Four simple responsibilities of the backcountry traveler
Hikers, backpackers, peak baggers, alpine climbers, backcountry skiers, snowshoers, snowmobilers, horsemen, hunters and other outdoorsmen.

Tell a Reliable Person where you are going, what you are going to do and when you will return. Search and Rescue personnel will want to know where you planned to park your vehicle, its description and license number, what gear you have, the names, cell phone information and experience level of your companions. Of course, you must agree that you will call the Reliable Person when you return to town. Also, this encourages your thoughtful setting of a “turn-around” time for your adventure.

The Reliable Person must accept the responsibility to call the local County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue through 911 with the above information if you do not check in by an agreed-upon time. Your life may depend on a timely call to 911.

Experience tells us that the Reliable Person may not understand the importance of this responsibility.

The Second Responsibility of each individual backcountry traveler or climber is to be prepared with a light weight daypack and enough extra clothing, water, food and selected gear to survive an emergency stop of several hours or overnight. These Essentials are seasonal and should focus on keeping you warm and dry, hydrated, eating simple carbohydrates, and able to stay in one place. If you become lost, signal your location, perhaps with colored tape or a reflective “plastic 9 ounce bivy sac”, and stay still or exercise your large muscles at your marked position to stay warm. Do not try to find your way until you become exhausted, cold or dangerously wet. Wait at your marked location safely for rescuers.

Experienced mountaineers carry the traditional “Ten Essential Systems”.

The Third Responsibility is to have a topo map of the area, a declination corrected base plate compass and an inexpensive GPS that provides your coordinates. A small simple accurate Garmin eTrex H GPS receiver costs only about $100 everywhere, a simple base plate compass $35 and a 1:24,000 USGS Quad topo map, $7, total $137.

Experience tells us that you cannot get by with GPS alone – you need a topo map and declination adjusted base plate compass, and new skills to use them together!

The Fourth Responsibility is: Carry your common digital cell phone, turned on, in contact with any cell towers
Insure that you have the personal option to call for medical or rescue services. I would prefer to call for help on Friday morning at the time my leg was broken and not have to wait until Sunday at 6PM when I will be reported missing by my Responsible Person.

An important new free service is the ability of Rescuers to request from your mobile phone Provider, your general location triangulated from cell phone “ping” records or from a GPS chip in some new phones. Another option for many is to carry a $150 SPOT Satellite Messenger which can give your friends and/or 911 your exact GPS location.

Carry a personal cell phone turned on and positioned where it can best stay (warm and) in contact with the cell phone towers.

via [Traditional Mountaineering]

Elbrus

• Europe
• 5642m / 18,150ft
• Kabardino-Balkaria
• Caucasus
• First Ascent: 1874, Grove, Gardiner, Walker, Sottajev and Knubel.

Kosciuszko

• Australia
• 2228m / 7310ft
• New South Wales
• Snowy Mountains
• First Ascent: 1840, Edmond, Strzelecki.

Carstenz Pyramid

• Australasia
• 4884m / 16,024ft
• Irian Jaya
• Sudirman Range
• First Ascent: 1962, Harrer, Temple, Kippax and Huizenga.

Everest

• Asia
• 8848m / 29,028ft
• Tibet/Nepal
• Himalaya
• First Ascent: 1953, Norgay and Hillary.

Kilimanjaro

• Africa
• 5895m / 19,340ft
• Tanzania
• First Ascent: 1889, Purtscheller.

Vinson

• Antarctica
• 4897m / 16,023ft
• Sentinel Range
• First Ascent: 1966, Corbet, Evans, Long and Schoening.

Aconcagua

• South America
• 6960m / 22,834ft
• Argentina
• Andes
• First Ascent: 1897, Zurbriggen.

McKinley

• North America
• 6194m / 20,320ft
• Alaska, USA
• Alaska Range
• First Ascent: 1913, Karstens, Harper, Tatum and Stuck

These five tips were written by a guy called Scott, and sum up the usual advice given to complete novices fairly well.

1. When moving up, stay as close to the face (wall) as you can, the closer your centre of gravity is to the wall, the less your muscles have to work to hold you. If your body is vertical, then all you need to do is stand in place rather than cling to the rock. It helps to climb with the inside edge of your feet, not the toes, to achieve this. When resting (and you should do this often to look down and check your footholds) straighten your arms (so you don’t tire them out) and lean back (ideally with handholds fairly high up).
2. Rely upon your legs more than your upper body strength. Your legs are much stronger than your arms so don’t just try to act macho by pulling yourself up the face (wall), just stand up!
3. Bring one foot up at a time, this will reduce the wear on your hands.
4. Try to position your hands and feet on the holds in the positions you will want them in for the next move. This will reduce the amount of switching and improve your speed and skill by making you plan your next move.
5. Don’t lean too far away from the wall when you are resting, when you are ready to continue it will just take more strength to pull your body back against the face. (This is more important on short climbs then long day climbs when there is more time to rest.)

To learn good technique, you need to climb hard routes to push your boundaries, but don’t forget you also need to climb easy ones on which to practise good technique. Your aim should be to climb easy routes with as little effort as possible.

Source

Beware of the Symptoms

Initial Signs (Mild Hypothermia)
Bouts of shivering
Grogginess and muddled thinking
Breathing and pulse are normal

Danger Signs of Worsening Hypothermia (Moderate Hypothermia)
Violent shivering or shivering stops
Inability to think and pay attention
Slow, shallow breathing
Slow, weak pulse

Signs of Severe Hypothermia
Shivering has stopped
Unconsciousness
Little or no breathing
Weak, irregular or non-existent pulse

Source

Although not an altitude illness per se, hypothermia may be the most common problem for the unprepared mountaineer. When exposed to the cold, the first line of defense against a lower body temperature is our behavior. We put on more clothes (gloves, hats, long pants, etc.). if the cold and wind don’t allow clothes to meet the heat loss, we must increase heat production physiologically. We accomplish this though shivering. Unfortunately, shivering will only provide five times more added heat. When heat loss continues, to exceed heat gain, out body temperature will fall and hypothermia will ensue. Symptoms of hypothermia begin with peripheral vascular shutdown or skin vasoconstriction and progress from there.

 

• The skin becomes pale and cold
• We lose our sense of touch and pain
• Coordination diminishes and fine motor skills become difficult.
• Shivering becomes uncontrollable and exhausting
• Judgment and mental processes become impaired
• Behavior may change. Climbers may become withdrawn and apathetic.
• Walking may become difficult and stiff.
• Shivering may cease and the heart rate slows.
• As body temperature declines to less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, individuals may lose consciousness, and the heart and respiration may stop.

 

(Dougherty, Neil J. IV. Mountaineering Safety. Outdoor Recreation Safety. United States: The School and Community Safety Society of America, 1998.)

HACE is the third malady associated with hypoxia. It is the least common of the three and probably the most deadly. The initial symptoms may be similar to AMS and HAPE and include:

• nausea,
• sleeplessness,
• headache, and
• confusion.

 

More specific symptoms include problems with fine motor functions such as fingers and hands. Climbers with HACE become ataxic, meaning they may stumble and walk only with great difficulty. Symptoms can include hallucinations. In any event, in the case of suspected HACE, rapid descent is crucial. The symptoms of HACE may be quick, and death may be imminent after only a few hours. Supervisors must be in constant contact with climbers to continually assess changes in behavior or physical coordination associated with illness that normal fatigue may mask (Houston 1993)

 

SOURCE:

-Dougherty, Neil J. IV. Mountaineering Safety. Outdoor Recreation Safety. United States: The School and Community Safety Society of America, 1998.

-Houston, C.S. 1987. Going higher, The story of man and altitude, 3^rd ed., rev. Boston: Little, Brown.

Pulmonary and cerebral edema also result from hypoxia and represent a much more significant threat to life. High-altitude pulmonary edema, or HAPE, is less common than AMS but is more serious.

 

The primary symptoms of HAPE are:

• shortness of breath, even while resting
• a cough that may eventually produce a rusty-colored sputum
• the individual may be uncomfortable or anxious and exhibit rapid pulse rate in excess of 100, even lying down;
• extreme fatigue, mental confusion, and coma may follow; and
• possibility of a fever.

 

HAPE is sometimes confused with chest colds because of the possibility of a fever. The danger here is that some symptoms are subtle and slow to progress. Other symptoms can develop rapidly and can be fatal. Climbers left to rest, recover, or see how things go tomorrow may become comatose before you can evacuate them. If bad weather develops and climbers are forced to wait it out, it may be too late; HAPE may progress and become fatal. Supervisors must be aware of the symptoms and be conservative in their judgment. The best treatment for an individual suspected of developing HAPE is to descend immediately. Sometimes as little as 1,000 feet of descent is enough to reduce and eliminate HAPE completely (Houston 1993).

 

SOURCE:

-Dougherty, Neil J. IV. Mountaineering Safety. Outdoor Recreation Safety. United States: The School and Community Safety Society of America, 1998.

-Houston, C.S. 1987. Going higher, The story of man and altitude, 3^rd ed., rev. Boston: Little, Brown.

Over time, most people adapt to the lack of oxygen at moderate altitudes and experience few prolonged adverse symptoms. Other individuals do not fare so well and display a variety of symptoms collectively known as acute mountain sickness (AMS). One important safety rule on the mountain concerns ascending slowly enough that altitude acclimation can occur. Schedule rest days on arrival at significantly high elevations. For moderate altitudes higher than 10,000 to 12,000 feet, it is inadvisable to ascend more than 1,000 feet per day if unacclimated.

 

AMS is not necessarily life threatening and you can prevent it by slow ascents and/or ameliorate it by several well-known therapeutic agents. There are wide variations in an individual’s expression of symptoms. AMS may occur at moderate altitudes in some individuals or not until much higher altitudes in others.

 

Acute mountain sickness is one of several illnesses that occur with altitude. The best therapy for AMS is descent. AMS is usually a short-term problem that you can eliminate by rest and acclimation.

 

(Dougherty, Neil J. IV. Mountaineering Safety. Outdoor Recreation Safety. United States: The School and Community Safety Society of America, 1998.)

In Europe, mountaineering is sometimes known as  alpinism.   It can be classified as a sport, a hobby  or a profession.  I consists of  walking, hiking, trekking  and climbing up the mountains attempting to reach its highest  point.  This activity require great athletic and technical ability  and experience.   Specializations now created to  address different aspects of mountains  such as the  rock.  They are called rock-craft, snow-craft and skiing, depending on   chosen route.

The environmental conditions experienced by mountaineers are extreme, to say the least. From altitude to severe weather to avalanches, you must take significant precautions to avoid injury or death.

 

Altitude Illnesses

• Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)
• High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE)
• High-Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE)

Hypothermia