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Home > Team News > Team Photos > SAR Basics
Team Photos - SAR Basics
This year SAR Basics was held on 10-11 November at the Nunnemacker Cabin (maintained by the Dartmouth Outing Club) at the Dartmouth Skiway. Three teams were represented: Southern Vermont Wilderness Rescue Team, Vermont State Police SAR unit and the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team. There were 17 students and 13 instructors.
The plan for the weekend was to meet Friday night at the cabin for supper and a series of five talks on gear/packing, air scent search dogs, incident command system, ropes and basic knots and patient assessment. On Saturday, the students would be broken into equally sized groups and rotated through four teaching stations: map and compass, line search techniques, patient assessment and packaging, and low angle rope systems. Pictures of weekend's activities are displayed below.
The instructors for the weekend were:
Laura Alexander (UVWRT) - gear/packing
Nancy Lyons (NE-K9) - air scent search dogs
Josh Stohl (VSP) - incident command system
David Hautaniemi (UVWRT) - ropes, basic knots, low angle rope systems
Chris Northrop (UVWRT) - map and Compass
Neal Mitchell (UVWRT) - map and Compass
Jan Largent (UVWRT) - map and Compass
Steve Whitman (UVWRT) - line search techniques
Robert Riversong (UVWRT) - line search techniques
Tim Burdick (UVWRT) - patient assessment and packaging
Matt Stohl (MATI) - patient assessment and packaging
Gillian Salton (UVWRT) - patient assessment and packaging
Mike Wiltberger (UVWRT) - low angle rope systems
A special thanks to Scott Carpenter who organized the training and to Beth Lawrence for getting the food for the weekend.
Friday Evening
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SAR folks know their priorities -- the first thing you do at a training is EAT!! |
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After supper, the first talk of the evening was given by Laura Alexander on what to carry and how to get it all into your pack - including 12 pairs of gloves/mittens. If you ever forget your gloves, look for Laura. She carries LOTS of extras. |
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Next was a presentation on the use of air scent dogs in search efforts by Nancy Lyons, head of the NE-K9 group. Her dog Trace is shown in the right hand picture. |
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Sgt. Josh Stohl was next up with a presentation on the Incident Command System. Sgt. Stohl is s Search Manager for the VSP. |
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After listening to three excellent talks, Dave Hautaniemi got everyone active tying knots. The last discussion of the evening was on patient assessment led by Matt Stohl of MATI. Unfortunately, those pictures didn't come out well and are not shown. |
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Saturday |
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Saturday started with more knot practice in front of the cabin while the 4 instructional stations of the day where being setup. |
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Station 1: Map and Compass |
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Chris Northrop describing the features of a topo map. |
Students determine a true bearing from a map |
Students orient themselves to follow a magnetic bearing to their objective. |
Go west young man! Go west! |
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Students practice their skills by following a magnetic bearing to a find a clue. |
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Station 2: Line Search Techniques |
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Students form a line for a search of the nearby woods. |
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The line moves through the woods. |
"Hmmm.... A sneaker in a tree. Odd place for sneaker. I wonder if this is a clue? I wonder if I should mention it?" |
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Station 3: Patient Assessment and Packaging |
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Patient assessment starts with the ABC's. Here a student practices her skills. |
Gillian teaches a student how to take a blood pressure. |
A patient gets packaged in the vacuum splint. |
And then gets lifted into a Stokes litter. |
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Station 4: Low Angle Rope Systems |
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Dave supervises a student tying a rope to the litter. |
The group practices lowering the litter down a banking preferably without falling down. |
Mike describes how the prusik knot works as a braking system. |
"We're ready to come back up now. Hey!! Anybody up there?" |