Intro

Polar Expedition Training is very exciting to announce its new collaboration with World Extreme Medicine to deliver its world renowned Polar Medicine course. The course has now moved to Polar Expedition Training base Finse. This famous Norwegian village is high in the mountains, on the shore of the lake Finsevatnet and accessible only on foot or by the stunning Oslo/Bergen Railway. WEM’s team of acclaimed expert polar medics are joining forces with PET Founder, Hannah McKeand to deliver a completely updated and upgraded action packed Polar Medicine and Expedition Skills course.

Overview

Famed as one of the Polar training grounds of Nansen, Scott and Shackleton, Finse is situated a little over 3 miles north of the Hardangerjøkulen between the Hallingskarvet and Hardangervidda national parks. For the Star Trek fans out there, Finse and the Hardangerjøkulen became the chosen location for the Hoth System in the 1979 classic ‘The Empire Strikes Back’.

During this action-packed week, you’ll learn the essentials of polar travel, survival and cold weather medicine while immersed in a polar environment. Our team consists of doctors who have spent significant time providing cover and exploring polar and high-altitude environments, supported by a team of local experts who bringing local expertise and knowledge of life in the Arctic.

This highly-practical course gives you the opportunity to experience a polar environment first hand. You’ll travel by ski, snowshoes and dogsled, sessions on avalanche awareness and rescue will teach you safe route choice, you’ll learn to build snow shelters with the opportunity to sleep overnight in your constructions, throughout the course you’ll learn essential polar expedition skills which will be out to the test on a 3-day expedition. The extensive practical content will be supported by a comprehensive curriculum of cold weather, taught via lectures, discussions and workshops.

Before heading home you’ll take part in a rescue scenario testing your newly acquired skills under the expert guidance of the WEM team.

Accreditation will be offered through the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. We estimate 35 hours of CPD will be awarded for the complete course.

What’s included?
All tutoring, accommodation and meals during the course
Skis, snowshoes and hauling equipment.

What’s not included?
Travel costs
Travel and health insurance
Personal equipment
Drinks and food purchased from the bar

Do you need travel and health insurance?
We recommend all participants travelling outside of their home country, or where aero-medical evacuation may be required, have specific travel insurance in place for the expedition.

For your safety and security, we reserve the right to refuse access to an expedition until we have details of adequate insurance cover provided to us.