Mountain rescuers to practice skills
Published 1:43 pm Saturday, April 18, 2009
Rescue crews worked overnight in the snow to save a woman who fell high atop Mount Baring last May and broke her ankle.
The highly trained volunteers used a system of ropes to carefully lower the injured climber nearly 1,500 vertical feet to safety.
About 10 times, they had to set and reset the lines. To pull the woman up meant returning to summit.
“Down is safety. We had to get her down to get her to an ambulance,” said Scott Welton, the chair of Everett Mountain Rescue.
The Mount Baring rescue is scheduled to be re-enacted today as part of a training exercise.
“These are all perishable skills. They are something you have to practice and drill during daylight and during decent weather,” Welton said.
This time, they’ll mount the training on Three Fingers Mountain near Granite Falls since the road to Mount Baring is impassible, said volunteer Kevin Riddell.
There are miles of vast, steep terrain in the county where a hiker easily could fall and need rescuing.
“This could be applied anywhere,” he said.
When people get lost or hurt in Snohomish County’s wilderness, a small army of trained volunteers works under the direction of the sheriff’s office to help. The teams all fall under the umbrella of Snohomish County Search and Rescue.
Everett Mountain Rescue is the unit that gets sent to the most technical rescues. These involve altitude or the need for tricky, advanced climbing skills.
The unit of about 50 volunteers is deployed about two dozen times a year, often daily during the summer months.
It’s only about eight times a year that the team is sent to high, remote locations, Welton said. Still, the team needs to be ready in all conditions.
“Nineteen times out of 20, the situation you’re going to be asked to apply those skills will be crummy,” he said.
That shouldn’t be a problem today. The forecast in the mountains is for sunny skies.
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
