Mountain Rescue Effors Revitalized

Fall colors

When I joined Seattle Mountain Rescue last spring, I was expecting to participate in many of the search and rescue missions that happen during the peak summer season.  However, my work and travel in southeast Asia left me unavailable.  As a new member I am asked to participate in at least five missions with in the first year of membership.  As of fall I had only been on one mission and was concerned about meeting the minimum requirements by next spring.  I have also discovered that it can be difficult for me to respond to missions that happen during the work week.  This is not because I have an inflexible schedule but rather because I usually ride the bus or bike to work resulting in a rather slow response time.  There are many other SMR members who live closer to the mountains and are readily available to respond to missions.

Fortunately there are more ways to volunteer with SMR than responding to emergency missions.  The last two Saturdays SMR has been asked to assist the Bellevue police department and King County Search and Rescue search for a missing child.  I have been there both weekends, happy to volunteer my time.

With winter rapidly approaching I am looking forward to some great winter training opportunities with SMR and perhaps a few interesting search and rescue missions.  Last spring a got a pair of used skies put together with some bindings that I think will be ideal for wintertime missions.  They are light enough to not be overly burdening but tough enough to handle most terrain.  The skis have full metal edges, fish scales in the kick zone but are also fitted with light weight ski skins.  With snow falling in the mountains it won't be long before we are out enjoying winter.