Alpine Medicine Course
Slovenia
28 January 2024 13:00 - 02 February 2024 16:00£1,395.00
Other Alpine Medicine course locations:
Set yourself a new challenge – cold weather, mountaineering medicine. Join us for this exciting 6 day expedition in the stunning Julian Alps. We’ll be making the most of the wintery snow conditions with practical field experience over three days out in the mountains with world-class IFMGA guides.
CPD Award: This course has been awarded 30 CPD hours by The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
“Really fantastic course, excellently organised, would highly recommend to anyone”
Alpine Medicine Slovenia course attendee
Combine mountaineering with medicine and upgrade your expedition leader experience with a specific winter alpine skillset.
Key facts
You’ve had a taste of expedition medicine and here’s your chance to take the next step.
Our exciting and comprehensive 6 day Alpine Medicine course is designed to provide medical professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to handle medical emergencies in snowy and icy conditions. Participants will learn about cold weather injuries, altitude sickness, and other winter-specific medical issues. The course will also cover emergency medical procedures, such as managing hypothermia and frostbite.
The winter season in Slovenia provides a unique opportunity to experience the beauty and challenges of mountain trekking in a snowy, wintery environment.
Location: Julian Alps, Slovenia
You must be either a:
- Medical or Allied Health Professional OR,
- A student in your last two years of study
- We highly recommend that you take our Expedition and Wilderness Medicine Course first, or similar alternative.
You need:
- To be a competent navigator
- Have a good level of fitness
- Basic knowledge of expedition planning
What’s included:
- Tutoring, accommodation and meals
- Safety equipment
What’s not:
- Travel costs
- Travel insurance
- Personal equipment
What to expect
After flying into Ljubljana, you’ll journey to the Julian Alps to begin your course with three days of theory and workshops. By the fourth day, you’ll be heading out into the mountains to learn mountaineering, rescue techniques and to put your newly acquired wilderness medicine knowledge to the test.
The course is based around an apartment building in Lake Bohinj, where we take over the grounds and interior space for various workshops and skill sessions. On day 4, you’ll head off on a three day expedition into the mountains, spending two nights in a local mountain hut at Dom na Komni.
Expect short, focused lectures delivering essential content which you’ll build upon, enhance and challenge through intense simulation exercises. As groups, you’ll discuss and evaluate your performance, allowing you to improve your skills through every real-world scenario.
We’ll integrate the medical and expedition content to replicate the challenge of real wilderness situations, helping to shape your thought processes and enabling you to function in extreme and resource-poor environments.
Course content
- Expedition Planning for Alpine Environments
- Risk Assessment
- Contingency Planning
- Equipment for Alpine Environments
- Trauma in Alpine Environments
- Primary Survey
- Human Factors
- Cold Injury
- Hypothermia
- Dressing for the Cold
- Acute Mountain Sickness
- HACE & HAPE
- Navigation
- Casualty Packaging and Extraction
- Fracture Management and Manipulations
- Alpine Trauma Simulation
- SAR Exercise
- Avalanche Awareness (course)
- Emergency Shelters
- Basic Winter Mountaineering Skills
- Winter Navigation
- Equipment Selection
- Moving Over Winter Terrain
What you need to know
Please follow the kit list and bring adequate kit. Daytime temperatures in the mountains often dip lower than -10oC before windchill, so it’s essential you’re equipped to deal with the cold conditions.
For any experienced ski tourers there may be an opportunity to get some off-piste action! Just let us know your experience level and we’ll work on a plan.
Travel insurance is mandatory for attendance of this course. We recommend a winter sports or mountaineering policy which covers all planned activities.
As a minimum we recommend you bring:
You need to be prepared for sun, rain, wind and snow! When heading out into the mountains you must be fully
prepared for all possible conditions. If you have any questions about kit, just give us a call or send an email.
- Hiking / Mountaineering boots – minimum B1 or B2 rated (will fit crampons). E.g Scarpa Marmolade Pro (B1) Scarpa Charmoz (B2) La Sportiva Trango Tower (B2).
- Gaiters – breathable eVent or Gore-Tex
- Base layers, upper and lower – merino or synthetic
- Light mid layers – thinner layers with zips allow for greater thermal control
- Softshell trousers
- Hard shell jacket – Waterproof and breathable material. Gore-Tex or Neoshell recommended. No ski jackets with built in insulation
- Hard shell trousers – Waterproof and breathable material. Gore-Tex or Neoshell recommended. No trousers or salopettes with built in insulation.
- Light insulating jacket – synthetic or down
- Warm insulating jacket – synthetic or down
- Liner Gloves – merino, silk or fleece
- Lightweight glove – Thin gloves with good grip and dexterity E.g. Rab M14 gloves
- Warm waterproof gloves – E.g Mountain Equipment Randonee Gauntlet, Mountain Equipment Couloir
- Mittens – Wool or synthetic
- Socks – Wool or synthetic.
- Beanie
- Neck gaiter / Buff
- Casual clothes
Other gear:
- Backpack: 40 – 50 litres
- Head torch
- Compass – Silva Expedition Type 4
- Sunglasses – wrap around, minimum category 3 lenses
- Sun protection – SPF 50
- Water bottle
- Personal medical / first aid kit
- Towel
- Dry bags
- Money/cards for mountain hut
Optional but highly recommended if you intend on further alpine climbing
- Crampons – compatible with your boots
- Walking axe – walking or alpine type
- Climbing helmet
Optional:
- Softshell jacket
- Climbing harness
- Belay plate and carabiner
- Ski goggles
- Ear plugs and sleeping eye mask
- Hiking poles
- Any other kit of relevance e.g avalanche transceiver/rescue kit, GPS etc (only if you have them)
Check out Cotswold Outdoor Layering System Guide for a good guide on layering systems and when to use them.
If you need boots take a look at Cotswold Outdoor Perfect Boots Tips please remember to break in any new footwear before the course.
Important – Never leave kit prep until the last minute, ensure you prepare well before the course and review your kit a few weeks before departure.
Feedback from previous courses
What went well on your Alpine course?
“Excellent teaching, the leaders cultivated a very supportive learning environment, fantastic experience.”
“Lots of simulation to practice skills learned, good amount of activity vs downtime.”
“It was super engaging and everyone was really inspiring.”
What was the single most valuable thing you learnt from your Alpine course?
“How to search and rescue after an avalanche.”
“Importance of protecting from the environment and evacuation over perfect medical care initially.”
“The real life anecdotes from the course leaders.”
About us
World Extreme Medicine trains, supports and informs medics looking to expand their skills and tackle new challenges.
A chance conversation about the impossibility of finding good expedition medics resulted in our Founding Director, Mark Hannaford creating the very first, bespoke Expedition Medicine course in the UK – over 20 years ago. Since then, we’ve spent the last two decades providing on-demand education, on-location training, international conferences, and expedition support for people outside normal medical environments.
Our network of around a quarter of a million experts, practitioners and instructors is here for you – inspiring, informing and connecting you with like-minded people and new opportunities.
Whether you’re a doctor, nurse, dentist, vet, paramedic, medical student or allied health professional, you can join us and discover new frontiers of your practice both at home or in the field.
