Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Departmant SAR

A SAR team member sent me this article from the LAS Vegas SAR organization.  It's a good read.

A Typical Rescue Scenario

Friday, April 15, 2011

 

Earlier this week, Mountain Rescue Officers and Volunteers rescued two stranded hikers from a cliff-face in Red Rock.  It was a gorgeous day, they weren't hiking a challenging trail, and they only planned on hiking for a couple of hours.  As they left their car, both hikers were wearing shorts and a t-shirt, tennis shoes, they grabbed a harness, and had about 4 liters of water between the two of them.  As the pair hiked into one of the canyons and scurried up a cliff face, they found themselves in a precarious position.  They could no longer climb up, they were nervous about climbing back down, and they were running out of day light very quickly.

This is the type of situation that our Unit sees far too often.  Hikers leave their cars with only the best-case scenario in mind.  It's a beautiful day, so what on earth could go wrong?

In the case of these two hikers, they did a couple of things right:

1. Before leaving for their hike, they told friends and family where they were going.  They had a plan, they stuck to it, and someone else knew about it.  This is good.
2. When the pair found themselves in a precarious position, they didn't attempt to do something that would harm them.   They knew that down-climbing could potentially hurt them, so instead of trying anyway, they found a giant ledge and stayed put.

To read the complete article go here.