Gypsy in the Palace or A Guerilla Assault on the Ivory Towers

Touring backcountry in my Level One Avalanche training.

Digging a snow pit to look at layers in avalanche forecasting.

I was up in Park City, Utah last week, attending a medical conference. Let me explain, this was no stuffy, suit and tie, holier than thou sort of medical conference, rather it was all about mountain and wilderness medicine. So while there were doctors, nurses, Pa’s, and the like swarming the place, they were tanned, unshaven, and had just returned from an expedition to Tajikistan, or some such other far flung destination. Indeed, the world’s foremost experts on high altitude medicine and avalanche rescue were there, as well as famous doctors and researchers from other disciplines within the realm of wilderness medicine: ophthalmologists, disaster medicine, thoracic surgeons, and the man with the most summits of Mt Everest in the world, Apa Sherpa. He was part of a slideshow about a Himalayan expedition, and I got to talk with him and meet him afterward, even got his autograph. It was surreal, like meeting a rock star, me and a few others hanging around after the show trying to figure out a way to say hello and meet a legend.

Then there were others; the anesthesiologist from Cleveland, the pediatrician from Delaware, and so on. People with some, or maybe no wilderness experience but think it is cool anyway. And the ones who don’t really care at all but merely need to attend some sort of continuing education seminar to maintain their license and sign in and then hit the slopes all day, writing the whole thing off on their taxes or getting the company to pay for it. This is where I came in; I was assisting teaching an Advanced Wilderness Life Support class at the end of the conference to these aspiring wilderness medicos. And let me tell you, it was intimidating at first, facing down a room full of ER docs, nurse practioners, and others with years of experience in hands on patient care. Until I realized, they don’t know what they are doing in the woods without a team of nurses to back them up, a pile of gadgets and gizmos, a lab full of tests, and an EMT to pre-package and hand deliver their patients. So when I found out I knew more about patient assessment and packaging in the wild outside places, I loosened up a bit. Truth be told, I’d rather have some of my Wilderness First Responder students treat me if I ever get hurt out there than these supposed experts, they were straight out killing people when we started with scenarios.

But, I can hear you ask, where is the Gypsy Guerilla? Sleeping in his truck and cooking on a coleman stove in the parking lot of a Utah ski resort that charges $300 and up per night for a room. Yep, rather than fork over the equivalent of a months rent or a plane ticket to Toronto every night, I stayed in my truck, nice and cozy in a quality sleeping bag (that incidentally cost less than a single night’s stay at the resort when I bought it), and came in the mornings to eat the continental breakfast and attend the lectures and workshops. The night of the banquet, which cost $39, I just hung out for an hour until near the end, then I walked in like I owned the joint, grabbed a plate of food, and sat down making conversation with a dentist from Louisiana. Nobody was the wiser and food that would have gone to waste instead went to my belly.

Well, I’m back now, I learned a lot, met some legends, picked the brains of the experts, taught a couple classes, and was invited on a couple expeditions. Unfortunately the one to Mt Rainier that is a medical research expedition by the University of New Mexico conflicts with my annual NOLS course, but it was nice to be asked. Seems like if you are interested, you could attend these conferences and make contacts for some cool jobs and expeditions all over the world. Note to self…