rescue - Teaching On Ice

Phil and his expedition team mates have received training in rescue techniques. Specifically, they have focused on prussicking, a technique for extracting people from crevasses.

You can watch clips from the cliff face here

and see pictures of the team in action here

The assembly below is for Key Stage 1. It includes a story about a different type of snowy rescue – it looks at avalanches and how dogs are used to help find trapped people. It ends with thinking about and giving thanks for animals.

We’re down off the glacier now and camping on lovely comfortable grass on route back to Bergen. The glacier was incredible, beautiful and like walking through a text book … terminal moraine, recessional moraine, crevasses etc.

Our glacier campsite was on hard ice with crampons needed for even the most basic things.

During the night we lay listening to the creaking of the ice and fairly frequent rockfalls fairly nearby. The second night on the ice was a restless one: the hardness of the ice, without the tiredness of the walk-in led to waking up every hour or so with numb body parts.

Furthermore, the walk-out was tough. I pushed on with one of the leaders so that we could drop our kit off at the bus and head back up the hill to help relieve others of some of their weight on the final stretch. Blistered feet and aching shoulders are now recovering.
 
Our time on the glacier was a success.

We camped in poor weather on hard ice, the team got on brilliantly, our team leaders inspired trust, the science went well and we were able to practise getting people out of crevasses (with complete success!).

The only issue was with the comms. Due to camping in a steep-sided valley we couldn’t get the connection to the satellites for long enough to send out messages. So, having sent emails and posted bits on websites telling people we would be in regular communication, we then disappeared for a few days … possibly the odd worried person out there!
 
We're now heading for the ferry from Bergen – which leaves on Thursday morning – with increased confidence and skills.

What are summer holidays for if not wallowing around on the North Sea for 24 hours at a time, climbing out of crevasses at any hour you choose and eating lots of dehydrated meals?

Today I’m off to Norway to complete my crevasse rescue training. We’re getting there by ferry as the 24 hours of nausea and drinking should aid ‘team bonding’ … more likely it is going to get the arguments out the way now rather than on the ice down South!

I’m back on 17th August and will get photos and stories up onto the blog as soon as possible after that.

Happy summer all!