No, not falling to the ground, which is what I think of when I hear the word cratering. This is a video taken at Crater Lake from a recent Josephine County SAR training exercise. I particularly like the thoughts expressed on their website about being able to learn from other groups and being willing to look critically at the pictures after the operation to spot any things they might not have picked up on in the heat of the operation. That’s probably a harder skill to work on than any litter scoop they did that day. Good job JoCoSAR!
From the JoCoSAR website:
Last weekend was a fabulous opportunity for us to train with 5 other rope rescue teams from southern Oregon. By chance, we worked both days with the Corvallis MRU, a MRU certified team with a lot of depth, experience, and talent. Every rope unit evolves its characteristic way of doing things, but we profit by seeing alternative ways to work safely—especially when we can talk through the alternative pros and cons. That isn’t possible, of course, on a real rescue. This short video isn’t intended to be a demonstration or “how to” video. It is just a record of what our two units did on this particular day in a spectacular spot on the Earth.
Often, photos show us details we miss watching a dynamic event “live.” Reviewing the pictures allows a chance to review small details that might change how we do things next time or show a way not previously considered to solve a technical problem. The site chosen was picked because it offered technical problems including a narrow “chimney,” overhanding sharp rock and narrow areas for a litter—not because it offered good photo access. It wasn’t easy to see what was happening over the lip of rock at the start of the descent, but we hung over the edge and took the best shots we could to learn from and to share. I find what these people did to be awe-inspiring for their skill, strength, judgement and presence-of-mind demonstrated under pressure—this is what rope rescue requires. This was a wonderful day. Thank you, Corvallis MRU, for all you shared!