Well, yesterday I was able to go on my first CMRU (Corvallis Mountain Rescue Unit) training day. Jason, Nate, I and a few others drove up to Santiam Pass on route 20 to meet up with Bob who would be our resident instructor. Before I go on let me say a few things about Bob:
Bob has won National Ski Patroller of the Year more times than anyone. He has been doing mountain rescue for the past 20+ years and it the most knowledgeable person I've ever met about any travel/rescue/survival in the mountains. I would happily trust my life to him in any situation and I feel privelaged that I am going to learn high mountain rescue from him over the next 5 to 6 years.
It was a relaxing day of learning how to use our GPS to locate waypoints in the woods. It was my first time snowshoeing in the pass and I thought it was truly beautiful. There was 6+ feet of snow on the ground and no brush like in the East Coast bushwacking. When we found our final locatioin to meet up we dug a snow shelter and Bob showed us how to analyze the snow for avalanche danger. We then wrapped Bob in a sled and pulled him back to the car in a mock rescue situation.
Overall I learned a great deal and we were only in the woods for about 5-6 hours. I can't wait until the next saturday of training next month. Hopefully someday I'll be as knowledgeable as Bob and can teach others as well as he does.
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