Avalanche search teams discuss emotional stress, trauma sfgate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfgate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Colorado Avalanche Information Center
First responders are dealing with a particularly deadly winter. Colorado has had 11 avalanche fatalities so far, one short of the seasonal record set in 1993.
The memory of a rescue mission a decade ago still haunts Charles Pitman. Recalling the image of a father and uncle praying on a mountainside for a boy of 10 or 11 while rescuers performed CPR on him, Pitman paused to gather himself, tears in his eyes.
It was one of Pitman s first missions with the Summit County Rescue Group. A family had been snowmobiling on Vail Pass, only a mile or two from where Pitman stood as he described that tragic day. The boy had accidentally run the snowmobile he was driving into a tree.
Thursday was a busy day on Vail Pass as crews from nearly a dozen different emergency response agencies gathered to practice joint search and rescue drills in a display of cooperative rescue tactics, as well as education for the public.
“Part of this is an awareness campaign, part of it is also an opportunity to work together,” Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek said Thursday from the popular backcountry area. “Accidents don’t recognize county lines. … We have to work with our partners and these are the ones with matching skill sets, so it’s a good opportunity to get to know each other.”
Colorado skiers still going into the backcountry despite near-record deaths denverpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from denverpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.