Wilderness Medicine Case Study 62

You are the trip leader for a two-week high school snowshoe trip in the Adirondack mountains of New York state. It's day four. There was six inches of new snow on the forest road at the beginning of the trip. Last night it snowed three feet and it is still snowing hard. Looking closely at your map you realize that your original route crosses a few potential avalanche paths. After talking it over with your co-leader and considering the ever-increasing snowfall, you decide to reverse your route and head back. You have no satellite or cell phone reception during the storm.

After a day of struggling through the deepening snow, everyone is exhausted and wet from either sweat or snow when you reach your evening camp. You notice that two 16 year-old girls are particularly tired and shivering.

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