Iceland and the Faroe Islands
Two weeks in the North Atlantic delivered an enthusiastic gathering of rope rescue practitioners,generous hospitality from our hosts, incredible scenery, and an appreciated spell of bluebirdweather. The trip began in Iceland, where Rigging for Rescue has been fortunate enough to trainon 10 separate occasions over the past 15+ years. This year’s seminar was in the town ofAkureyri, in the north. Known as the banana belt of Iceland, Akureyri often produces excellentweather despite the northerly latitude. The participant mix included some local SAR members from the Sulur team as well asrepresentation from Reykjavik teams and the surrounding vicinity. ICE SAR is the parentorganization that all Icelandic search and rescue teams work under and they serve as theadministrative body for an array of annual training courses to serve their member teams ongoingprofessional development. We covered many of the typical rope rescue topics and techniques, with an emphasis towards thespecific mission profile of rope rescue response in Iceland. Example included lots of hedgehoganchors (ground-based aluminum plates staked into the turf), litter exercises, and some artificialhigh directional applications. Week two took us to the Faroe Islands and the capital city of Torshavn. The team in Torshavnwas founded in around 2010 and works closely with ICE SAR for continuing education. Riggingfor Rescue first came to the Faroes in 2013 and this trip represented our return visit. The Faroesare comprised of 18 islands, many of which are linked by undersea tunnels. Including a new onethat has the world’s first undersea roundabout where you can choose from two different islandsto travel towards! Remarkable engineering feats. Apparently it rains a lot in the Faroes, but the first week of September seems to be a sweet spotas this was the second consecutive early September trip where we scarcely experienced anythingother than bluebird conditions. The team in the Faroes has continued to progress since our lasttrip in 2013. Lots of new dedicated team members, a new SAR cache, ongoing in-house trainingevents, and a committed approach to systems analysis and critical thinking. We experienced more great hospitality from our hosts that included a number of excellentextracurricular activities such as sea kayaking and hiking near the spectacular sea cliffs above theNorth Atlantic. The scenery is truly stunning and the terrain for rope rescue is challenging anddramatic. Thank you to our host teams and we look forward to future visits to both locations.
