You're day hiking with two friends, Nate and Mark, on a little used trail in steep timber. It's a cool June day with lingering snow in the shaded north-facing slope. The plan is to cover 8-10 miles, challenging your fitness and reconnoitering a possible future trip with spouses and children. The day has gone well when you hear Nate, hiking ahead of you, say something we can't repeat in polite company. You look up and see him slip on a patch of snow, slide down slope, hit a rock, flip over, and slam pack-first into a thick old pine tree. It's an impressive tumble.
You and Mark look around and quickly decide you can avoid the snow and descend to Nate without kicking rocks onto him. Nate has rolled away from the tree onto a flat pine needle covered bench. You and Mark arrive at his side, drop your packs, and wait for the other to do something. This void needs a leader. You step in, trying to recollect what you learned in last year's Wilderness First Aid course. Mark kneels at Nate's side and tells him to stop moving. You remember the souvenir patient assessment bandanna wrapped around your head. Taking a look at this helps you to focus and enter the Patient Assessment System.