Iceaxe
03-19-2007, 08:15 AM
Search and save season begins
483 people were assisted in 2006 by Utah Search and Rescue
By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune
The terrain in Rock Canyon became too rugged for two Brigham Young University students who found themselves disoriented and trapped Saturday in the mountains above Provo.
The two hikers - women in their early 20s - had spent their St. Patrick's Day ascending the Squaw Peak Trail. But they became lost and tried to return to Provo down a mountainside just north of Rock Canyon.
When one hiker fell about 15 feet, the pair used a cell phone to call for help. Their after-dark rescue marked a beginning to the state's peak search and rescue season, in which hikers - lost or injured - require more saving than any other backcountry group.
The Utah Search and Rescue Advisory Board reported this week one in four rescue operations in 2006 involved a hiker. While snowmobilers ranked second on the list, ATV riders and bicyclists came in third and fourth, respectively.
Since outdoor enthusiasts don't pay for their own rescues in almost all Utah counties, each operation comes with a price tag. The state spent more than $245,000 last year to reimburse counties for some rescue operation costs, according to the advisory board report.
Over the last eight years, it has expended close to $1.9 million - dollars generated by a 50-cent search and rescue fee imposed on every off-highway vehicle that is registered or renewed in Utah.
This weekend's rescue coincided with the beginning of Grand County's search season, which rescuers say typically starts on St. Patrick's Day as tourism escalates in southeastern Utah. While Grand County reported no problems Saturday, the region has more backcountry bungles than anywhere else in the state.
Search teams scoured the rocky Grand County desert 87 times last year.
Since 1998, the county has embarked on 710 rescue missions, according to the advisory board report.
"This is Mother Earth at its finest down here," said Search and Rescue Commander Rex Tanner.
"It is extreme [country]. If you are doing things over your skill level, or that you're not familiar with, you can get yourself in trouble pretty quickly down here."
Search and rescue teams in Salt Lake and Utah counties came close but didn't surpass the red-rock county, with 653 and 631 operations, respectively.
Tanner urged backcountry enthusiasts to apprise family or friends - even a hotel while on vacation - to their summertime plans and to carry enough food and water to survive potential problems.
If troubles do occur, he said, people should stay put. Self-rescue operations often fail, he said.
"We have had a number of situations where people have perished," Tanner said. "If they would have stayed where they were at - we were on their tracks - we would have had them."
In Rock Canyon, search and rescue teams recovered the stranded BYU hikers without incident.
One student had fallen, but neither required medical attention; rescuers released them later that evening.
Utah Search and Rescue Advisory Board Report 2006 (.pdf)
http://www.cem.utah.gov/pdf/usar/ANNUAL_06.pdf
483 people were assisted in 2006 by Utah Search and Rescue
By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune
The terrain in Rock Canyon became too rugged for two Brigham Young University students who found themselves disoriented and trapped Saturday in the mountains above Provo.
The two hikers - women in their early 20s - had spent their St. Patrick's Day ascending the Squaw Peak Trail. But they became lost and tried to return to Provo down a mountainside just north of Rock Canyon.
When one hiker fell about 15 feet, the pair used a cell phone to call for help. Their after-dark rescue marked a beginning to the state's peak search and rescue season, in which hikers - lost or injured - require more saving than any other backcountry group.
The Utah Search and Rescue Advisory Board reported this week one in four rescue operations in 2006 involved a hiker. While snowmobilers ranked second on the list, ATV riders and bicyclists came in third and fourth, respectively.
Since outdoor enthusiasts don't pay for their own rescues in almost all Utah counties, each operation comes with a price tag. The state spent more than $245,000 last year to reimburse counties for some rescue operation costs, according to the advisory board report.
Over the last eight years, it has expended close to $1.9 million - dollars generated by a 50-cent search and rescue fee imposed on every off-highway vehicle that is registered or renewed in Utah.
This weekend's rescue coincided with the beginning of Grand County's search season, which rescuers say typically starts on St. Patrick's Day as tourism escalates in southeastern Utah. While Grand County reported no problems Saturday, the region has more backcountry bungles than anywhere else in the state.
Search teams scoured the rocky Grand County desert 87 times last year.
Since 1998, the county has embarked on 710 rescue missions, according to the advisory board report.
"This is Mother Earth at its finest down here," said Search and Rescue Commander Rex Tanner.
"It is extreme [country]. If you are doing things over your skill level, or that you're not familiar with, you can get yourself in trouble pretty quickly down here."
Search and rescue teams in Salt Lake and Utah counties came close but didn't surpass the red-rock county, with 653 and 631 operations, respectively.
Tanner urged backcountry enthusiasts to apprise family or friends - even a hotel while on vacation - to their summertime plans and to carry enough food and water to survive potential problems.
If troubles do occur, he said, people should stay put. Self-rescue operations often fail, he said.
"We have had a number of situations where people have perished," Tanner said. "If they would have stayed where they were at - we were on their tracks - we would have had them."
In Rock Canyon, search and rescue teams recovered the stranded BYU hikers without incident.
One student had fallen, but neither required medical attention; rescuers released them later that evening.
Utah Search and Rescue Advisory Board Report 2006 (.pdf)
http://www.cem.utah.gov/pdf/usar/ANNUAL_06.pdf