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Mountain Technique
 by Natalie

 5 LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY AS AN OUTDOOR WOMAN

I’m sharing these five lessons that I have learned in my 20+ years working as an outdoor guide, educator, risk manger, search and rescue team member, park ranger and wilderness medicine course provider.  Suffice it to say that I’ve been around the block.  Working the desirable and undesirable jobs.  Always along side men, rarely with any others. I always wished I could have had a female mentor. I’ve learned a lot, the hard way.  Let me spare you some challenges with these key lessons:

 

DON’T TAKE THE BACKSEAT

BELIEVE IN YOUR INSTINCTS

LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHADOW AND REAL FEAR

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE

DON’T DO THINGS LIKE A MAN

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in Mountain Technique
 by Natalie

My Traverse to the South Pole

Let’s just call this a long road trip. Though the length isn’t what makes it so interesting but rather the location (The South Pole!), mode of travel, and reasons behind the trip. 

 

How: Tractor traverse 

Where: Across multiple Ice Shelves, up the Trans-Antarctic and onto the Polar Plateau, eventually reaching the Geographic South Pole. 

Why: Delivery of fuel and other essential supplies for science projects at the South Pole. 

My job: Field Safety Coordinator for the US Antarctic Program

What made this stint of contract work so interesting is the unique mix of skills needed. My work was a mix of traditional mountaineering, tractor rigging, white-out navigation, field medic, tractor operator, and science tech.  

 

I actually spent the first part of my season training the team in crevasse rescue. Then I went on a special trip to prepare one section of the route, before actually starting this traverse. 

 

Sounds like a lot?? It was! It’s hard to share the scale of this journey but below are some great insights. 

 

Mt Beazley- one of the most stunning sites along the way. I wish we could have stayed here for days.

The Route

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in Mountain Technique / Trip Reports
 by Natalie

Treating Hypothermia

I’m just snuggled up by my fireplace on a cold rainy day which is inspiring me to talk about the cold, specifically hypothermia.

 

Problems with the cold have been on my mind a lot lately. I did just return from working in Antarctica where it was quite cold. Since being back in California, it has been raining and snowing, a lot. We are being hit by the “atmospheric river,” and while these are relatively warm storms, it is still colder and damper than most people are used to – especially in sunny California. On top of that, I recently attended a lecture by the renowned cold physiology scientist, Dr. Giesbrecht aka Dr. Popsicle, on hypothermia and crevasse rescue[i].

 

All of this led me to write this article. Let’s talk about what’s going on physiologically when we get cold, discuss the decision process needed to determine when it is causing a problem, and the actions to take to prevent it from becoming something significant (AKA hypothermia).

 

So, first things first, cold will always be a problem when we are losing heat faster than we can replace it.

 

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in Mountain Technique / Wilderness Medicine