A few years ago, around about the time I started this blog, I was selected with a group of other rescue people to form the helicopter rescue team for the downhill skiing venue at the Vancouver – Whistler 2010 Olympics. That’s…
Blog Archives
The Autoimmune Expedition
Tagged with: adventure, avalanche, backcountry, fundraising, mountaineering, ski
Posted in Blog Entry, Essay
Posted in Blog Entry, Essay
Traverse The Coast: An Audacious Undertaking
In 2001 a friend of mine was skiing at Salal Creek, a trip I sadly couldn’t make with him, and when he came back he had a strange tale to tell. He said while he was there, three backcountry skiers…
Why does SAR Search for Dogs?
There’s a relatively high profile search for a dog under way on Mount Seymour at the moment, and an accompanying amount of local, national and international media coverage. From looking at the comments on some of these web sites, and watching the…
Stop with the Smart Phones already
Last year I wrote about how you should stop using Smart Phones for backcountry navigation. News outlets continue to post comments from local SAR teams highlighting what I wrote about; people using their phones as navigation devices are running the…
Tagged with: backcountry, communications, gear, GPS, opinion, rant, safety, smart phone, social media, technology
Posted in Blog Entry
Posted in Blog Entry
Remains of Missing Hiker found near Terrace BC
On Friday, media around the province and the country began reporting that the remains of missing hiker, Warren Sill, had been found near New Hazelton by Terrace SAR. Being an “insider” in the SAR community, some information comes to be…
The idiocy of using social media to call for help
The Canadian Red Cross commissioned Ipsos Reid to conduct a survey on what Canadians expect of social media in an emergency. One of the results they talk about here is that 63% of respondents think emergency responders should answer emergency calls via…
Tagged with: backcountry, communications, GPS, rant, smart phone, smartphone, social media, technology
Posted in Blog Entry
Posted in Blog Entry
Cell phones and GPS
It seems there’s been a few articles in the news recently about Cell phones and GPS “signals”, and how SAR uses them. The Issue: Accuracy Last week, North Shore Rescue helpfully pointed out some perceived flaws in the system. That…
Tagged with: backcountry, cell phone, communications, GPS, PLB, smart phone, technology
Posted in Blog Entry
Posted in Blog Entry
Personal Locator Beacons from the Rescuer’s Perspective
A case study of a recent rescue in Southwest BC My SAR Team just completed a rescue of three stranded hikers in the DeBeck Creek area north of Coquitlam, on the west side of Pitt Lake. If this sounds familiar…
Tagged with: backcountry, beacon, case study, helicopters, HETS, management, map, personal locator beacon, PLB, rescue, safety, Tyler Wright, weather
Posted in Blog Entry, Essay
Posted in Blog Entry, Essay
Finding Someone from a Helicopter
The call At 4am June 13th, 2007 my pager went off, waking me from a very deep sleep. The pager goes off all the time, but this early in the morning it’s almost always a bad thing. People tend to…
Summer snow conditions
When I wrote my article on a pattern of accidents I had observed in winter sports lovers, I talked about the snow conditions that contribute to a slip and fall accident. That, combined with easy access to the alpine, a…
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TrueNorth Geospatial
Mapping Software for Backcountry Professionals
YourLo.ca/tion
Locate people using their SmartPhones
