If you plan on going into the mountains, here are some safety tips to keep in mind:

• Always travel with a companion 
  • Never go into the mountains without telling someone specific information as to where you will be, how long you will be gone, and when you expect to return.

     

  • Injuries in remote areas can cause serious problems and must be tended to immediately.  Stop your group and treat the injury.  Keep the victim comfortable and calm.  Send or signal for help.  If someone must go for help, leave at least one person with the victim.  If it is going to be some time before rescue, put up a tent or make a shelter.  Move the victim only if you are in a dangerous area and must move. 

• Altitude Sickness

   

  • At a bare minimum, people should spend two to three days letting them get acclimatized to high altitudes before doing any hiking.  The lack of oxygen at high elevations will give some people altitude sickness.  The best prevention is acclimatization and or slow ascents.  The recommendation is that above 9,000 feet, you shouldn’t ascent more than 1,000 vertical feet per day. 
  • Symptoms:
    1. Coughing
    2. Lack of appetite
    3. Nausea or vomiting
    4. Staggering gait, dizziness
    5. Severe headaches
  • Treatment:  A person with symptoms of altitude sickness should rest and breathe deeply.  They should try and eat quick energy foods such as dried fruit or candy.  Aspirin can help with headaches and antacids can help with some of the other symptoms.  If the symptoms persist, move to lower elevations immediately.  Prolonged exposure can lead to the persons continued weakening and may lead to more serious complications.

• Dehydration

   

  • Adults require at least two quarts of water each day.  This can increase depending on strenuous activity and high elevations, to as much as four quarts a day. 
  • Treatment: The easiest way to avoid dehydration is to drink water whenever you feel thirsty.  Alcohol is not a substitute for water.  Alcohol actually speeds up the dehydration process as your body attempts to extract the alcohol from your body.  The easiest way to see if you are becoming dehydrated is to check your urine.  If it is dark, or you haven’t needed to go, you are becoming dehydrated.  Start drinking water!

• Hypothermia

   

  • Hypothermia is when your body temperature drops below its normal level and is unable to re-heat itself.  A reduction of the bodies’ internal temperature can lead t physical and mental breakdowns and eventual death if not treated.  Hypothermia is brought on by exposure to cold temperatures and is complicated by wetness, wind, and physical exhaustion.  Hypothermia most often occurs in air temperatures between 30 and 50 degrees.  It is the number one killer of people who are unprepared for weather changes in the mountains. 
  • The first phase of hypothermia is exposure and exhaustion.  Exposure is when your body is losing heat faster than it can produce it.  What normally happens is you want to start to move around more in order to warm up (voluntary), and your body will start to shiver (involuntary).  Both of these responses drain your energy which leads to more severe phases.
  • The second phase is hypothermia itself.  Your energy reserves exhaust themselves as your core temperature drops.  Your body will begin to shiver uncontrollably, but will then eventually stop when it no longer has the energy to do so.  When the cold reaches your brain, you will lose your reasoning powers and ability to make rational judgments.  You will not be aware of your surroundings or what is happening to you.  You will lose control of your extremities and will collapse, unconsciousness, and eventually death.  Hypothermia is deadly and must be treated immediately. 
  • Prevention:  Stay dry, period.  Wet clothes lose their insulating properties.  Wool loses less heat then cotton when wet and down as well as some Polyurethane coated nylons are best, but these coatings don’t last forever.  If your clothes become wet, you must get into dry clothes or risk hypothermia.
  • Symptoms:
    1. Uncontrollable fits of shivering
    2. Slow and slurred speech
    3. Memory lapses and incoherence
    4. Denial of a problem.  Unable to identify there is a problem
    5. Non-responsive or fumbling hands
    6. Frequent stumbling, and a lurching walk
    7. Drowsiness (sleeping leads to death when hypothermic)
    8. Apparent exhaustion.  Inability to get up after resting
    9. Don’t believe what the victim is saying, look for the symptoms.  Immediate attention is necessary to avoid disaster.  Get the victim out of their wet clothes and into a sleeping bag.  Heat rocks or a canteen (warm not hot), wrap them in towels or dry clothes and give them to the victim.  If the victim is incoherent, keep them awake!  Strip the victim and someone else down, and get them into a sleeping bag.  Body heat is one of the best ways to transfer warmth.  Light a fire to help warm the area.  Seek medical attention as soon as possible.

• If your find yourself lost

   

  • Stay calm and try to remember how you got to where you are.  Look for landmarks, trails, or streams.  If you are injured, nearing exhaustion or it is getting dark, stay where you are, someone may already be looking for you.  If you decide to continue moving, move at a slower pace.
  • Try to get to some high ground with a good view of the area.  Plan a route out of the area.  Follow trails, drainages.  In most cases, these lead to roads or valleys that lead to more populated areas. 
  • Common distress signals include:
    • Three smokes (three fires)
    • Three whistle blasts
    • Three shouts
    • Three flashes from a light
    • Three anything!
  • When hiking or camping with children, make sure that they stay near you or camp.  Make sure you discuss with them what they need to do if they get lost.  They should know how to send different types of distress signals and they should all have whistles. 
  • A guaranteed method of attracting someone is to create a fire with large amounts of smoke.  This is accomplished by starting a fire and then putting green foliage on it.  A large fire should be a last resort.  Ensure that you take precautions to prevent the fire from getting out of control.

Hopefully these tips are helpful and will ensure that every adventure that you take in the mountains will end with great pictures and great stories!