Author: Barry Roberts

Brits can now travel to France so we are trying to reinstate the cancelled 23-30 January Mountain Medicine on Skis course in Chamonix. The deadline for comfirming the viability of the course is Saturday morning 15 January – time is tight! Flights are cheap. Only a lateral flow test required for travel France. Must be triple jabbed. Interest is encouraging. Chalet accommodation, 6 days of guided skiing and tuition, mountain-side and evening medical tutorials in the chalet and in-resort transport included. Minimum strong red run ski standard required. General details on the website at the course title link above but it’s not live to book and these dates aren’t listed. Please email WMT without delay to express an interest.

Ski safety advice and knowledge, great videos, course news and more are packed into The Snowsports Edition. Be inspired by WMT alumna Katy Plant’s wonderful story about working as a ski field doctor in New Zealand, learn how skis are handmade by Ronin and find details of how you can boost your mountain medicine cred and ski in Chamonix with WMT on Mountain Medicine on Skis 23-30 January and Expedition Medicine 28 Feb – 4 March.

Two places have become available on Far From Help at Glenmore Lodge 4-5 December. Go directly to Glenmore’s website to book here.

The latest newsletter is packed with diverse news, events, travel planning documents, videos, course dates and updates including new dates just announced for Mountain Medicine on Skis 23-30 January. Read it here to find out the significance of this screenshot of Pelagic Expeditions’s website!

Running 23-30 January, a 3rd Mountain Medicine on Skis course is being offered that includes twin-room accommodation at a luxury Chamonix chalet (with a hot tub). Join us for 6 days of guided ski tuition on and off piste including an intro to ski touring, and mountainside medical training followed by après ski medical tutorials that cover the essential range of environmental wilderness medicine topics. The mountains beckon. Let’s answer the call. Limited to 10 places (and selling fast). Full details and online booking here.

We’ve produced this table to help ski doctors choose a Chamonix winter course. Please also see this special announcement with all the links to each course page. Download the table at this link WMT Chamonix course comparison table v1.0 

Two more dates have been added! A NEW innovative, luxury chalet-based course for medics runs 23-30 January – Adventure Medicine on Skis, Skins & Crampons. The Castle chalet, out course basecamp, is pictured below.

Then 28 February – 4 March we welcome the largest course group of the year to Expedition Medicine. Both courses include loads of ski time, excellent tuition, adventure and fun. Click on the course page titles to visit the web pages for details, fees and the programme or see this special announcement which summarises all the winter Chamonix ski-based course options. We hope to see you in Chamonix.

Far From Help runs in Bristol 20-21 November with Far From Help Part 2/Advanced Refresher being offered in the same St Werburghs Centre non-residential venue the following weekend – 27-28 November. Click on the course titles to visit the respective web pages for details. Attend BOTH COURSES to achieve the ADVANCED MEDICINE gold-standard status or start with Far From Help. To clarify elegibility or FFH 2 – anyone who last attended FFH, FFH Part 2 or the Advanced course in spring 2019 or later is eligible to attend FFH Part 2 before the end of 2021. The Explorer courses at Glenmore Lodge in December are mostly over-subscribed so we are hopeful these new course dates will help satify demand as our clients get re-tooled for next years’ overseas adventures. 

 

We’ve refreshed this fun, intensive and technical Chamonix based course that combines mountain medicine training with professional ski tuition and guiding in one brilliant package. What’s new in ’22?

• 6 days on snow (previously 5)
• 7 night’s shared chalet accommodation INCLUDED
• Complimentary “avo” kit loan – transceiver, shovel & probe

Six days of guided skiing on / off piste includes an intro to ski touring. Learn to ski UP mountains to access remote terrain. Ten hours of insightful medical tuition (on/off slope). Shared apartment accommodation for 7 night’s and complimentary loan of avalanche safety kit (transceiver, shovel and probe) is included this year. Raise your game and develop your skiing competence so that you might have the skills to join a ski touring party off piste, ski all terrain and be more able to provide emergency medical care in the mountains. No climbing or mountaineering experience required, however, you must ski to the minimum standard outlined on the webpage and be ski fit. 10 max per course with 3 staff. At least 12 CPD hours. 2022 dates are 15-22 January and 5-12 March. Just added – new dates 23-30 January.

Book with a deposit. Places limited and demand is high! More details here.

We are delighted that Dr Duncan Gray is WMT’s new Medical Director, after Dr Harvey Pynn has stepped down after 8 years in the role.

Duncan is an A&E Consultant and GP who began teaching with WMT on Explorer courses at Glenmore Lodge in 2014. His breadth of knowledge, passion for teaching and vast expedition experience quickly became apparent and Duncan rapidly established himself as a course director who has contributed more than any instructor to the full suite of WMT courses, both for non-medics. Read the full announcement in this August Newsletter. Duncan was also profiled in the January Newsletter – read it here. Duncan brings an astonishing amount of field experience and expertise to WMT and we are thrilled he is on board as Medical Director. Duncan said “I’m delighted to be stepping up to the MD role and excited about the future of WMT courses. I very much enjoy teaching wilderness medicine and sharing my experience and enthusiasm for adventure travel with medics and explorers alike. Formal training in wilderness medicine was scarce when I started out. WMT broke the mould 30 years ago and I’m looking forward to contributing to its legacy.”