7. Wilderness Survival (Part the Second, wherein our hero writes out a risk management plan)

Hello again, folk. Hope you didn't get lost on the way to this next post from the one directly below it. Isn't it fun how these things just keep getting spat out in the course of a few days? Amazing how that happens when there's not been an update in the months prior to that.

Anyway, this time we're going to talk about risk management. Let's assume a group of 8 youth and 2 adults are about to go on a natural rock climbing outing. What follows is the risk management plan.

Rock Climbing at Las Cruces, New Mexico

Date: 04/17/13 - 04/20/13

Itinerary on file with Assistant Advisor who cannot make it - distributed to families

Permit to enter park obtained

Responsibility for food claimed by ___(initial here)

Participants

A Venturing Crew consisting of 8 youth, and 3 parents who want to come along.

Plus 2 adult Advisors and a climbing expert.

Nutrition

Food while traveling will be at restaurants we decide to stop at. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on non-travel days (also travel days when camp is up) are being prepared by our volunteer cook using the menu he has prepared (oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and hotdogs for dinner, etc). 

Health

2 members have allergies to nuts, one is allergic to bees. They have their epipens and everyone is familiar with their use. No other known allergies. All other members are healthy, except for Susan who sprained her foot recently and will not be climbing.

First Aid

A first aid kit has been prepared and is being kept with one of the Advisors. Several members have a personal kit in their backpacks. 

Supervision

3 parents, 2 adult leaders, and a climbing expert. Almost a 1:1 ratio of youth to adults.

Insurance

Crew has insurance through the Council. 

Safety Rules and Regulations

To be explained by our climbing expert.

Proper Equipment

Provided by expert. He will inspect everything to make sure it's safe and will be watching us as we climb.

Maps and Compass

Unnecessary, the area isn't too far out from the city and is a popular enough location to where getting lost would take an act of incredible tenacity.

In-Service Training

First full day at site will begin with a 3 hour introductory course by our climbing expert.

Environmental Considerations

This area in New Mexico is near the desert and temperatures can get pretty high. The sun is expected to be out so sunburns can be a problem. The weather forecast shows a low probability of rain. Rockslides possible, but unlikely. Group is aware that plenty of water will be needed.

Emergency and Evacuation Procedures

Local EMS will be able to reach us for any extraction purposes. Every member has a cell phone.

Emergency Contacts

On file with the Advisor, along with medical records.

The group as a whole has read through this document and understand everything therein, 

Signed, 

<-------All          Date:______

Elective 4 [Physical Fitness]

To satisfy the requirements of my final elective, I've chosen to do some research and conduct an 8-week exercise regimen. However, I did not do it personally since at no point in the requirements was it pointed out that it had to be completed - only planned. I do not consider this a way of weaseling out of it because I have gained knowledge and am able to pass it on accordingly. However, the final call will of course be up to my lovely advisor. But until she objects, I consider this elective completed. What follows is my report, covering all aspects of it. You'll notice in the side bar that I did not bother to write it all out again as it will just be crossed off. And as per usual, there's a summary video containing all the information contained. Enjoy! I promise I'm going to bed now.

1. Had my physical.

2. Six principles of Physical Fitness:

• Overload - The system must be shocked to improve. It can't do anything remaining stagnant. Remove the comfort zone.
• Recovery - All sorts of things - massage, hydrotherapy, yoga - help the body recover after an intense session. It's important to let muscles repair themselves.
• Progression - Start small. Gradual increases keep you safe and healthy, as well as maintaining your body's need to work to do what you're asking of it.
• Individuality - Everyone will have different needs and body types to keep in mind when going through a program.
• Specificity - Remember to train specific areas if you play a sport that calls for it.
• Variety - Avoid monotony by changing things up every now and again.

3. Endurance, strength, flexibility, body composition.

• Endurance is important to maintain a strong metabolism and be able to use muscles longer before they fatigue. Strength is the muscle's ability to do work - the more strength you have, the easier things will become - as the muscles will be used to working more. Flexibility lets your body move more, it's important due to the avoidance of pulling anything major during exercise. Body composition is important to know so you can know how healthy you are - if your BMI is in the normal range, you're fine. It could be that you're overweight or under. Your BMI will tell you.
• Pacer test (the mandated Texas physical exam) tests all four of these. They're required yearly for high school students.

4. Develop an eight-week program. 

• Simple! Using weight training to tone muscles and running for cardio, it's simple to develop a plan: 
• Week 1: Run 10 minutes (2 min warm up jog, 2 min warm down jog) M, F. Exercise arms and back (3 sets, 10 reps) on W, legs on Sat. All other days rest.
• Week 2: Run 12 minutes (2 min warm up jog assumed from here) M, F. Exercise core (3 sets, 10 reps) on W, pushups/crunches/planking on Sat.
• Week 3: Run 15 minutes M, F. Arms and back, W. Legs F, Core Sat.
• Week 4: Run 15 minutes M, W, F. (3 sets, 15 reps) Endurance, M. Arms and back, W. Legs F. Core, Sat. 
• Week 5: Run 20 minutes M, W, F. (3 sets 20 reps) Endurance, M. Arms and back, W. Legs F. Core, Sat.
• Week 6: Run 20 minutes M, W, F. (3 sets 20 reps) Endurance, M. Arms and back, W. Legs F. Core, Sat.
• Week 7: Run 25 minutes M, W, F. (3 sets 20 reps) Endurance, M. Arms and back, W. Legs F. Core, Sat.
• Week 8: Run 30 minutes M, W, F. (3 sets 20 reps) Endurance, M. Arms and back, W. Legs F. Core, Sat. Celebrate Sunday.

5. Six elements of a good diet.

• Proteins - Meat, fish, eggs... important for bodily processes.
• Carbs - Fruits and vegetables are the best for carbs, which are stored as simple sugars to be broken down by glycolysis... yeah too much biology for me. Basically, this is energy.
• Fat - And speaking of energy, this is even more energy than carbs. Not all fats are bad. Things such as olive oil have heart-healthy components. You want a monounsaturated fat - those liquid at room temperature. Saturated is marginally unhealthy, and transfats are to be avoided.
• Vitamins/Minerals - Your body needs these for processes and electrical signals. Supplements can be taken, but they can be found naturally too.
• Water - Drink 2 liters a day. Your urine should almost be clear or you're dehydrated. 
• Exercise - It's important to remain healthy. 

6. List six food from each USDA food pyramid group. (Really? Is this necessary?)

• Grains - bread, rice, pasta, cereal, oatmeal, flour.
• Vegetables - green beans, lettuce, celery, bell peppers, tomato, carrot.
• Fruit - banana, grape, apple, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry.
• Milk - milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, cream, sour cream.
• Meat & Beans - pork, beef, chicken, fish, garbanzo beans, black beans.

7. Calories needed for: Sedentary (2500), Moderately active (2700), Active (3000).

8. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are both eating disorders that limit your body's ability to get the nutrition it needs to survive. Anorexia is intentionally starving oneself, usually as a result of a poor body image. Bulimia is the forced expellation of food after it's been consumed. If athletes have these disorders, it makes training harder since they won't be able to obtain their nutrients.

9. Hazards of:

• Performance enhancing drugs in general: Anything that changes your natural mental status should be something you need to be cautious around. Especially when you bring sports into it. If not for moral reasons, then for safety concerns.
• Stimulants: Damages decision making and ability to adapt mentally.
• Painkillers: If not used as prescribed, it could lead to slow thought, dependency, stomach aches, etc.
• Anabolic steroids: Leads to mood swings, increased testosterone, anger bouts, problems with the male genitalia, and stunted growth.
• Beta blockers: Can lead to heart problems, hypoglycemia, and respiratory depression.
• Diuretics: Can dehydrate or lead to electrolyte imbalance.
• Alcohol: Besides it being illegal to consume under the age of 21, it can be a depressant, lead to liver failure, and cause family troubles if it leads to alcoholism.
• Marijuana: Poor judgement, laziness, bad decisions, illegal.
• Cocaine: Addictive, also illegal, heart problems, damage to the nose, addictive.

10. Preventing injury:

• If you're overly sore, just stop and rest. Overuse injuries are common, as well as hyperextension, burnout, and the like.
• To prevent the bad stuff, remember to cross-train, or work on different muscle groups at a time. Stretch before and after, and stop if you're feeling pain. If you do injure yourself, ice it, rest it, add some compression and let it recover. Don't overwork yourself too much!

5. Land Navigation

Oh what a blast! We did this back in July (Maybe... it's been a while), and unfortunately I got busy with camp and then that whole college nonsense. But at last here it is. I know y'all have been anxiously awaiting the day when you'd get to hear the lovely escapades of how to navigate by compass and contour map. I know I have.

Here's a video of me talking about all the important points.... which appears to be having trouble with that whole "uploading" thing. It must be rebelling due to not being used. Such is life.

Well assuming you don't like watching videos or don't have 11 minutes of  your life free, here's the important bits:

1) A good source to learn the all important map symbols is a guide, straight from the source. It's fantastic, really. I used it in my research.

2) Contour lines. Basically, the closer together they are, the steeper the slope. (I believe I had this backwards in the video. My apologies, it's 2 in the morning.) I had tried to find the picture with the hand as seen in the lovely BSA Fieldbook and Handbook, but alas it must be copyrighted. Instead I found a drawing that shows how contour lines make things look 3D, enjoy!

Honestly, I think it's a little creepy, but you can see how they work.

3) Land Navigation. This is relatively simple. There's a few steps to it though - 

• Find your pace! This is done by seeing how many steps (full cycles, meaning left foot + right foot = 1) it takes to travel a premeasured 100ft. Once you know that you can accurately travel for miles. Which leaves...
• Know your heading! Conventionally, this is done by sighting with a compass. Find the heading, look in to see where the landmark is, get your distance and go. Alternatively, assuming you're trying to follow a map, get your heading and pick a landmark and travel to it.
• You have arrived at your destination! Congo-rats. You deserve it.

4) The all important GPS. Use technology to your favor. With the advent of smartphones, hiking/geocaching is simple. Just type in your coordinates (or pick a geocache from their lovely app, and align your blue dot with the target. Then all you have to do is search!)

Well that's all for now folks. As the handbook points out, I'm now allowed to start Wilderness Survival, which is a whole other kettle of fish. It's mostly easy - except for the parts that aren't, so yeah. This might take a while, but I'm almost confident it will be done by next summer. If not sooner. 

Have a pleasant new year!


EDIT: It turns out, orienteering was on June 23rd, by the recking on the hints I left myself in earlier posts. June 23rd. Might not mean much to y'all, but there you go!

Elective 1 [First Aid]

Bet you thought I'd given up.

I thought I did for a while. But after some heavy thinking and helping with one of my friend's projects - I realized I had not given up. There's still much to do. I can still become a Ranger.

This elective was a cakewalk for me. I'm unreasonably obsessed with anything that has to do with medicine, so of course I'd jump at this elective. The only hold up was the 25-hour course. Woah.

That's a tough one to do, mostly because I couldn't find a 25-hour course. The best I could do was a 17-hour Wilderness First Aid course offered through the fantastic NOLS. And it really was fantastic. I don't think I had ever taken a better first aid course (And I had taken quite a few in my time). Unfortunately, it was of course only 17 hours.

After a chat with my advisor on how this was an impossibility, I came up with an alternative: what if I took a 6-hour CPR/AED for the professional rescuer as well? She agreed, saying it was a good idea, and off I went. However, when school started shortly after finishing the Wilderness First Aid course I sort of got distracted. Luckily, I had to take the aforementioned course as part of a requirement for my job at my university - so I unwittingly managed to complete my task. Huzzah.

So looking back at the dwindling list of requirements just now I was reinvigorated. I can do this. Nothing will stop me. Except for maybe the Wilderness Survival for a bit... but we'll see.