Cold, and then more cold
- Wax-white at the glove change. Two fingertips, frozen hard, and camp is a day’s ski away. The rule that decides everything: never thaw what might refreeze.
- The wrap, in wind. He went vague on the last leg and his shivering has stopped — which is worse, not better. The wrap has to go together in spindrift: insulation under him first, vapor barrier, head covered.
- Storm day three, tent-bound patient. She can’t ski and the forecast is a wall. Serial vitals in a sleeping bag and a sat-phone call made early are the medicine now.
Tent-day reading order
The cold curriculum, front-loaded:
- Cold Injuries — frostbite, hypothermia, and the wrap — the expedition curriculum
- Patient Assessment — trend-watching a patient you’ll still have tomorrow
- Shock — the trend that separates resting from declining in a sleeping bag
- Evacuation — when pickup is days out, the early call is the good call
- Kits & Preparation — what earns its place on a sled
Then pressure-test it
Interactive scenarios — one decision at a time, tempting mistakes included, debrief at the end:
- The Burrito — the wrap you’ll build in wind someday
- Leave It Frozen — the thaw call that can’t be unmade
- Two Go, One Stays — moving a message across an empty map
The certification question, honestly. “Wilderness First Aid” isn’t a regulated credential. No government body defines what a WFA card means — it means whatever the company that printed it says it means. What counts in front of a patient is whether you can do the work. This course teaches the work, free, and issues a record of completion — not a certificate, and we won’t pretend otherwise. True expedition medicine — caring for a patient for weeks — is beyond any first-aid course, including this one; serious expeditions carry a medical plan, a kit to match, and usually a WFR or physician on the roster. Learn this foundation, then read your expedition’s plan until you know your part in it. If nobody requires you to hold a card, what you need are the skills, not the laminate.
What this is
Fifteen lessons, a 40-question knowledge check, sixteen practice scenarios, a printable field reference card, and a kit checklist. Free, no account, nothing recorded about you, source on GitHub. It teaches decision-making, not hands-on skill — practice the hands-on parts on a real, padded, complaining friend.
Other long-haul people: eco-tourists & adventure travel enthusiasts · humanitarian & disaster relief volunteers in off-grid areas · jungle & tropical trekkers