SAR! GOOD OR BAD!

[j_b]

I don't see where you are going with this

 

the public is already paying for rescue that is short of being professional. I don't have a firm position on this but other countries obviously don't deal with this in the same fashion we do.

[iain]

well in places like Chamonix they seem to be flying around looking for people to be rescued. There's a lot more activity over there, at least, I would assume because access to very serious mountaineering is phenomenally easy. A paid group makes sense there. You're not really paying for that Mt Hood rescue, as the military money has already been spent in your federal taxes, whether the chopper goes down or not. Climbing accidents in America on an annual basis, while spectacular at times, really don't cost us that much compared to other activities.

[RobBob]

Plus the US sue-me sue-you system isn't as prevalent there, right?

[Freeman]

Under the Washington Administrative Code the sheriff of each county is responsible for all search and rescue missions in his jurisdicition. He can use any means available to him, including but not limited to, his paid staff, contract professionals, volunteers, and, if they agree, the military. Hovever, the "Posse Comitatus" act following the Civil War mandates that the military cannot be used for civilian law enforcement (there was an interesting issue when the military was going to be used in the NY sniper search - technically they had to have civilians on board directing the mission).

 

We have had a good relationship with the military in eastern Washington but approval for EVERY mission is up to the base commander. In general (and I hate these generalities) they want to be in charge, use their people (including medics), do not want to fly civilians (altho they have done it from time to time), do not want to do body recoveries, and frequently do not have much experience flying in the mountains (boy, did we ever see that on Bonanza a couple of years ago). Stephan's experience on Temple this summer was a training with their night vision glasses in an area they had never been in - our group wanted to wait until first light since it wasn't life threatening.

 

It is my understanding that the report on the Mt Hood accident found that the pilot was using an outdated density- altitude calculator (not a problem until you start pushing your altitude ceiling, which for a Blackhawk could be 10,000 ft).

 

I'm rather proud of 30 years in our little area - we have never had anyone die once we have reached them (we have several ER docs and paramedics who climb 5.10 who are on the first response unit), we have never injured one of our people, we have the complete support of our community (we are funded by donations - including things like $16000 from the puplic to put a winch in our Huey after Bonanza, hell, our five helicopters were purchased with donations, and one individual has given in the six figures over the years). We don't own a van, instead we bring a week long Rigging for Rescue seminar for 12 of our people to Wenatchee every year) and we train monthly to keep our long line pilot and volunteers current. Some of our members are white water guides and we have done several white water missions using both the helicopter and some pretty wild rigging. After a friend was killed kayaking a couple of years ago one of our members created the white water branch of our group.

 

We're not professionals, we're a bunch of dedicated mountain guys (just like a lot of you) and there really isn't a fat guy in the group (I rag Fred Stanley about the weight he's put on but remember that he only did the FA of Liberty Crack, the Great Gendarm, S Face of Prusik... as well as being on about half of the rescues in Kittitas and Chelan in the past 30 years). The only big difference between us and all you guys is that we feel that one way to give something back to the mountains is to try, within our very human limits, to help someone who needs it. There isn't a cowboy in our group.

 

To those people who have made positve comments about SAR, thanks. I'm pretty sensitive because the shit may hit the tail rotor here in the next few weeks and I may really need the help of this group. If you really think SAR sucks, get ready to watch it go away. But remember, if we go away you better leave your cell phone at home and be ready to carry your buddy's broken ass out of the mountains.

 

But if your really want to help, join your local group and help make it better.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to get all wound up. I'll go back to work now.

[j_b]

good post Freeman, thanks.

[iain]

It is my understanding that the report on the Mt Hood accident found that the pilot was using an outdated density- altitude calculator (not a problem until you start pushing your altitude ceiling, which for a Blackhawk could be 10,000 ft).

 

This caused a number of raised eyebrows, when we had Blackhawks available to us at that elevation, which is just above that nominal ceiling. But no one questioned it and kept working so it's hard to blame this just on the pilot and flight engineer. Will be interesting to see what kind of air support is available when an accident happens again up there. Nice thoughts, by the way.

[Paul_detrick]

Thanks Freeman.

[monkeyboy]

Good, My only experience with with SAR was with Seattle Mountain Rescue. If I ever need to be rescued in the mountains these are the guys I want helping me.

[Beck]

Uh, Mountain Rescue volunteers who are available 24-7 to go haul ass to mountains to save yours, are pretty cool. They also are trained in urban SAR, and are pretty ready to help out in all sorts of scenarios.

 

There are all sorts of SAR volunteers, 4x4 rescue, mounted SAR, snowmachine SAR, dogssearch SAR, and they are READY TO GO and get people out of trouble.

 

If you guys want more "hotshots" on Mountain Rescue squads, go out and volunteer. You might have a helluva good time!

 

During my stint on a Mountain Rescue squad, I got the chance to dangle beneath a Chinook helicopter on a cable on a flight around Rainier, also rode the damn thing back from Mount Bachelor once till I puked, the pilots were doing some low altitude "terrain avoidance" flying. We're talking friggin' ROCKIN good times!

 

It's a very worthy thing to get involved in.

 

Say, freeman, do you guys do Mount Adams searches for Yakima Co. sometimes?

[allthumbs]

I agree with you Beck. I've kept quiet about this, but would like to say that I'd rather have some gumbies out there looking for me than no one at all. My charitable contributions typically go to search and rescue. I support them wholeheartedly.

[catbirdseat]

My son owes his life to Snohomish County Search and Rescue. He and I were hiking up Mt. Dickerman in June of 1999, a year in which there had been quite a lot of snow fall. We got off route at a place where a lot of trees had fallen and ended up coming down a steep gully below a headwall. Before we were able to reach the boot track, my son slipped and tried to arrest with his axe, but it was corn snow and all I could do was watch as his axe carved a furrow in the snow. He went off a cliff and fell 30 ft striking his head. SAR got to us within 4 hours. Their Huey, lacking a winch was unable to lift him from his position, so they called in a Blackhawk from Ft. Lewis. My son was taken straight to Harborview where he was found to have severe brain swelling. He spent 8 days in intensive care, followed by a month at children's hospital. Today, he is healthy and back to doing the things he loves.

 

These guys are all volunteers. That's the only way we can expect to get a rescue unless we are willing to start paying money into a rescue fund every time we go climbing. I don't thing too many people would.

 

 

[Freeman]

To Beck about Mt Adams;

 

As I stated in my previous rant, in Washington it is up to each Sheriff to conduct his own rescues and to call in whatever resouces he feels necessary. We have worked with Kittitas (the summit of Stuart is the county line) and Okanogon (the summit of Liberty Bell is also the county line), as well as helping King (roughly Stevens Pass), but in general we've got about all we can do in Chelan and Douglas. The fact that we have helicopters and a mountain pilot means we are frequently asked by neighboring counties to help. We've never been called to Klickitat county however.

 

by the way, thanks for all the positive comments from everybody - I was just seeing the negative. I know that there are a lot of problems with rescue but in general we're doing the best we can. If all we hear is criticism I promise that climbing volunteers will go away and you will be left with the fat out of shape deputies who can hardly climb onto a bar stool.