Medical direction for ski areas, SAR teams, schools, and expeditions — from a physician who’s worked the terrain
Board-certified emergency physician. Mt. Bachelor Medical Director. NOLS instructor. Real operational experience, not just clinical credentials.
Patrick Fink is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician and fellowship-trained Wilderness Medicine specialist. He serves as Medical Director and Ski Physician at Mt. Bachelor and practices emergency medicine at St. Charles Health System in Bend, Oregon.
His clinical work is grounded in real operational experience: NOLS instructor, ski patroller, avalanche observer, and expedition medic. Patrick completed his MD at Oregon Health and Science University, EM residency and Wilderness Medicine Fellowship at University of Utah. He is a Fellow of the Wilderness Medicine Society and has earned his Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM).
Through Big Mountain Medical, he partners with organizations to build medical systems that are practical, compliant, and designed for the environments where they’ll actually be used.
Medical Direction and Oversight
Most outdoor organizations need a medical director for regulatory compliance. Few find one who’s actually worked the terrain. Big Mountain Medical provides formal medical oversight that satisfies licensing requirements and builds systems your team will actually use — from protocol development to QA/QI to credentialing pathways built for non-hospital providers.
Education and Curriculum Development
Generic EMS training wasn’t designed for your environment. Curriculum here is built for the realities of ski patrol, SAR, and remote operations — scenario-based, terrain-specific, and delivered in formats that fit your team’s schedule, from hands-on field sessions to asynchronous podcast-style modules.
Expedition and Travel Medicine
The gap between “we have a first aid kit” and “we have a medical plan” is where expeditions get into trouble. Pre-trip screening, altitude risk mitigation, acclimatization itineraries, custom kit assembly, and real-time telemedicine support for teams operating far from definitive care.
Expert Witness and Medicolegal
Mountain injury cases hinge on whether the expert has been there. Standard-of-care analysis for ski area accidents, avalanche incidents, and wilderness emergencies requires more than clinical knowledge — it requires operational context that most physician experts don’t have. Available for plaintiff and defense.
Operational Support and Program Development
A solid emergency medical plan looks different at 9,000 feet than it does in a conference room. Big Mountain Medical builds response frameworks for resorts, alpine events, expeditions, and camps — including controlled substance program creation and DEA/state EMS compliance for organizations navigating that process for the first time.
Research and Knowledge Translation
Wilderness medicine evidence doesn’t always make it to the people who need it most. Big Mountain Medical bridges that gap through research collaboration and media work — translating findings in avalanche safety, snow immersion suffocation, and risk management into practice-ready guidance for field providers.
Based in Bend, OR, USA.
Big Mountain Medical 