Ski Touring First Aid Scenario

Use this ski touring first aid scenario to put your Raven Medical 80-hour Wilderness First Responder skills to the test.

Fill out a set of our RavenMed SOAP notes with your assessment, and compare your response to ours… which will be uploaded to this post in about a week!

Ski Touring First Aid Scenario

Well over 50 cms of fresh snow fell overnight, leading you and your friend to head into the backcountry to find some deep powder. You park your car on the side of the highway, and start skinning up the mountain. After breaking trail for 90 minutes, you have reached the top of your ski run. With hopes of doing a few laps in the deep powder, you quickly transition to ski mode, have a quick snack, and start your descent.

Given the amount of snow, you have decided to stay in the trees and ski the glades. While skiing the second pitch, you witness your partner crash.

When the snow settles, you can see your patner is still sitting on the ground. You holler over to ensure he is okay, but he does not respond. Hiking back up, you find your partner awake, but a little confused. You are able to rule out all 6 of the primary assessment problems (including MOI for spine). During your thorough secondary assessment, you find your friend is complaining of 7 out of 10 right knee pain and he states he cannot put weight on it. His pulse is 80 bpm, his respirations are 14/minute and normal. He reminds you he’s 37 y/o and has type 1 diabetes. He has only eaten one granola bar today and is now shivering and complaining of being cold.

After your assessment is complete, you begin to make your plan moving forward.

It is approximately a 7km skin out to your car, at which point you still have a 65km drive to reach the nearest hospital. You do not currently have cell service, but you are carrying your Garmin InReach deivce. You and your partner have a litre of water, a thermos of tea, and a handful of granola and energy bars. You each are carrying a few extra layers of clothing and simple first aid kits. Given your assessment findings, decide on your treatment plan and how you plan to get your friend off the mountain.

Next Steps

Create a RavenMed SOAP note for the patient, including anticipated problems. Record any treatments, and the plan moving forward for your patient (and trip).

This scenario came straight from the Raven Medical WFR Course Resources book. Get your own copy of this text on your next Raven Medical Wilderness First Responder course.

From The Experts

While your judgement and decision-making will make your handling of this ski touring first aid scenario unique, these SOAPs from the experts at Raven Medical are the standard by which you should measure your own response…