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.
Multi-agency seaside training on the North Atlantic!
Mike Gibbs and Kevin Koprek just wrapped up a great training session hosted by MDI SAR at Acadia National Park. The training included all of the MASAR teams that conduct high angle missions across the state of Maine. In attendance were members of: MDI SAR, Acadia NPS Rangers, Baxter State Park Rangers, Wilderness Rescue Team, Franklin SAR, Mahoosuc SAR and the Coastal Mountain Rescue Team. MASAR and Rigging for Rescue have a long standing history of training together, and we are fortunate to have had another great experience working with them again! Beautiful weather and stunning views of the North Atlantic are hard to beat. SAR techs negotiate a steep edge with the help of a high directional using the Arizona Vortex. MASAR techs finding the most ergonomic position while attending to a casualty. All smiles with this crew! Anyone who knows Mike Gibbs, understands that he is a firm believer in the ‘work hard, play hard’ life philosophy. There was no exception to this “stay and play” fall rock climbing session in the Gunks with Kevin after wrapping up training with MASAR. Gibbs on lead, Koprek multi-tasking with the one handed photo belay! For a couple of Gen Xers, their selfie game is on point! Fall season rock climbing in the Gunks was a great way to wrap up an awesome training session on the East Coast. Back home in Ouray, CO, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder, many of us are already so stoked for winter! All of our 2024 Open Enrollment training dates are live on our website. Do you want to get your winter rescue training skills up to speed? Take a look at our Waterfall Ice Rescue workshops taking place in beautiful Ouray, January and February 2024. Here’s to winter!
YOSAR
The stoke was high this past week with RfR in Yosemite! Rocktober is perhaps the best month of the year to be in Yosemite Valley with cooler temps and reduced visitation. We had a great seminar with the Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) team under bluebird skies and on that impeccable Sierra granite. Seminar participants included a mix of Yosemite Valley personnel as well as SAR technicians from Tuolumne Meadows. Yosemite is well known for its huge walls and this can lead to very long litter transport times on the most efficient and timely of rescue calls. As a result, the team at YOSAR regularly trains on litter manipulation methods to change the litter to allow for both vertical and horizontal patient orientation. We covered those skills as well as pickoffs, edge transition challenges, and a 200m Guiding Line through the Lower Amphitheater of Yosemite Falls. Here is a video compilation of the week:
Leo Lloyd – volunteer, educator, dear friend
Last week we lost one of our finest with the unexpected passing of Leo Lloyd. Leo exhibited the very best of human qualities – generous with his time and always a smile on his face. We will miss him terribly. I had the good fortune to work with Leo at Rigging for Rescue for over 20 years. We co-instructed many technical rescue trainings. He was the consummate professional and an incredibly insightful educator. He has left an irreplaceable legacy on the mountain rescue community as both an educator and volunteer first responder. What I will miss the most are the countless adventures we did together in the backcountry of our beloved San Juan Mountains – trail running, climbing, skiing, and mountain biking. Thanks for the memories, Leo! Leo’s life will be celebrated at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College on August 30that 3:00 p.m. Additionally, a memorial fund in Leo’s memory has been established for those wishing to contribute.
SPRAT land speed record?
We just wrapped up a great week of rope access training and evaluation in Ouray with eight dialed-in Beaver Creek Ski Area (Vail Resorts) employees. The team made great strides throughout the week in polishing their rope access skills in preparation for the SPRAT Level 1 evaluation, yesterday. And while speed is not a parameter for evaluation purposes, these guys smoothly cruised through the eval with a 100% pass rate. All finished in under 2 hours! Yowza. #spratlandspeedrecord. Congrats Beaver Creek for crushing the Level 1 eval! And welcome to the world of certified rope access technicians.
Grand Teton NPS – Jenny Lake climbing rangers
Summertime in the Tetons is about as good as it gets for Rigging for Rescue training scenarios. Once again we recently had the privilege to work with the Jenny Lake climbing rangers at Grand Teton NPS on their rope rescue techniques and general ropework best practices. The week consisted of a mix of topic/technique review and dusting the rust off of fine motor skills for rope/device management. But the majority of time and energy was focused on hazard recognition/management, command and control, systems inspections, and sequencing of events for optimizing rescue team efficiency. Training exercises such as the multi-pitch scenarios conducted on Disappointment Peak provide an outstanding litmus for rescue team operational performance and efficiency. There are so many tasks that need to be performed capably and smoothly in order to operate well in such a serious environment. The team(s) navigated the terrain nicely with sound decision-making relative to station location selection for overhead hazard protection. Working out the puzzle of how to navigate through such terrain with multiple rescue personnel is often an organic process. We have included a video link that highlights elements of the week. Enjoy! Grand Teton NPS 2022 – Jenny Lake climbing rangers
SPRAT at Rigging for Rescue
The recent SPRAT rope access training and evaluation session included six Level 1 candidates and one Level 2 upgrade. All candidates passed their respective evaluations and are now certified and/or upgraded rope access technicians per SPRAT. Rigging for Rescue is proud to report that our SPRAT candidate passing rate is over 90% since we began offering rope access courses in 2020. Our next open enrollment offering is in October. Please check our course calendar for details at riggingforrescue.com.
Happy Birthday, Rock!
It is now official. Rock Gibbs is the youngest certified SPRAT technician having passed his Level 1 evaluation this morning on his 18th birthday, June 30, 2022. Rigging for Rescue principal, Mike Gibbs, hatched the plan with Rock several months ago and a SPRAT training and evaluation was scheduled accordingly. You have to be 18 years of age to be evaluated for a SPRAT certification, so Rock now has the novelty of being at worst tied for the youngest certified SPRAT rope access technician ever. Happy birthday, son. And congrats!
Deschutes County SAR
The month of May had Rigging for Rescue visiting numerous ports of call around the country including Bend, Oregon to work with Deschutes County SAR (DCSAR). Our first seminar on contract with DCSAR was 2005 and we have been back every 2-3 years since that time. DCSAR covers Smith Rock State Park, as well as the high alpine Cascade peaks in the vicinity, including the Three Sisters and Broken Top. The geology around Deschutes County includes a lot of columnar basalt, which tends to present with abrupt 90-degree edge transitions. On our pickoff day we covered seated edge transitions, similar in principle to how you would transition over the parapet wall of a building. There is little to be gained (and much to be risked) with a standing edge transition, given the abruptness of the transition and little to no high directional help at the edge. Pike ‘n Pivot technique is also a staple of any Rigging for Rescue training with DCSAR. It is the right technique for the abrupt edge transitions that are so abundant to the area. Dual tension systems, Main/Belay systems, the Petzl Maestro, CMC Clutch, Arizona Vortex, and VT Prusiks were all included in the seminar content.
Jackson Hole Resort
Last week we were living right with a welcome high-pressure system in the Tetons and dry rock under foot for the annual Jackson Hole Mountain Patrol (JHMP) training event. JHMP wears many hats for rescue operations on the Jackson Hole resort ski mountain during high summer visitation – bike park, hikers accessing the high country via the tram/gondola, and the via ferrata. The Jackson Hole via ferrata opened in 2018 and RfR has been privileged to be able to work/train the JHMP in rope rescue techniques germane to the via ferrata course every since the grand opening. The upside of via ferrata rescue is you know where the patient will be located – somewhere on the via ferrata. LOL. Additionally, anchoring options are abundant. The primary challenge is the ground to be covered after the patient is moved off of the geological terrain –lots of low angle scree, talus, and steep forested slopes. So we commonly focus on pickoffs followed by Guiding Line aerial suspension systems. Another great week in the Tetons! Thanks, JHMP!
