Christopher Van Tilburg, M.D.

MOUNTAIN RESCUE DOCTOR
Combining Your Passion with Your Profession: Balancing work, play, family
When Dr. Van Tilburg's mountain rescue beeper goes off, the call may take him racing up a mountain peak to rescue an injured hiker, scaling a rocky ledge to intubate a hiker who has fallen over a cliff, into a blizzard to search for missing skiers, or to a mountain airplane crash scene for body recovery. Dr. Van Tilburg's work requires a unique combination of emergency medicine, survival skills, and extreme sports—it's "ER" on the slopes. From helicopter rescues to a courtroom battle of tree well death, Dr. Van Tilburg describes thrilling rescues with the legendary and oldest mountain rescue unit in the U.S., Crag Rats of Hood River, Oregon.
In addition to highlighting thrilling rescues, Dr. Van Tilburg describes his long, tortuous, and atypical pathway through medical school and residency, his struggle to become schooled in wilderness medicine, and his first rescue with famed Portland Mountain Rescue. He discusses his search for balance to fulfill his personal, professional and home lives, and how he was able to form a career to balance all three. A full time father and part time doctor, Dr. Van Tilburg works as a ski patrol doctor, a medical legal consultant, an author, and editor of Wilderness Medicine magazine.
This talk is based on his book, Mountain Rescue Doctor, forthcoming in hardcover by St. Martins Press in November 2007.

ANATOMY OF A SEARCH
Mount Hood Tragedy, December 2006 and the Hood River Crag Rats
When Dr. Van Tilburg received a page on December 9, 2006, little did he know that he’d be involved in one of the largest search and rescue missions in the U.S. His team, Hood River Crag Rats, the oldest mountain rescue unit in the U.S., spearheaded the ten-day search, battling five feet of new snow, gargantuan crevasses, 100 mph winds, single-digit temperatures and extreme avalanche danger.
Dr. Van Tilburg describes the search first hand and shows exclusive images of the search operations based out of 120-year-old Cloud Cap Inn, the advanced search base perched at 6,000 feet on Mount Hood’s rugged and remote North Side. Dr. Van Tilburg recounts the history of the Crag Rats, starting with their initial rescue in 1927. He highlights canyon rope rescues in the Columbia River Gorge, advance life support in the Mount Hood National Forest and body recoveries on Mount Adams, in Washington.
Along the way, Dr. Van Tilburg describes two very prominent controversies: What is the risk of climbing mountains and adventure sports? Who should pay for search and rescue?
This talk is based on his book, Mountain Rescue Doctor, forthcoming in hardcover by St. Martins Press in November 2007.

Wilderness Medicine: an Overview
Light is Right: Equipment for the Backcountry
Fresh Tracks: Ski and Snowboard Medicine
First Aid Kits for Work and Play
Avalanche Safety
Mountain Safety
Canyoneering and Canyoneering Medicine
Board Sports: Wind, Surf, Snow, Skate
Wild Kids: Children in the Outdoors
First Aid for Parents
First Aid for Kids
Survival for Kids
International Travel Medicine
Watersports Safety

Snowcaves
Avalanche Awareness
Avlanche Prevention
Avlanche Rescue
Wilderness medicine skills
Splints
Patient packaging: improvised and litters