AMK is proud to sponsor Camp Patriot - an organization that was formed to take Disabled U.S. Veterans on outdoor adventures.  On July 5th, they will have their annual fundraiser kick off dinner.   This phenomenal event at Quest Field will feature Ed Viesturs as the guest speaker and functions as a fundraiser and kick off for their 2009 Mt. Rainier climb. This year’s climb scheduled for July 7th-10th includes three injured veterans. Read their bios and the 2009 Quest info below.

Camp Patriot’s adventures are made possible through donations and volunteerism. Follow along with the team at CampPatriot.org and help “Give Back to those who have given”.

If you are interested in attending this event and supporting the team, please contact Kim Roscoe @ 253-332-6207

From Curtis Fawley and Camp Patriot.org

Our plans for this summer’s climb of Mt. Rainier are firmly in place and soon the team will be gathering at Sea/Tac airport anticipating another great adventure. Our group of injured Veterans includes three fantastic individuals each with incredible stories of perseverance. Please see their bios below.

Ugh, it is tick season. As we all know, they are nasty little buggers that carry Lyme Disease and other viruses. Do you know how to protect yourself against ticks?

Download our Tick Field Reference Guide to learn more about:

• How to protect yourself.
• How to identify a tick.
• How to properly remove a tick.
• What to do if you have been bitten.

(Click image to download)

You can also read our blog about Lyme Disease to learn more.

Don’t forget to use Ben’s 30 Deet Insect Repellent or Natrapel 8 Hour Deet-Free Repellent to protect against ticks and other biting insects.

Question:
FAKs rated by people/days (2-3 people, 5-7 days) frustrate me. I think a more useful measure might be people/”time to help”. I bought the Field Trauma kit because I was looking for a kit to use where assistance was 1-2 hours away, I want the kit to answer “What will kill the victim in 1-2 hours?” - Bleeding, not breathing. If a 1″x3″ bandage will stop it, you won’t die today from it. We’re within 2-6 hours of aid, so what do I need to keep a victim alive till we get help?

Answer:

Thanks for sharing your frustrations with the Group Size, Trip Duration Rating. Let me share a story with you. Back in 1989 when we launched Adventure Medical Kits, our only kit we sold was the $190 Comprehensive Kit in our current Mountain Series. This was much more comprehensive than anything on the market at the time. An editor from Outside Magazine was reviewing the kit and he asked me what I would take out of the kit to make it lighter and smaller. And I asked him what injury or illness does he not want to be prepared for?. How about taking out Glutose Paste for Insulin Shock or the oral rehydration salts for dehydration? How about taking out the Sawyer Extractor Snake Bite Kit?

IMG teams have successfully summited both Everest and Lhotse this Spring.  There was a lot of action on both mountains between May 19th & 20th - read below for notes from the top!

Notes from Everest from IMG Expedition Leader Eric Simonson -

IMG’s sherpa team, as always, has done another outstanding job this year. We are proud to recognize that IMG’s sherpas were the first people to summit both Everest and Lhotse this year while putting in the fixed ropes on the route and paving the way for everyone else. We can’t praise them enough!

View from the summit, climbers take the final few steps to the top of Mt. Everest, 29,035′.
(photo: Willie Benegas)

Everest summiters include three members of our awesome Singapore women’s team, Jane, Li Hui, and Esther. US Astronaut and medical scientist Scott Parazynski reached the top along with Dawes Eddy, a remarkable athlete from Spokane, Washington. We believe Dawes has just become the oldest American to ever reach the summit of Everest.

We are also happy to announce IMG summits on Lhotse as reported to the Nepal officials.

Question:
I want to build a first aid kit for our Drop Zone and would like your recommendations on contents for skydiving related incidents. I know all the basic items but would like your thoughts on splints and slings etc.While small cuts and sprained ankles etc are what we see most, we should be prepared for more serious incidents to include broken bones, puncture wounds (in the event of a tree landing)etc. If you could email me a list I would greatly appreciate it.

Answer:
Kevin, I would use the Fundamentals kit in our Mountain Series and add a QuikClot Dressing to stop severe bleeding. This kit will have everything you need from splinting fractures to wrapping sprains and dealing with puncture wounds. The Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicine included in the kit will describe how to use the supplies. Once you buy the kit and register it you can enjoy 25% off your refill supplies if you need to refurbish.

Thanks for the question.

Frank Meyer

Marketing Director/Co-Founder

By Christopher Van Tilburg, MD

I’ve been chomped by a tick multiple times, as have most people who regularly tramp in the outdoors. It’s creepy — the tick drops onto your skin, burrows in painlessly, and sucks. Its anticoagulant can cause tick paralysis, and these arthropods carry all sorts of infections: Colorado Tick Fever (a virus), Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (parasite), Tularemia (a bacteria), and the more commonly known Lyme Disease.

Lyme Disease can be scary. Lyme Disease is caused by an inoculation of the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. Ticks around the world carry it:  In North America it’s transmitted by deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis) and the Western black legged tick (Ixodes pacificus). It was first identified in Old Lyme, Connecticut, after a group of kids complained of having a strange pain in their joints and an odd rash. So one might think, No problem — bacteria can be killed by antibiotics. But, there is a problem: Lyme is hard to kill and it can turn chronic. A single bite from a Lyme-carrying tick can require years of treatment and recovery.

THE REAL SCOPE OF LYME DISEASE

North Pole 2009: John and Tyler Detail Their Last Days on the Ice
From the Adventure Blog

A few weeks back John Huston and Tyler Fish became the first Americans to complete an unsupported expedition to the North Pole, reaching that point just hours before the last flight out of Barneo Station was set to depart for the season. At the time, we knew that it was a dramatic race to beat the clock, but we really didn’t know exactly how crazy it was until the duo recently updated their blog on the Victorinox North Pole 09 website.

When the post was written back on the 1st of May, the guys were still in Oslo, Norway and still thawing out from their expedition. Both of the men weigh in on the blog, noting that they achieved their goal of reaching the North Pole ten hours before the last plane left, but it certainly wasn’t easy. With just over three days to go they still had many miles to cover if they were going to catch their ride, and so they elected to adopt a new schedule, skiing 12 hours straight, then stopping, sleeping for an hour, then spending another two to three hours in the tent eating and resting, before hitting the trail again. As a result of this, they were able to sleep just three hours over the final 66 hours of the journey.

by Eric A. Weiss, M.D. (excerpt from his book,
A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicine)

VENOMOUS SNAKE BITES

There are two classes of poisonous snakes in the United States:

• Pit Vipers (rattlesnakes, cottonmouths [water moccasins], and copperheads) have a characteristic triangular head, a deep pit (heat receptor organ) between the eye and nostril, and a catlike, elliptical pupil.

• Elapids (coral snakes) are characterized by their color pattern with red, black, and yellow or white bands encircling the body. The fangs are short — these snakes bite by chewing rather than by striking.

All states except Maine, Hawaii, and Alaska have at least one species of venomous snake. The states with the highest incidence of snakebites are North Carolina, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arizona, and New Mexico. About 90 percent of snake bites occur between April and October, because snakes are more active in warm months of the year. Your chance of dying from a venomous snakebite in the wilderness is extremely remote — about one in 12 million. 

The recent Swine Flu scare, and the subsequent calls of government health officials to use hand sanitizers regularly as a key means of reducing the likelihood of contracting the virus, has reignited the alcohol vs. benzalkonium chloride debate. While alcohol based hand sanitizers with concentration levels above 60% are effective at killing germs, next generation sanitizers containing benzalkonium chloride have been shown to provide protection long after an alcohol based sanitizer evaporates from your skin.

Handclens (the generic name for AMK’s Adventure Hand Sanitizer ), which contains BZK, kills all 3 types of germs: viruses, bacteria and fungi, including Influenza Type A, of which Swine Flu H1N1 is a subtype.

Handclens has been the subject of four peer-reviewed scientific investigations.

Two studies addressed the product’s efficacy against the Federal Guidelines for antiseptic hand washes and healthcare personnel hand washes.

Where the BZK-based hand sanitizers exceeded FDA regulations, the alcohol-containing sanitizers did not meet federal performance standards. (The results of these studies are represented by the image below.)

FDA testing protocol listed in Federal Register, Vol 59 (116), June 17, 1994, 21 CFR 333.470. “Effectiveness testing of an antiseptic Handwash or healthcare

personnel Handwash.”

IMG Climbers to Camp 3

April 27, 2009 - from Eric Simonson, IMG Expedition Leader

Today was another good one for the IMG team. The weather cooperated and the wind died down, allowing five sherpas to carry to the Col. Four more went to C3, where they set up more tents. Climbing to Camp 3 today were Kamen, Petya, Karel, and Dawes, who are now all spending the night there with their personal sherpas. Hamill and his crew, along with John and Chris, took an acclimatization climb to the base of the Lhotse Face today. Vernovage and his Lhotse team ascended to C2, along with the Singapore team. Shea moved up to C1. Scott, Ed, and Rejean descended to BC.

Camp 3 at 23,500′ midway up the step Lhotse Face.  Climbers begine sleeping on oxygen here, and crampons must be used outside of tents to move around on the ice.

We had additional sherpas carries today to C1 and C2, and tomorrow we have a number of sherpas moving to C2 to start making carries to the Col. So, things are rolling and we are shooting to get C4 at the Col well established in the next few days, as weather allows. Jangbu has a meeting scheduled tomorrow with a number of the sirdars of the various teams to start making plans to fix above the Col.