Wilderness First Responder

February 8th - 10th I attended a Wilderness First Responder Recertification course hosted by NOLS WMI. It had been nearly 3 years since my last recert, and this was definitely beneficial. The first day we were dealing with things like C-spine, trauma, and athletic injuries. Practiced moving patients, and taping ankles. Also there was a big focus on patient assessment, which was slow in the beginning for everyone, but picked up as the course went on.

The 2nd day was focused on musculoskeletal injuries, like fractures and dislocations. We had the chance to make lots of splints using the kind of equipment we typically carry on a hike. We also covered environmental issues like altitude and hypothermia etc.

The 3rd day was mostly review of patient interview as well as CPR and some scenarios.

Throughout the whole course we went outside and had a scenario before we reviewed the course content, and it was easy to know the areas that we needed to focus on. I'm glad I could attend this course and it's definitely provided me with new skills, as well as refreshed the skills I already had. I just hope I don't have to use any of this any time soon.

Izu Climbing Weekend

Last weekend, we had a great trip to Izu. The weather was perfect both days and we got in a lot of climbing.

We spent Saturday at the family cracks, and everyone was working on Father and Brother cracks (10b). We also enjoyed playing on the Mother crack (10c) which had a big cave in the middle and the crux was near the top where you had to make a huge lunge to the right to catch a bomber hold with one foot under the lip of an over hang in a marginal foot jam. Very fun.

After a good dinner at the local brew pub, we went back to the minshuku for baths and a little bit of anchor practice in the kotatsu.

Day 2: We woke up early and hiked 35 minutes to Aka ne no hama, a nice red lava beach with a long 25 meter cliff.

The climbing was a bit easier, but we did routes ranging from 5.7 - 5.10a/b. The whole day was spent in the sun, and it was a very relaxing day of climbing.