Search and save season begins

[Iceaxe]

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

[Jaxx]

Wow I never thought that many rescues were needed each year. I would love to be on S & R. Those guys are awesome!

[gonzo]

Last fall I was up in Big Cottonwood doing some trail running with a friend, and I saw a guy hauling ass up the trail with a giant backboard attached to his back. Apparently they were heading up to rescue a fallen climber. Ever since then I've wanted to volunteer with them.

My intention was to take some first responder classes over the winter and volunteer with Salt Lake County Search and Rescue, but it turns out those classes are kinda expensive.

http://www.slsheriff.org/html/org/sar/join2.html

[Sombeech]

11 horse riders were rescued? What'd they do, bring in dirt bikes to take the riders out?

"Yeah, we need help. Our horses won't move. They keep peeing and pooping while we kick them, and they just look back at us with that huge eye of theirs."

[Iceaxe]

"Yeah, we need help. Our horses won't move. They keep peeing and pooping while we kick them, and they just look back at us with that huge eye of theirs."

[rockgremlin]

11 horse riders were rescued? What'd they do, bring in dirt bikes to take the riders out?

"Yeah, we need help. Our horses won't move. They keep peeing and pooping while we kick them, and they just look back at us with that huge eye of theirs."

Oh my gosh...too funny!!!

[scoutabout]

Search and save season begins
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.

Is it fair that hikers are the primary users of S&R, but don't put money into the system (unless they also own an OHV)? Just something I've heard tossed around for a while. Should there be a "backcountry license" sold to all users to help cover S&R costs?

[Sombeech]

Is it fair that hikers are the primary users of S&R, but don't put money into the system (unless they also own an OHV)?

Good point

[gonzo]

Ugh. More permits and licensing? The last thing I want to do before heading up Little Cottonwood Canyon or Mount Timpanogos is visit a backcountry desk and buy a permit.

If you want the system to be fair, you should charge the people that need to be rescued. (Their big-eyed horses, too). If I need an ambulance to take me to the hospital, I have to pay for it. If I need a helicopter to come pluck me off Squaw Peak, I should have to pay for that, too.

[Iceaxe]

If you want the system to be fair, you should charge the people that need to be rescued.

There are several good arguments about why NOT to charge for SAR. The biggest problem with charging for SAR is folks hold off calling for help until things have gone from really bad to somebody is dead because they can't afford the bill. Better to have a live free loader then a dead guy who isn't going to pay anyways (cause he's dead).

There are probably more fair methods of collecting the coin instead of making the ATV guys do all the heavy lifting. But who ever said life was fair?

For a good laugh maybe the ATV guys should start sending a "You're Welcome" card to every tree hugger and forest fairy who is rescued.

[scoutabout]

Ugh. More permits and licensing? The last thing I want to do before heading up Little Cottonwood Canyon or Mount Timpanogos is visit a backcountry desk and buy a permit.

It's annoying, but required in some places, and it would probably help with safety (knowledge of who's where and when).

Maybe a statewide, annual backcountry license? Buy a license for the year to do any travel in backcountry areas. It would apply to anyone regardless of their mode of transportation. It might be hard to enforce, but it could be done. But, I'm sure the hiking/climbing/canyoneering community is glad to have the OHV crowd pick up the tab for them.

[Iceaxe]

Maybe a statewide, annual backcountry license?

Colorado has something like this. Maybe one of the CO boyz can fill us in?

[scoutabout]

Maybe a statewide, annual backcountry license?

Colorado has something like this. Maybe one of the CO boyz can fill us in?

Oh, I'd never heard of that. Hopefully someone will chime in with the details. Sounds interesting.

[erial]

and a S&R continues for a third day below the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. From today's Winston Salem Journal:

Search crews fanned out again today in an area near the Blue Ridge Parkway, looking for 12-year-old Michael Auberry, who disappeared from his Boy Scout campsite Saturday afternoon.

Brent Pennington, a district ranger with the Blue Ridge Parkway, said that crews are spending the day searching intensively in small areas and moving on to others if they don't find anything.

"Right now we're still very optimistic," Pennington said.

Last night, a dive team from Alleghany County searched in the water below a dam in Doughton Park. Auberry's parents, Kent Auberry and Debbie Hayes, said they were very relieved when the water search turned up nothing.

"That was the one period of time we didn't want them to say 'we got him,'" said Kent Auberry.

Searchers have been over the area's logging roads and trails and scoured rugged off-road areas since his disappearance. They found his mess kit Saturday less than a mile from the Scouts' camp, but no new clues were found today, authorities said.

"We're hopeful at this point," said David Bauer, a Blue Ridge Parkway ranger. "I've been on searches that have lasted over a week in worse weather and we've had successful outcomes."

Debbie Hayes said today that Michael didn't take water with him, and that his only food was a container of Pringles potato chips. He was appropriately dressed for the weather, she said.

Overnight temperatures reached 17 degrees. The high temperature today is expected to be in the upper 50s.

No one's sure why Michael disappeared, though Bauer said that the boy probably wandered into the woods to explore. About 10 scouts and their three adult leaders of Troop 230 noticed that Michael was missing after eating lunch together Saturday.

Michael had stayed behind with an adult leader while the rest of the troop went for a hike that morning "because apparently he wanted to sleep in." The troop members returned for lunch. Soon after, between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m., they noticed Michael was missing from the camp, Bauer said.

Bauer said he wasn't aware of Michael having any arguments or problems with the troop members or his family.

Auberry's mother said that Michael takes Ritalin to control an attention-deficit disorder. He took the medication with him on the camping trip, but left it at the campsite. He is a curious and restless boy, she said, and he would be likely to keep moving if he got lost in the woods.

Hayes and Kent Auberry spent the night at the search headquarters.

"We have good moments, and bad," Hayes said. "It's bad at night because we know how he must be feeling.

"We appreciate everyone's support. Keep the prayers coming," Hayes said.

[erial]

The scout was found alive this morning:

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/555305.html

[erial]

sometimes scouts are the rescued and sometimes they are the rescuers:

Scouts carry injured hiker 3 miles to safety

The Associated Press

READING, Pa. - A Boy Scout troop came to the rescue of a hiker who had fallen and hit her head along the Appalachian Trail over the weekend.

Jane B. Scholl, 41, of Mohnton, was hiking on Blue Mountain in northern Berks County with a friend Saturday. The two reached the Pinnacle, a popular overlook, and Scholl was looking for a good spot to take pictures when she fell at about 1 p.m.

"I landed right on my eye," she said Sunday. "I was cut and bleeding and felt really woozy."

The two started down the mountain, but Scholl began to feel worse. That's when they met Boy Scout Troop 226 from Rockledge, Montgomery County.

"I had seen her up at the Pinnacle and she was having trouble walking," scoutmaster Christopher J. Gallagher said. "As we were hiking back down we caught up to her, and that's when we saw that she was bleeding."

The eight Scouts built a stretcher from tree branches and their sweat shirts.

"We took sticks, shoved them into each sleeve and made it long enough for her body to fit on. We carried her three miles," Eagle Scout Andrew Swartz Jr. said.

"All the kids knew what to do," Scholl said.

Gallagher had called for help on his cell phone, and the troop was met by medics who began treatment. She was then taken to a helicopter waiting to fly her to Reading Hospital, where she was treated for a concussion and cuts and bruises and released Sunday.

"I feel like I was hit by a truck, but I just fell down a mountain," she joked.

When Troop 226 returned Sunday, members were met by a crowd of cheering members of the community and a band featuring drummers and bagpipes.

"I feel really good. It's nice to know I helped someone out in their time of need," scout Bill Bowman said.