Philosophy and Values
Philosophy
Alpine Endurance Medicine is a wilderness medical education provider focused on providing medical education in a remote setting. With a continued increase of participation numbers in outdoor recreation, there also comes an increasing need to educate those participants in how to better care for themselves and their community, in the case of an accident or tragedy. We strive to take education to where the outdoor community recreates, to educate them in the actual settings in which they find themselves, were an accident to occur. We embrace concepts of experiential learning, “learning by doing,” and we feel strongly that the very best learning experience for teaching wilderness medicine will be, well, in the wilderness.
Inclusion
We have been drawn to the mountains our entire lives, and movement outside has become a meaningful way to explore the world and challenge our bodies and minds. Movement outside takes away many of the restrictions or rules about how we should run, or how we should look. We can spend hours wandering through stands of pines and aspens, taking in a symphony of color as we pass wildflowers, and avoiding the pressure to be someone we aren’t. We can be ourselves. We can be happy. We all deserve this same opportunity, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, social class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identification, ability, or age. We will not tolerate harassment of any kind in our courses or online spaces. These trails have been a doorway to another world, and, at Alpine Endurance Medicine, we will do everything we can to keep those doors open for everyone. All are welcome here.
Risk
It is well-known that the wilderness is inherently dangerous. We recognize that there are many aspects of wilderness we cannot control, yet we can do our best to recognize and mitigate those risks. Significant time and effort has been put into identifying risk, potential hazards, and steps that can be done to reduce the exposure to those risks.
Environment
This wonderful planet, full of wild places and wild creatures, is the only planet we have. In our personal lives, we strive to live an examined life and reduce our personal footprint, and we bring this ethos into our business. There are a myriad of ways that we reduce our impact on the environment at Alpine Endurance Medicine. As technology and science progresses the ways we engage our business, conservation will certainly evolve as well. A certain portion of our business revenue is dedicated to supporting grassroots organizations that work in and around our home town. We also seek to minimize travel impacts of our participants by encouraging carpooling, shared travel, and offsetting emissions created by travel. At the end of the day, we recognize that the world needs large-scale systemic change, and we will continue to work both personally and financially with groups that are helping to make that possible.
