Q: I live in an Earthquake Zone, and I was wondering which medical kit would you advise for me if a quake hits and I need to help some people, as well as a kit I can keep in my home?

A: If you are planning on administering care to other victims, you will want a kit with enough contents to treat a large group and an organization system that is easy to use in an emergency. For this reason, I recommend ourMountain Series Comprehensive kit, which contains a wide range of wound care supplies for trauma scenarios like those encountered during an earthquake, as well as our Easy Care organization system that organizes contents in injury-specific pockets with quick-reference instruction cards. The Comprehensive makes a great home preparedness kit as well, since it contains a number of specialized medical instruments that are difficult to improvise and might be impossible to obtain during an extended disaster scenario.

By Buck Tilton

Not all snow is created equal—it can be soft and dry, heavy and wet, hard as rock—but most snow can be shaped into a quick shelter and, in an emergency, a shelter may save your life.

Make Use of What the Terrain Offers

By Christopher Van Tilburg, MD

The final week of 2010 was bittersweet for snow sports enthusiasts. Massive storms pummeled the Western mountains in North America with big fat flakes. Skiers and snowboarders flocked to the pow on holiday break.  Unfortunately, in a five-day span, five died in deep snow and tree wells. A sixth death occurred just after the New Year. The unlucky were found inbounds, out-of-bounds, and in the backcountry; they were skiers and snowboarders of various skill levels. The two commonalities that link all of their deaths: deep snow and stormy weather.

Excerpt from A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness and Travel Medicine, by Dr. Eric A. Weiss.

Snow blindness is a sunburn to the eye from intense ultraviolet radiation at high altitude or while traveling in the snow which results in a corneal abrasion.

Unfortunately, you are unaware that the injury is occurring until it is too late, because signs and symptoms of snow blindness are delayed by about six hours from the time of exposure to the light. Wearing adequate eye protection (100% UV blocking sunglasses with side protectors) can prevent snow blindness.

Dear Doc,

I get a headache when I hunt elk from a camp at 11,000 feet, despite
living at 5,700 feet and cross-country skiing at 10,800 feet with no
symptoms. Is there a threshold when it comes to altitude illness?

Thanks in advance, Marilyn.

Hello Marilyn,

There is a threshold, but unfortunately it is different for everyone. While one person may experience a high altitude headache (the cardinal symptom of acute mountain sickness) at 11,000 feet, others may get a headache at 8,000 or none at any elevation in the lower 48.

Buck Tilton

A simple fact towers above all others: if you aren’t prepared to survive an unexpected night outside in winter, you probably won’t. In ideally bad conditions, cold will suck out enough body heat in a couple of hours to disable you—and chill you off beyond recovery in three.

How did you get in this situation? You were backcountry skiing, or hunting, maybe hiking on a pre-snow, cold afternoon. Your story could be like CNET reporter James Kim’s whose drive in Oregon mountains with his family on a winter day, almost exactly four years ago, turned fatal.  You didn’t anticipate the snowfall, or the blinding wind—and wasn’t the sun supposed to be up at least another hour?

By Buck Tilton

Encounters between humans and bears are rising in number. Why? The weather partially explains it. Warmer temps keep bears active longer. But the main reason, all things considered, is more likely to be the increase in the number of bears. Wyoming, for instance, estimates triple the population of grizzlies (about 200 to more than 600) in the Yellowstone ecosystem since the mid-1970s. As Brian DeBolt, the bear management officer for Wyoming Game & Fish, told the Casper Star-Tribune: “. . . if you’ve got more bears, you are going to have more conflicts.” And hunters top the list of possible victims because they walk around quietly, stalking game in bear country, and smelling like dinner.