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Oplopanax Horridus

A veteran SAR volunteer's experiences in British Columbia

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Tag: rescue

SAR Day 40: Rescue on Diez Vistas

By Michael Coyle Posted on 19/07/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with helicopter, HETS, rescue, SAR, SARDay

I was unable to make this rescue. From what I gather, the team was called to rescue an injured subject on the Diez Vistas trail, around Vista 6. Members hover-exited at Vista 3 and hike to the site. The subject …

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SAR Day 39: Rescue on Eagle Ridge

By Michael Coyle Posted on 19/07/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with helicopter, HETS, injury, rescue, SAR, SARDay

What follows is a  first person account of a recent rescue on Eagle Ridge. At approximately 16:30 I get paged: “All members call task line for injured hiker at Buntzen Lake“. I dial in and hear the SAR manager describing …

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SAR Day 13: Search for missing hiker near Wigeon Creek

By Michael Coyle Posted on 22/04/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with rescue, SAR, SARDay, search
SAR Day 13: Search for missing hiker near Wigeon Creek

On Monday evening the team was paged to search for a missing hiker in the Wigeon Slough area

On Olympic Aspirations

By Michael Coyle Posted on 12/02/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with essay, helicopter, HETS, news, olympics, rescue
On Olympic Aspirations
Rescuing an Olympic Skier in 2010

Recounting my part in rescuing an Olympic Athlete during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics

The Olympic Imperative

By Michael Coyle Posted on 08/02/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with HETS, olympics, rescue, training
The Olympic Imperative
From left, Brian "Fish" Fishbook, Buck Corrigan, Me, Peter Marshall, Nick Zupan

Two days of training at the men’s and women’s downhill skiing course, and one day to go before racers start practising. First, some terms of reference: there are just about 2400 blue-clad volunteers for the men’s and women’s downhill, and …

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My Olympic Sport (Part 2)

By Michael Coyle Posted on 03/02/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with helicopter, HETS, olympics, rescue, training

(continued from Part 1) So, through hook or by crook, I’ve been trained to dangle from a helicopter as a rescue technique. How, may you ask, did that get me to the Olympics? A few years ago, Vancouver won the …

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