Expedition & Wilderness Medicine » arctic

Arctic Adventures in Svalbard with BSES

Mark Hannaford — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:05:35 +0000

by Lucy Dickinson

Large male polar bear

I have just returned from a ten week trip providing medical support to a BSES (British Schools Exploring Society) Expedition to Svalbard. BSES is a youth development charity that aims to provide young people with inspirational, challenging scientific expeditions to remote, wild environments and so develop their confidence, teamwork, leadership and spirit of adventure and exploration. It was founded in 1932 by George Murray Levick who was a member of Captain Scott’s last expedition. The name, “BSES”, is a bit of a misnomer as they don’t just work with school children. There were 15 young people aged 18 to 23 on this trip from varying backgrounds. Most had worked for many months to raise the funds necessary for the trip and a few received charitable grants. As well as the 15 young people there were 7 leaders including myself. Most of the leader team worked on a voluntary basis and paid a small amount towards their expenses. The aims of the expedition were to learn how to survive in the extreme cold, to complete scientific research in the fields of Geography and Biology, to develop mountaineering skills and to simply adventure in this beautiful wilderness.

Svalbard is an Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean around midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. We arrived there at the beginning of April to find a pristeen white wilderness with temperatures around –20 C. The sun dipped down a little in the first few weeks but for most of our time there we had bright sunshine right through the night. Our first task on arrival was to learn how to shoot a rifle in order to protect ourselves from possible attack by one of the three thousand polar bears living on these islands. We also learned how to construct a flare fence around our tents to ward off bears while we slept. And then, after careful packing, we set off from civilisation not to see a toilet, shower or bed, amongst other creature comforts, for the next 10 weeks. We travelled on skis pulling sledges called pulks that were to carry all our gear and, in my case, a comprehensive medical kit. Some of the young people had barely slept in a tent before let alone put one up and survive in it at –25 C so the first few days were a real challenge. There was a high risk of cold injuries at this time but, despite a few cases of frost nip, we managed to avoid any frostbite.

So after learning to survive in the arctic environment we went on to complete some scientific research in the fields of glaciology and biology and to do some mountaineering and adventuring. Highlights for me included ice climbing, building an igloo, sleeping in a snow hole, exploring an ice cave, summiting arctic peaks, crossing the frozen sea and then watching it break up as the temperature rose, visiting the impressive cliffs of a carving glacier and learning some winter mountaineering skills. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to fulfil one of my lifetime ambitions to see a polar bear in the wild but we were regularly reminded of their presence by their huge footprints. In the early stages of the trip the only wildlife we saw were reindeer and ptarmigan but as the winter turned to spring it was a treat to see huge numbers of birds returning to this rich feeding ground as well as seals, walrus, Beluga whales and arctic foxes.

I was fortunate not to have to deal with any major medical problems on this trip. The majority of expedition members experienced chilblains to varying degrees. Some had a large number of ulcerated sores that required regular dressings. Other medical problems consisted mainly of musculoskeletal injuries and simple infections. It was interesting to learn more about prevention and management of cold injuries as well as the difficulties of keeping the medical kit functioning in the extreme cold.

BSES run expeditions of varying lengths and with different age groups to the Arctic, the Amazon and the Himalayas and are always looking for staff who can offer their time and skills to provide young people with the opportunity for personal development as well as a fantastic experience and adventure. As a leader it is also a great opportunity to visit an exciting location, learn new skills, practice medicine in a challenging environment and have the rewarding experience of working with young people.

To find out more about BSES visit their website www.bses.org.uk

Find out more about the Polar Medicine Course in northern Norway

Expedition and Wilderness Medicine

Polar Medicine looks northwards

Mark Hannaford — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:42:09 +0000

Polar Medicine Training Course in action

Our annual, and highly acclaimed Polar Medicine Training Course is due to head to northern Norway in the middle of February – if demand is as high as it has been in previous years then we suggest that you book your place soon.

Feedback from this years course included superlatives such as ‘best’ and ‘unmissable’

Find out more on the Polar Medicine web page or email Luci Ridout for an application form

A participant’s write up – Polar Medicine Training Course February 2008

Mark Hannaford — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:13:57 +0000

The setting for this year’s polar medicine training course was Alta, a small settlement, 72 degrees north and well within the arctic circle. A place with a deserted high street where you would be lucky to see one other passer by every 15 minutes, easily explained by a temperature at least ten degrees below freezing and a good foot of snow on the ground.

Base camp was a 40 km drive along icy roads to a picturesque mountain lodge by the name of Ongajoksetra. At the higher altitude the temperature was that much lower and if a wind was blowing, temperatures as low as minus fifty could be achieved. We were introduced to the Scandinavian team who would teach us methods of navigation across such tough terrain in harsh conditions and also to the Expedition Medicine team who would teach us polar medicine in a series of lectures and practical sessions both in the classroom and in the field. One more group I must not forget to mention is the team of fifty sled dogs who would provide another mode of transport across the snow.

My first day involved skidooing up a mountain demonstrating the importance of protective clothing, navigation aids and preparation for travel in severe blizzards with visibility of approximately two metres, sudden drops in temperature and rapid weather changes. I realised that without our trustworthy guide, Espen Ottem, we could become hopelessly lost in such conditions where you would be unable to survive more than a couple of hours at most. Our dog sledding guide, Pre-Thore was the perfect example of this as he told us of the time where inadequate preparation resulted in frostbite, blackening of his fingertips but fortunately no amputation. This story made me somewhat paranoid about the daily pain and numbness in my hands and feet when outside in the cold for prolonged periods. A “buddy system” was paramount to preventing frostnip. Simply by having that small exposed area of skin, pointed out to you to cover up

Dr Leslie Thomson, a consultant anaesthetist who had first – hand experience of polar medicine after spending several years in Antarctica taking part in the British Antarctic Survey gave an excellent lecture on hypothermia, bringing home how hypothermia is not just a condition seen near the poles but also in the Saturday night party goer who collapses under the stars, the homeless and the elderly. We were taught how to treat by various re-warming methods and when to commence C.P.R in the hypothermic patient sending home the message of not pronouncing death until warm and dead in certain individuals. This information was demonstrated by the story of Dr Anna Bagenholm , a 29 year old doctor who fell into icy water whilst skiing in Northern Sweden, immersed for approximately an hour, her body temperature was 13.7 degrees centigrade. C.P.R continued for three and a half hours alongside re-warming techniques such as bypass, bladder / stomach / peritoneal lavage and warm intravenous fluids. She survived to become the person with the lowest body temperature ever to survive.

Expedition and Wilderness Medicine obviously feel that first- hand experience is the best way of teaching and as a result each member of the group had to undergo cold water immersion. Prior to undertaking this challenge we were kindly taught about the cardiac arrhythmias that can be induced by the shock of entering the water, the short term cold water gasp reflex increasing the chance of aspiration and swimmers failure! One by one we stepped up to an ice hole in our thermal underwear and in the more daring members of the group a little less! to swim across icy water. I can confidently say that was the coldest I had ever been. As if several knives had been plunged into my body, breath taking and inducing chest pain, I swam across water of ridiculously low temperature to attempt getting out of the hole using my ski poles

Of our nights spent in the field we were taught how to construct snow holes. Five hours later our own little home with two double beds, stove, cupboards and shelves for our candles was constructed. It was as comfortable as it could be on a mountain side with winds blowing outside dropping the temperature to twenty below. I was amazed that the snow hole was so warm at five degrees compared to the outside however a slight air of nervousness was in the back of my mind as my avalanche detector slowly flashed in the corner and a rope attached to a spade inside connected our holes to other holes in case of us having to be dug out. The course perfectly demonstrated how to survive in such conditions

In summary the course prepared 25 everyday doctors to be able to traverse the polar landscape, recognise and competently treat local cold injury and hypothermia as well as to be safe expedition medics capable of caring for their groups and evacuating when required. To spend a week in such a location gave me the upmost respect for those who live in these regions and cross the landscape as part of everyday life, as well as a great respect for the land. In a day and age of global warming and melting of the polar ice caps it becomes paramount to look after our environment, to take only photographs and to leave only footprints.

Dr Claire Roche, Clinical Fellow in Emergency Medicine Countess of Chester Hospital. See the BMJ article.

The next expedition medicine course will be in Desert Medicine Course which will be held in Namibia, August 17th -23rd 2008.

To see the full range of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine Training Courses see here.