The first day we spent learning techniques (Probability of Areas, hasty searches), history and case studies, as well as different types of terrain-searches (water, snow, forest). At the end of the first day we were told that the next day we would have a field exercise to find four people “lost” in the forest around our training facility, Wilderness Tours (WT). We had about an hour and a half to do some preplanning for the next day.

The next day we left Pembroke at noon to travel to WT. We had about two and a half hours before we got the “call” saying there were four hikers lost in the forests close by. Our two leaders were pre-picked and we split into groups of four or five, separated and combed assigned areas in search of missing hikers.

My group was poorly organized. We knew where we were going and what we were supposed to do but getting there was a completely different story. We were lost for about an hour, then realized we were way off track. Once we re-oriented our position, base-camp notified us that three people had been found and they knew where the fourth one was so we just headed back to camp. Learning from mis-steps taught us new understanding of the dangers and challenges to a full-on search and rescue mission where lives can be at stake.

In the end it only took fifty of us four hours to find four people. Strategy, planning, knowing the terrain and field searching introduced us to a better understanding of search and rescue. I thought it was kind of fun, the adrenaline of being part of a field search for a missing person. I would definitely do it again given the opportunity – hopefully real opportunities are few and far between!

Synthetics are good at keeping you dry and warm in wet cases where the fabrics would be subjected to heavy wet conditions where water repulsion and separating the body from water were critical to core body warmth, whereas organics are good at keeping you warm after the wet in retaining body heat and re-building the body’s inner core of warmth.  We came to the understanding that if you get organics wet they suck at keeping you warm and they take forever to dry, but applied dry, the benefits of the warmth gained were warmingly insulating.  A blend of the two sometimes became the best option where you needed a combination of the benefits of both fibres: other times it comes down to cost factor. Despite the positions on both sides we came to the conclusion that for the rafting and rescue portions of the  training, the synthetic fibres offered us the best advantage against the rivers fall edge.

I purchased my gear from the college and from an awesome gear  shop called Mountain Equipment Co-op. Some of the names I purchased when comparison shopping was the Level Six Dry Suit and the Sierra Designs Rash Guard.  These have served me well so far. As I learn more I will keep you posted.

See ya next time folks!   

Adventurefrik