PMI was a proud sponsor of SARCON 2015, which was held this past weekend in Estes Park, Colorado at the YMCA of the Rockies. This year’s event was the largest in recent memory, with 350 people from 28 states, 5 nations and 115 SAR organizations taking part in two days of classroom presentations and field demos. Many thanks to all the SARCON organizers who made this conference a reality (including PMI’s own Jessica Wyderko, Aaron Dover and Tom Wood), as well as the countless volunteers who took time from their busy schedules to participate as attendees or presenters.
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Members of the High Altitude Aviation Training Site (HAATS) were kind enough to bring in one of their Blackhawks for an external hoist demo with Flight for Life Colorado and members of Vail Mountain Rescue Group. |
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Members of the High Altitude Aviation Training Site (HAATS) were kind enough to bring in one of their Blackhawks for an external hoist demo with Flight for Life Colorado and members of Vail Mountain Rescue Group. |
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Members of Vail Mountain Rescue Group pose with members of the Colorado Army National Guard last Friday after the hoist operation which was held in front of hundreds of onlookers. |
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PMI supplied the ropes and hardware for the rope ascending station, which was staffed by cavers from the Colorado Cave Rescue Rescue Network (CCRN) and the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). — at YMCA of the Rockies. |
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Carnage! As part of the preconference for SARCON, the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group opened up their headquarters (AKA The Cage) to SAR folks who like to break things. Three stations, staffed by RMRG members, offered up drop tests, slow pull destructive testing and highline force calculations. |
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Just for fun, the cavers brought along a Squeezebox to challenge folks at the rope ascending station at SARCON. Here, VRS’ newest Instructor, Martin Barnett, does his best to escape the 7 inch tall opening of the Squeezebox. |
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Employing various rope ascending techniques, SARCON attendees had the chance to get in some exercise under the watchful eyes of folks like Andrew Blackstock, NCRC Instructor and RMRG member. |