Saturday, February 21, 2009

SARCNJ "Winter" Technical Rope Rescue Day

held 2/21 & 2/22 at Hidden Valley Ski Area in Vernon, NJ.
This interagency training weekend provided members the opportunity to:
- work through a series of winter rescue skills stations such as snow/ice anchor construction and testing; snow/ice travel using crampons and snowshoes; self arrest using an ice axe; winter patient packaging systems and sled evac; and basic avalanche/avalanche search awareness.
- spend the night on the mountain in a winter bivy.
- utilize the previous day's skills to search for and rescue someone on the mountain.
Thank you to NJSAR and the NJ Ski Patrol for all their hard work!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Slippery Slope Rescue Training

held 2/8 at Lode Star Park in Fredon, NJ. This was a "patient-at-the-bottom-of-a-slippery-slope" type training that included all the associated issues (access, assessment, packaging, and transport - back up the hill). We played with various footwear traction devices, reviewed patient packaging considerations in snowy/icy conditions, and refreshed on the rigging and operation of raising/lowering systems.