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Oplopanax Horridus A veteran SAR volunteer's experiences in British Columbia

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Month: December 2010

Snow Immersion Deaths redux

By Michael Coyle Posted on 30/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with accident, safety, SAR, snow
Snow Immersion Deaths redux

Snow Immersion Deaths

Frequency of SAR Incidents

By Michael Coyle Posted on 19/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, Essay Tagged with InfoSAR, numbers, SAR, statistics, technology
Frequency of SAR Incidents
SAR Incidents by Week and Type (2003 to 2010)

I analysed some numbers on SAR Incidents in British Columbia and made a few graphs showing how the frequency of incidents changes with the season.

Distribution of SAR Incidents in BC

By Michael Coyle Posted on 17/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, Essay Tagged with InfoSAR, numbers, SAR
Distribution of SAR Incidents in BC

The distribution of SAR tasks in British Columbia

The Pineapple Express and Extreme Avalanche danger

By Michael Coyle Posted on 11/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with avalanche, backcountry, ski, weather

A Pineapple Express is approaching the coast, and conditions have changed yet again. Everyone should take a moment to appreciate the significance of Extreme Avalanche hazard on the south coast. Take a moment to understand what extreme means: Likelihood of …

The Pineapple Express and Extreme Avalanche danger Read more »

Non-Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Death

By Michael Coyle Posted on 09/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with death, InfoSAR, rescue, safety, SAR, ski, snow
Non-Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Death

I was reading a local hiking/mountaineering forum recently when I came across this post detailing a very scary incident that happened to a skier at a local resort. And then I learned a new acronym: NARSID. Now I have never …

Non-Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Death Read more »

SAR Numbers from other Provinces

By Michael Coyle Posted on 08/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, Essay Tagged with InfoSAR, numbers, SAR
SAR Numbers from other Provinces
Flying over Whistler Village in 2008

Comparing SAR incident volumes in BC to those in other provinces. BC has more than the rest of Canada combined

Weather observations redux

By Michael Coyle Posted on 07/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with backcountry, ski, weather

In my post yesterday I noted that it’s important to get a synopsis of weather conditions. My rationale; most weather forecasts provided by Environment Canada and other forecasters are geared toward the sea-level public, and contain wind and rain amounts, …

Weather observations redux Read more »

Weather observations and the coming storm

By Michael Coyle Posted on 06/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with backcountry, ski, weather

With reference to the post I wrote on coastal weather patterns, this weeks storm is an illustration of a winter front. However, the public forecasts and the rainfall warning are clearly geared toward the sea-level public. So where does a …

Weather observations and the coming storm Read more »

Some numbers on a large search

By Michael Coyle Posted on 03/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with numbers, SAR, SARDay, Tyler Wright

Most searches are short; someone goes missing and we head out and find them, someone calls on a cell phone and we guide them in, or we do a medical response. We divide searches into operational periods, a fancy term …

Some numbers on a large search Read more »

How not to carry a stretcher

By Michael Coyle Posted on 01/12/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with funny, video

Believe it or not, SAR members actually train for stretcher carrying. I honestly think that most of the reason we do this training is that we’re usually called out in the middle of the night, so you need to have …

How not to carry a stretcher Read more »

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