Category: Winter 2018

President’s Message Winter 2018

Art Fortini January 1, 2018 No Comments

How many of you have ever heard someone ask, “What does the MRA do for me?” If you’re like me, it’s happened more than once, and at least in my experience, it usually comes from people who are new to mountain rescue. Having been asked this question many times over the years, I realized I

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The “AHA Moment”: Managing Risk in Avalanche SAR

Alexis Alloway January 1, 2018 No Comments

By Alexis Alloway, Winter Training Coordinator, Everett Mountain Rescue This article first appeared in its original form in The Avalanche Review, 37.2, December 2018 It’s 9:40 p.m. on a stormy winter evening. Twenty-eight inches of new snow, with around 1.5 inches of Snow Water Equivalent (SWE), has fallen in the last 24 hours, winds have

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Book Review: 58 Years: My Life in Mountain Rescue, by Lynn Buchanan

Doug McCall January 1, 2018 No Comments

Book Review by Doug McCall, Seattle Mountain Rescue “58 Years: My Life in Mountain Rescue” is a fun read about the early days of mountain rescue. Lynn Buchannan joined the Mountain Rescue Council (MRC and the original name of Seattle Mountain Rescue) after being approached by Ome Daiber in 1952 (Daiber, 1907–1989, is known frequently

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Body Recoveries in Wilderness Medicine

Chris Van Tilburg MD January 1, 2018 No Comments

By Chris Van Tilburg, M.D.; Chair, MRA MedCom; Crag Rats, Hood River, Oregon Body recovery in mountain rescue is an important task for wilderness first responders. We handle recoveries differently than rescues of live persons because they are usually less urgent and sometimes have a forensic component. My mountain rescue team, Crag Rats, of Hood

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Backcountry Zero, P-SAR

AJ Wheeler January 1, 2018 No Comments

By A.J. Wheeler, MRA MedCom, and Stephanie Thomas, Executive Director, Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Benjamin Franklin As search and rescue members and medical providers, we are often faced with the reality that it will take us hours and sometimes days to reach those

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SAR Puppies

Shaun Roundy January 1, 2018 No Comments

Shaun Roundy, Utah County Sheriff Search and Rescue, MRA Intermountain Region Chair Remember your early years in search and rescue? Remember the energy, the enthusiasm, the eagerness to learn, the hunger to do and see and experience absolutely everything? My teammate J.T. Ferrin—an energetic, second-year recruit—recently coined a perfect term for such volunteers: SAR puppies.

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The Cabin

Debbie Kelly January 1, 2018 No Comments

By Debbie Kelly, Alpine Mountain Rescue Shortly after Mountain Rescue Aspen (MRA) was incorporated in 1965 there was a mission for a lost 10-year-old boy that sadly ended in a recovery. The family was so grateful for the rescuers’ efforts that they donated the funds for a small pan abode type cabin (600 square feet)

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Photo Contest!

Lois Pilant Grossman January 1, 2018 No Comments

Due to insufficient submissions with the last Photo Contest attempt, we haven’t voted on a winner this time around – but Meridian editors and MRA officers would like to keep this friendly competition going! We will vote on a winner and honorable mentions, which will be featured in the Summer edition of the Meridian and

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Editor ’s Note

Lois Pilant Grossman January 1, 2018 No Comments

As a writer and editor with many years of experience, I can tell you that it doesn’t take a specialist to cover the stories I have in my career. I’ve been a newspaper police reporter, magazine editor, columnist, correspondent and consultant for such diverse entities as John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the International Association

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