Sunday 25th January 2009 – Exercise
Things went from bad to worse, when I was told that as I was the only available member of the drivers group left, I would have to wait at the hut all day, in case I was needed to drive the Land Rovers.
I was just about to settle in for the day, when I was unexpectedly told that I wasn’t needed at base and could go out to lug some heavy gear up a very steep hill!
We were sent up Sandy Heyes to meet with the other teams and help with the stretcher carry.
After a lung bursting walk up Sandy Heyes, we arrived to meet the other teams who had been waiting in the cold and wind for our equipment, to get the next phase of the rescue started.
The casualty was brought up the slope on a stretcher, which was protected by the rope we had just carried up. We then started the carry off. The top section of Sandy Heyes is steep, so we sledged the stretcher down with a back up rope attached, to stop it getting out of control. After this section, it was a long carry off, making me realize why this is called an “exercise”!
Anyway, here is Phil’s events of the day:
Phil: Today’s exercise was organized by Darren & Dave and had several objectives. The primary objectives were ‘steep ground work’ and ‘stretcher carrying’. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good long carry off, so the practice will come in handy (especially for the newer members).
The team started arriving at base at 08.00hrs.
The scenario was simple – two experienced walkers had failed to return the previous evening. Control had deployed several teams that would allow Kinder team to concentrate in the William’s Clough and Sandy Heyes areas. Search Dog Ian along with his faithful navigator Ryan were also deployed.
It wasn’t long before sections were deployed. As training officer I
knew the basic outline for the exercise, so it was probably by no coincidence
that I was put in the ‘heavy equipment’ section (Kinder 2). So
we would have the un-envious task of lugging the stretcher, gasses, vacuum
splints, cas bag, along with hill party kit up Sandy Heyes to an RV point up
on the edge path.
Other sections were searching directly up William’s Clough (Kinder 1)
and the Three Knolls (Kinder 3) path up to the downfall. The idea being, that
at some point we’d all RV around the top of Sandy Heyes.
As it happened, about a quarter of the way up Sandy Heyes our party, led
by Mike, happened upon a walker (KMRT Pete) who said he’d seen a body (nice
way to describe his sister) in the gulley and was on his way to raise help.
Mike quickly had the casualty site organized and got some information out of
the casualty before they drifted into unconsciousness. This was the first of
two casualties, so it wasn’t going to be a short exercise! Steve & Dan
soon had the injury’s assessed and appropriate treatment given. It was
decided that an urgent evacuation was required. (hopefully with the aid of
that fictional ‘paper helicopter’, if not it we’d have to
wait for extra man power before beginning the stretcher carry). Our casualty
had a suspected spinal injury, broken lower leg, hypothermia and was still
unconscious. Luckily we had all the appropriate gear and we were able to stabilize
the casualty and begin the short stretcher carry to a suitable LZ and RV point
for additional teams should a full carry off be required (it’s not very
often the stretcher party finds the casualty).
Around this time, Search Dog Ian had a find towards the top of Sandy Heyes.
The party’s coming in from the Three Knowls and William’s Clough
would soon be on scene.
Just as our additional help was arriving, we got confirmation that the ‘paper
helicopter’ would soon be arriving and that we could redeploy with all
the heavy equipment to the second cas site.
About three quarters of an hour later we were also at the second cas site.
We had just enough time for a quick brew and bite to eat before loading the
casualty (yes it was Nigel again, an ex-team member. He’s becoming very
careless these days).
This time the injuries were just as serious – broken tibia and fibula,
hypothermia and shock so another rapid evacuation needed. Unfortunately on
this occasion the cloud base was low which meant helicopters were not available
so we’d have to resort to good old stretcher carrying.
Me: Here is a short video to show you how the day went. It
was very windy at the top, so apologies for the wind noise, but I think it
helps you understand what it was like up there. There are a couple of learning
points for me in this video. Firstly, that YouTube gives me very little control
over the still frame it displays before you play it (see below) and secondly
that I need to decide what I am going to say before I start filming (count
the number of “Errm”s). Oh yes and a special thanks to Bernie for
his clown performance in the background!
