A training exercise with the Sitka Mountain Search and Rescue

Training with the Sitka Mountain Rescue team has been pretty good so far. I took some pictures during a mock search by Beaver Lake, in which people from various parts of SE Alaska took part. Here we are, looking for Amanda:


The walk wasn't too bad. It did go up and down at times, but the snow made it easier to clear large swathes of terrain. The kid in ACUs is in the Civil Air Patrol, and he didn't have any outdoor gear so I lent him some extra stuff.


We found Amanda fairly fast.


We got a little speech on US Coast Guard hoisting operations.


Then we called a helicopter.


Which showed up right about on schedule.


The Coast Guard was just as intent on maximizing the training time as we were, so they went through several complete iterations of the hoisting maneuvers after having dropped a rescue swimmer to assist us with the lines, cable, hook and litter:


Just remember to put a helmet on your subject, because it looks really awkward getting the litter over the lip of the deck.


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