This is a great post found in the "Seattle Backpacker;" an online magazine. I'd recommend you put Seattle Backpacker in your list of favorite sites.
As we enter the spring in the Northwest, getting out in the longer light and warming temps is a natural draw. We still have several months of precipitation ahead though, and wetness and wind combine to cause heat loss which makes hypothermia a common concern for outdoors people this time of year.
Hypothermia can be a fairly common condition for back country travelers. Mild hypothermia is a discomfort, but is dangerous because it can progress rapidly. Left untreated it can lead to shock, becoming fatal. It’s important to know how to prevent hypothermia, how to identify when someone is hypothermic, and how to treat them.
As a mountain guide, I focused most of my efforts attacking hypothermia in the preventative stage. Like dehydration, it’s much easier to not allow hypothermia to happen, or to catch it early. If someone in your group has serious hypothermia, it’s a true “stop and fix” situation.
To read the complete article go here.
No comments:
Post a Comment