1#8 Hannah Lock: the expedition doctor
“There’s only so much you can do at 6,000m with just your backpack and your hands… but having the knowledge is really important.”
Episode #8…
… is delighted to meet Dr Hannah Lock! Currently a General Practice Speciality Registrar (i.e. a junior doctor) based at the mountaineer’s choice of hospital in Bangor, she’s also an expedition medic whose adventures have taken her to destinations as dramatic as Ecuador and Nepal, and peaks as coveted as Kilimanjaro and Stok Kangri.
Hannah shares some excellent insights into the most common form of ailments she’s treated during expedition life (clue: they’re decidedly not glamorous), has some valuable advice to share about adjusting to altitude (which often is glamorous), and describes to go about becoming an expedition medic your very self.
Visit drhannahlock.co.uk to learn more about Hannah’s work and adventures, and you can even follow her on Instagram too.
[episode recorded on 04/05/21]
00:00 - Introduction
01:41 - Welcome
03:24 - NHS training: from psychiatry to paediatrics
06:00 - Snowdonia is “absolute paradise”… “most people like cities, don’t they? Which baffles me!”
08:08 - Bangor, the mountaineer’s choice of hospital
09:50 - Drawn to people, drawn to medicine
13:43 - How does mountain medicine differ? Let’s begin with the Diploma in Mountain Medicine
19:29 - “You’re not a walking hospital. There’s only so much you can do at 6,000m with just your backpack and your hands. But having the knowledge is really important.”
22:29 - “It was expedition leaders, their level of skills and competency that I wanted to emulate.”
24:20 - The most common expedition ailment? “It’s not glamorous…”
27:18 - How can you prepare for altitude? “Take it slow”
32:35 - Medical trips to Ecuador, Nepal, Kilimanjaro, Stok Kangri…
38:37 - How to become an expedition medic: “personal experience is key”, and “don’t take ‘no’ for an answer”.
43:44 - Greatest Mountain Memory(/ies): “10 years old on Crib Goch with my Dad”, and learning "when to turn back” on Mont Blanc.
49:10 - Time, money, freedom… where do you go? “Probably Patagonia for me. A big cycle tour combined with some climbing and walking ”
