[Editor’s note: Well, now that Jackson Hole locals are kayaking rather than skiing, we thought we’d post Brendan’s recap of medical training - something you can use while careening down anything in any season: sopping wet or fluffy dry.]

I recently spent the weekend at a Wilderness First Responder Recertification class at the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Teton Valley branch in Driggs.

As a NOLS instructor, I’m required to take the course, but it’s also a high priority of mine to have the skills to help out friends, partners and clients while out there. It makes me feel good knowing that if someone I’m traveling with or come across in any backcountry setting needs some medical help, I’ll be able to give them a hand.

The course lasts several days and is a good balance between classroom lecture and simulations. You learn about volume shock from loss of blood, then you have to go outside and treat a “victim” with a broken femur. You learn about diabetes bracelets and allergies to bee stings. The next minute, you’re smearing glucose on a patient’s lips and giving the blue-faced patient a shot of epinephrine.

We use a lot of make up and props to make injuries like open fractures and impalements look quite real. There’s lots of fake blood and bruising.

Wet and cold weather, similar to what’s going on now, except muddier instead of snowy, made the outdoor portions especially exciting. It rained during most of the course, which is always great reminder that the elements can make first aid a tedious task. This was a good reminder that getting patients out of the elements is a necessary, but often difficult, task.

With more of us traveling into the backcountry for play each year, the number of accidents will ultimately be on the rise. I hope that if I go down, someone will be there to help me out. For more information on Wilderness Medicine Institute, which works through NOLS, click here. Other companies, like Wilderness Medical Associates teach courses as well, including Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness EMT.

Backcountry skiers, boarders and (even) snowmobilers rarely hesitate to sign up for an Avalanche course. I’d recommend the same for Wilderness First Responder. Or, at least Wilderness First Aid and CPR. You never know what will happen out there or what you’ll come across when you least expect it.

Brendan Burns is a NOLS instructor and adventurer. He wrote a story on mountain biking this fall for The Mountain Culture. He’s praying for snow.