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Oplopanax Horridus

Oplopanax Horridus

A veteran SAR volunteer's experiences in British Columbia

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On Coordinates; part 2

By Michael Coyle Posted on 09/02/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with backcountry, gear, GPS, map, SAR, technology
On Coordinates; part 2
GPS Track of helicopter flight into the Pitt River area.

In my previous post on coordinates, I stated that the best coordinate representation to use if you need to use geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) was decimal degrees (or DD). It’s preferable to use UTM, which is pretty much a …

On Coordinates; part 2 Read more »

Backcountry Skier dies on Mount Seymour

By Michael Coyle Posted on 05/02/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with accident, backcountry, news, ski, snow
Backcountry Skier dies on Mount Seymour

Please see updates at the end of this article. A week from my last post on his pattern of accidents, and there’s another accident, this time fatal. Details are sketchy, but the media are reporting that the individual was snowshoeing …

Backcountry Skier dies on Mount Seymour Read more »

On Coordinates

By Michael Coyle Posted on 02/02/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with backcountry, gear, GPS, map, SAR, smart phone, technology
On Coordinates
SAR Member using a map

An article about recording and transmitting geographic coordinates accurately.

Snowshoer rescued on Hollyburn Mountain

By Michael Coyle Posted on 30/01/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with accident, backcountry, news, snow, snowshoe
Snowshoer rescued on Hollyburn Mountain

This previous week has seen warmer than usual weather with a lot of rain and fluctuating freeing temperatures bringing rain to the tops of the local mountains, and saturating the snow. Yesterday and today dawned cold and clear. Overnight sea-level …

Snowshoer rescued on Hollyburn Mountain Read more »

BCA Tracker 2 Update

By Michael Coyle Posted on 30/01/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with avalanche, news, recall, safety, snow, transceiver

An update to my previous post on this issue: Backcountry Access has published instructions on how to do the RA (return authorization) on the Tracker 2, get the software update, and a minor hardware upgrade. Really awesome: they’re paying for …

BCA Tracker 2 Update Read more »

Why SAR members are tough on gear

By Michael Coyle Posted on 26/01/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with opinion

What, do you think, is the primary difference between a SAR member on a task, and a person undertaking a hiking, backcountry skiing or mountaineering trip? On the surface they look to be the same thing. We use the same …

Why SAR members are tough on gear Read more »

On Outdoor Responsibility

By Michael Coyle Posted on 23/01/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with backcountry, opinion, rant, SAR
On Outdoor Responsibility
Our 50m rap onto the glacier

I found an interesting site the other day: Leave No Trace (there is a Canadian offshoot as well). It’s a site that promotes outdoor ethics and offers guidance on the best practises to preserve wilderness values, and reduce the impact …

On Outdoor Responsibility Read more »

Backcountry Ski rig for SAR

By Michael Coyle Posted on 19/01/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with backcountry, gear, HETS, review, SAR, ski, snow

A description of my backcountry ski rig for SAR and reasons why I chose it.

A “promotion”

By Michael Coyle Posted on 18/01/2011 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with management, SAR

I’m moving up. I’m going to be a manager. Being in BC, we get more SAR tasks than the rest of Canada combined. Being in the southwest part of BC, we get 36% of all the tasks in BC. This …

A “promotion” Read more »

SARDays 73 to 102, the winter lull

By Michael Coyle Posted on 17/01/2011 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with avalanche, SAR, SARDay, training, Tyler Wright
SARDays 73 to 102, the winter lull

SARDays 73 to 102

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