Canyonlands SAR Training

I was a bit nervous approaching the week of SAR training at Canyonlands National Park. I had good reason because I would be hanging off ropes all week long. It turned out to be fantastic though. It is the best training I have ever been to. I learned more in that week than any other week in my life. I guess that your mind focuses a bit better when your life is on the line.

The first day was spent with introductions and knot tying lessons. Next we went through rappelling and ascending. Rapelling was old hat to me, but I screwed up ascending and set my ascenders far too high. After work I went down to Moab and watched Brian climb. The next few days were spent with lots of learning. We did lowers and raises with knot passes. Then we had to throw the litter into the mess. The hardest thing I did the whole we was be the litter attendant while everyone else went through knot passes. It was a bit disheartening to see my one connector strap piece of webbing as supporting me through life and death. We also got to do night ops, which included a night rappel. My group was awesome. We were so quick and our instructors fantastic. I was impressed the whole week with the thoroughness of the instructors. The last scenario, our group was an hour faster than any of the other groups. It gave me lots of confidence and I feel like I can be more of a help for the SAR program at Zion. In the evenings, I spent my time hanging out with the Hays'. They went climbing on Tuesday and then went down to Moab for the dinner where I won a free headlamp on Wednesday. Friday we went out to Grandview Point with another one of my friends from high school, Austin. It was good to see the views of the park while the three of them dreampt of all the things they were going to do during the summer. I was happy and sad to leave. Happy because I missed my sweetheart back home. There are many canyons to do in Zion this summer also and I am sure the newlyweds did not want me crashing on their floor any longer. Sad because my buddies would be there the whole summer and I would also miss the teammates who went through the week with me. I also am sad because I will never be able to take the NPS SAR training. While being an expensive operation, it is probably the most efficient government program out there. I can not sing the praises loud enough.