Alpine rescue
Norwegian Alpine Rescue is testing new ways of searching for missing people. It's also embarking on a collaborative project with Norrøna.
"To the right. More to the right. Now down a little. Steady. Right. A little more."
Rescuer Frode Myrland is hanging out the door of a rescue helicopter, 50 m above the ground in the heart of the Sunnmøre Alps. His instructions to the pilot are short but critical. Before us loom the peaks known as Tungremtindane. A little farther off, Blåbretind rises into the heavens.
Hanging from a rope beneath the helicopter is rescuer Jørgen Melau. He is about to pluck someone off the mountainside – someone in trouble.
The victim, who had been reported missing, was found thanks in part to an all-new search method.
NORRØNA MAGAZINE is on a drill with Air Ambulance Services of Norway and the Sunnmøre Alpine Rescue group, practicing a new search-and-rescue method using digital camera technology. Jan Gunnar Hole, of Sunnmøre Alpine Rescue, fills us in:
"In 2008 we had a rescue operation in Innerdalen, where we were looking for a missing hiker," he recalls. "We searched a long time by helicopter and found nothing. But while we were up there I took a lot of pictures with a digital SLR camera. When I got home I downloaded the pictures onto the computer and started zooming in to see if I could see anything. On one of the pictures I found a bright red spot – which just might have been our missing person. We travelled back to Innerdalen by helicopter, found the place in the picture and searched thoroughly. The red colour turned out to be something else. But still – the idea of using photography to help find missing people was an eye-opener."
Now Hole has begun developing a new course programme that he hopes will help alpine rescue groups across the country as well as the Norwegian Red Cross Search and Rescue Corps to exploit digital photography and computerized photo analysis when looking for people who have lost their way in the mountains.
THE EXERCISE in the Sunnmøre Alps unfolds like this: Early Wednesday morning an outdoor veteran goes hiking through the Riksheim valley in Sykkylven. He pitches a tent and proceeds to climb the surrounding peaks. Around 9 p.m. he uses his mobile phone to call his family from Synnavindsnipa, a nearby mountain, and says he's planning to climb a few other summits the next day. By 1 p.m. Thursday, however, the employer of the man on the mountain calls his family, wondering if anyone there had been in touch with him. He was supposed to have called the office at noon to set up an important meeting, but never did, and when colleagues tried dialling his mobile they got no answer. At 5 p.m. the family dials 112, the emergency services number, to report the man missing. The police head into the Riksheim valley to look, but find only the man's abandoned tent. They call in the search-and-rescue helicopter, whose personnel mount an all-out search. The helicopter crew fails to spot the missing man but takes about 400 digital pictures of the area. Thursday evening, the Red Cross is called out to continue looking. They too come up with nothing, and ocean fog is pushing through the coastal range, complicating the mission. Friday morning arrives with no sign of the missing man. The fog refuses to lift and the police have no clues to go on. Fortunately, a national forum serving diverse volunteer rescue services around Norway mobilizes resources so that the photographs taken the previous evening can be analyzed. Maybe one of them will show evidence of the man.
And indeed, in one of the pictures, there he is, lying on a mountainside. Friday night – when visibility improves – the ambulance helicopter flies directly to the location.
WE'RE NOW HOVERING above the missing person. Jørgen Melau, the rescuer, hangs from a line under the helicopter. His partner, Frode Myrland, leans out the chopper door, observing Melau and directing the helicopter pilot. Melau descends safely to the ground, lifts the missing man and fastens him to the line. Then both of them are lifted into the air. Manoeuvring gently, the pilot flies toward the valley floor, dangling both the rescuer and the victim, and soon deposits them in a safe spot.
The chopper then puts down nearby so that Jørgen Melau and the man he saved can board it safely. Everyone then flies onward to the helicopter base at Ålesund Hospital.
The operation is a success.
NORWEGIAN ALPINE RESCUE provides an invaluable range of services when somebody goes missing in the mountains of Norway. Now Norrøna is beginning to share in the work of the rescue organization.
"These are some of the most skilled mountaineers in the country, and they step forward voluntarily to help people in need," says Jørgen Jørgensen, Norrøna's CEO. "So it's an honour for Norrøna to know that Norwegian Alpine Rescue crews will be wearing Norrøna's trollveggen outerwear when they go on missions in steep terrain."
Norrøna's new trollveggen jacket, made of Gore-Tex Pro Shell material, will be issued to search-and-rescue team members in 2010.
"These are work clothes for mountain climbers," says Jørgensen. "The jacket is made to protect climbers in the worst imaginable weather conditions. It can also take a beating on the mountainside. That's why it's the right jacket for demanding alpine rescue operations."
Text: Eivind Eidslott
Photos: Chris Holter
Read and learn: Tips from the rescue crew
Here's some mountain safety advice from chopper pilot Håkon Norlén of Air Ambulance Services of Norway, Jan Gunnar Hole of the Sunnmøre Alpine Rescue group and the rescuers Jørgen Melau and Frode Myrland:
Jan Gunnar: "The search-and-rescue system is more fully developed then ever before. We have modern ambulance helicopters, talented rescue personnel, the Norwegian Air Force's 330 Squadron Sea King helicopter, and a network of highly qualified alpine rescue groups. If someone is reported missing in the mountains, we swing into action systematically, like a well-oiled machine. But we have one big problem: folks who don't know how to dress for the weather."
Frode: "People should leave their vanity at home when they go shopping for mountain clothing. They have to think about how they will be found in the mountains, in a situation where they need help. Don't buy neutral colours. Avoid black jackets and hunting clothes."
Jan Gunnar: "The Norwegian outdoor tradition grew out of hunting and fishing. We sort of think we're supposed to be invisible – that we ought to camouflage ourselves. We don't want to stick out. But I can tell you this: If a hunter wearing camouflage is reported missing on the Hardanger plateau, it's almost impossible to find him. With that outfit, he blends right into the terrain."
Jørgen: "That's why we encourage anyone who goes into the mountains to wear bright colours. Fortunately that's the fashion right now – so there's no excuse not to do it!"
Frode: "When folks are heading out on a boat trip, they know things can go wrong. So they generally take life vests, survival suits, emergency flares, extra provisions and waterproof bags for their mobile phones. But when they head into the mountains, they seem to think they are totally safe. They don't take anything that might hep them out of a tricky situation. It's an odd paradox. The mountains can be just as unpredictable as the ocean."
Håkon: "Look at the survival suits people take to sea. They have bright colours and good reflectors. The same criteria should apply to outerwear in the mountains."
Jan Gunnar: "Make it a habit to put a reflective vest in your backpack when going into the mountains. It's already required to have one in your car, so it shouldn't be too hard to remember one for your backpack as well."
Håkon: "And if you do need first aid on the mountain, don't sit under a camouflaged Järvenduk or other terrain-coloured tarp when you hear the helicopter coming. That'll make you blend into the background. Not only that, but you won't be seen by our heat-sensitive camera. So: Get out from under the tarp!"
Jørgen: "And if it's dark when you hear the helicopter, you should light up the display face on your watch or mobile phone or any other available light source. Even these small light sources will be visible to a helicopter crew using special night-vision glasses."