns and thank goodness, he'd dealt with this type of major trauma before. Otherwise it would've been a t-shirt and duct tape. I was still not looking forward to getting out of there, 20 or so miles to the truck through Gallagher and the beat up whooped trail, we passed the Alpine Assassins group at sitting at Gallagher Lake and I wanted to stop and say hi but was more worried about bleeding to death, sorry guys. Any way I went into surgery that afternoon and was released the following afternoon. Moral of the story here guys is I thought I was prepared for most emergencies, but found out that really big bad things can happen and I need to step up the first aid kit a little, hope this might have some of you re-thinking yours to be better prepared for something stupid to happen that you wouldn't think possible, also gonna invest in some real knee pads/brace cause the ones in the cool pants just aren't gonna cut it, no punn intended. All turned out well but because of someone else being prepared, when I got to the ER my blood pressure was about 84/42 and I was not feeling to hot, blood leaves a body in a hurry and you need that stuff, took two hrs to get to the hospital, don't know how it would've turned out if we had to stay there longer. Happy sledding there guys, be safe, be prepared!!! A few pics to show the day, my good buddy CascadeAddictionPro1 stealing the show

 

[sanity]

Yikes. Thanks for sharing your story. So, specifically, what are your lessons learned? What protection are you going to buy and what are you adding to your 1st aid kit?

 

[Flakey]

Thats terrible. Glad your ok. eek.

 

[blackgts2001]

Thanks for the eye-opening story. My first aid kit is also lacking now that I think about it and will be updated before venturing out again. I think I will also be investing in some quality armour to wear under my snow gear. Glad to see you made out ok.

 

[BordnBill]

Good post... because I need to check my first aid kit. Last Sunday, I had my sled on it's side when my ski hit a stump or rock. The sled uprighted itself, causing my handlebars to shoot up into my lower left rib. Broke bottom rib and have a nice matching bruise. That being said, I just purchased a Klim TekVest to provide some upper body protection. Will look into wearing my Fox Raptor shin/knee guards that I use for dirt biking.

Hope you heal up soon and thanks for sharing your lesson learned.

 

[Cascade Addiction]

New thoughts on first aid and braces

Yikes. Thanks for sharing your story. So, specifically, what are your lessons learned? What protection are you going to buy and what are you adding to your 1st aid kit?

Always ride with buddies, one of mine probably saved my life???, ramp up the first aid kit, leave the other non-essential crap at home. Gonna look into some thor force knee pads, got some interesting info from a fellow backcountry rider on knee braces. Here is the write up from "XC" from BCR.

http://www.ossur.com/pages/13230 CTI full braces

here ya go,

As to the Braces, IMO and many docs, if you do not have a knee problem don't get braces like the CTI's. And by knee problem I mean, can't ride normally without your knee going out to lunch, not it gets a little sore and I need to ice it after a hard day of riding or a small wreck. What happens is many times an injury of a pretty massive nature is avoided to the knee, however it breaks the Femur and that is both really hard to heal and life threatening. If you sever your femoral artery in the back country, about the best outcome is that you loose your leg and not die before you ever make it out.

Pro Sno-X racer Mike Schultz lost most of his leg after a similar break (I don't know if he was wearing braces at the time or not, it was a femoral break that severed the femoral artery) and severing his femoral artery and there was an ambulance and paramedics already on scene.

For those that don't have pretty serious knee problems already I'd go the route of knee/shin guards over the braces for the above mentioned reason, that and they do what you need them to do without costing a fortune. I personally also wear the thor force and they do provide a small amount of stability to the joint as well but not enough that they will break your leg over letting your knee blow out. The braces are great for most stick and ball sports where the forces needed to break a femur are freakishly rare, but motorsports is a different story and that's where the problems with this have shown up. Nearly every motocross forum on the net has multiple lengthy discussions on the subject. Thankfully I stumbled across this info when considering dropping big money on a set of braces more for protection against an injury than for need of them. I'm glad I did.

For those that NEED a brace, Fox racing has started importing a brace and rebranding it, that was designed and made in Australia that provides the support of a brace like the CTI's and Asterix braces but is made to break before the femur can break. ie let the knee go vs the femur. Some of the other companies have started making a similar version as well.

http://www.podmx.com/


Just some honest info from what I've found after doing some digging in the past.

 

[smitty5.9]

First Aid

Thanks for the reminder.
I just went into the cabinet and grabbed the "vet wrap" for my packs.
Already have Samsplints but I hadn't really thought of the massive gash, a more likely wound to encounter.

Smitty

 

[Tmann]

I was up at peanut knob last season and ran across a group that had one of their riders bleeding out from his jaw. He went over a ridge too fast, bailed and when he hit the snow, the tail of his sled flipped up and under his jaw and laid him open from bone to bone. Just missed the jugular and adams apple. Luckily my buddy and I were pretty prepared. We carry non latex gloves, large gauze pads, medical tape (hockey tape works better), small splints ect. I think no matter how prepared you think you are, the mountain will always test you. Keep a clear head, stay calm and act quick. Glad all turned out ok for everyone. I made a new riding buddy out of the deal. Nicknamed him "stitches"

 

[CoyoteGirl]

Dang! Glad you are ok. Thanks for sharing the pics and the story.

I pretty much feel naked without my body armor on now.... it really is a must, this is an unpredictable sport.

 

[newmy1]

Wow nasty. Reminded me that I am prepared for most but not a major bleed. Will be adding to the gear. Thanks for sharing!


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[sidehil]

Carry athletic tape, you can do wonders with that and a t-shirt. Everyone gets so rapped up in a first aid kit. Avy becon, probes, and shovel way more important. Get a couple butterflys if your nervous. You have to have room for sodas. Probes and tape = splint. Tape= blood loss. Cold beer pricless on a blue bird day in BC or Baker

 

[Lushbomb]

wow, gnarly! thanks for sharing..
I Never ride with out knee pads for a few reasons .. I just added several items to my pack today of the 1st aid nature. more and bigger bandaids, duct tape (always have that) flexible wrap for make-shift slings, bad cuts or muscle pulls, one of those reflective blankets for emergencies and some fire starting stuff.

its still hard to stay prepared out there. the best preparation to have is knowledge.. still working on that too..

 

[papa bear]

good write-up

 

[NWGooser]

Thanks for the great reminder! Time to review the first aid kit.

 

[Cascade Addiction]

Glad I could help

Carry athletic tape, you can do wonders with that and a t-shirt. Everyone gets so rapped up in a first aid kit. Avy becon, probes, and shovel way more important. Get a couple butterflys if your nervous. You have to have room for sodas. Probes and tape = splint. Tape= blood loss. Cold beer pricless on a blue bird day in BC or Baker

You can enjoy your beer while your trying to find a t-shirt to wrap around your femoral artery that is pulsing blood cause your butterfly strips won't bridge it, and from the sounds of your reply you probably are wearing a "t-shirt" instead of poly or wool, and your right, a "becon" is way more important cause then your buddies can find your body after you bleed out enjoying your beer and blue bird day cause you didn't get all "rapped up" in your first aid kit. Best of luck to ya on that

 

[Carbon77]

Glad everyone's okay. And a damn good reminder.

Everyone should do themselves a favor and get a set of these: http://www.backcountry.com/voile-ski-straps-9-through-25-inches-vol0083

I cannot express how many uses they have. Tying bleeding limbs off holding bones in place, holding parts together on the sled, keeping gauze down, carrying crap on your pack or sled... The list goes on and on, I can't tell how many times I've used these things for first aid and other reasons. Way better than your best boy scout tie. And on top of that, they are literally unbreakable.

 

[hivoltagesledhead]

Thats a really cool gash....glad your ok