The Moorjock February 2013
Helmsley search – letter of thanks. Letter received from Cleveland Mountain Rescue team. I am writing to convey our thanks to the members of Scarborough and Ryedale MRT who came across to help us in the search for Barbara Colling in the Helmsley area earlier this month. As you are no doubt aware her body was found, outside the search th area, by a local gamekeeper last Wednesday (13 ) and recovered by members of our team. During the search over 47 square kilometers of land was searched along with 40 kilometers of road making it one of the largest searches that has even taken place in our area Pete Mounsey Secretary Cleveland MRT
Helmsley search – our input. In this edition. Helmsley Search, letter of thanks page 1
Over the 6 days we searched we contributed 92 people to the search which amounted to 1005 man hours of effort. The operations group and wider committee would like to thank all who took part in any way and the local hotels, shops and cafés who supported us at all hours.
Helmsley search, our stats page 1 Notices page 2 What’s on in March page 2 Fundraising update page 2 Falcon Flyer page 2 Another letter of thanks page 2 Winter training page page 3
Units 1B & 1C Barkers Lane Snainton, Scarborough
2013: first day, first callout page 4
North Yorkshire YO13 9BG www.srmrt.org.uk.com
Notices
What’s on in March? 1st NYP awards dinner th
4 NYP Liaison meeting th
5 Walks group meeting th
6 Operations group meeting th
7 training evening - BLS and defib th
12 NESRA AGM th 12 Climbing evening th
13 Evening walk th
16 Falcon Flyer (see below) th
January training day covering ropes and steep ground in Dalby Forest
Fundraising News – Peter Holtby All, news from the fundraising group. This is looking like a busy year for fundraising. I encourage you to help whenever you can. Do come along to our next fundraising meeting at the base 1900 on Tuesday 19th March we need your help.
19 Fundraising meeting th
20 Team AGM and team meeting th
24 Training day – Ropes
Events in planning stage so far, public talk by Mike Pannett, attendence at local shows..Malton, Rosedale, Ryedale, Egton, Driffield.....Street collections at Helmsley, Malton, Scarborough. A 'Rowathon' in Scarborough & maybe Pickering. Mountain Rescue weekend May Bank holiday 4/5& 6th with a presence at Goathland / Dalby / Ravenscar. We will hope to have firm date from the next meeting, so that you can plan your dates, your families are very welcome at our fundraising events as well.
th
26 Climbing evening th
27 Committee meeting
Falcon Flyer Please make every effort to attend for at least part of the day on the 16th. This is key fund raiser for the team and a key part of that is the goodwill we generate each year from well manned and motivated checkpoints. No previous experience is necessary and please bring along family and friends to help. Also please advertise the event at work, with friends and colleagues and on social media.
Donations... At some of the events we will be having a bottle Tombola, so please look in the cupboard for bottles of anything you don't need and bring it along to the base at any time for me to collect. We also challenge everyone in the team to personally raise £100 by the end of November 2013, the winner will benefit from a hansom prize. You can always get your family and friends involved in this competition. Our new Fundraising / P.R trailer is been fitted out at the moment and hopefully be ready to take to Ravenscar for the Falcon Flyer on the 16th March. The trailer will make fundraising easier and present the team and show the public just how professional we are at all things.
Search 16th January Bilbrough. An abridged letter of thanks from Inspector Richard Champion NYP. The above incident refers to a High Risk misper from York who unfortunately was later found deceased near the Railway Line. In the early stages 28 members of the Scarborough and Ryedale MRT attended to help with the search. The weather conditions were horrendous, minus 6 degrees temperatures and freezing fog, therefore Air Support was a complete non-starter. The search team eventually stood down at approximately 0330hrs having covered their search parameters. I just wanted to pass on my thanks for their efforts. I was in close liaison with the mispers next of kin throughout the night and I know that it was a great comfort to them to know that people were out looking for him, despite the dreadful conditions. Cheers Rich
Winter skills 2013 Roger Harley
Cairngorm range. Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team has just subsidised a Winter Skills Training session in Scotland. This training was open to any of our team members and the trustees felt that a report should be written so the Team members that didn‟t go understand the rational for spending the Teams money. The team has committed to undertake out of area training for several reasons; as mountain rescue becomes less team centric we need to operate in a wider area. In our case this means the NESRA area and possibly further afield. The April Jones callout in Machynlleth Mid Wales showed that teams from all over the country have to be able to operate safely in any area. Also if we train in more extreme environments than our own we are more able to operate safely and concentrate on the search/rescue. Sat, 16th Feb, two mini buses set off one from the Scarborough and Whitby area and the other from Driffield, Malton and York. We met up at Scots Corner and following refreshments and comfort breaks made our way to Grantown on Spey via gear shopping in Aviemore. Following dinner cooked by Ian P we briefed parties for the Sunday and checked kit. We decided to split into two parties one led by Drew the other led by myself. We had an early start the next day so most were early to bed. Sun, 17th Feb, early breakfast (cooked by Ian) let us leave the bunkhouse at 08.00, we drove to the Cairngorm Ski Area car park. Conditions were cold and clear with 25/30 mph south westerly winds. There was good snow cover higher up but much had gone at lower levels. Cornicing was evident and the avalanche risk was moderate. So ensuring everyone had the extra personal equipment and team climbing ropes we headed off into Coire Cas. We used this day to train everyone in techniques used to travel safely on ice both on the level and higher angled slopes. We also taught ice axe breaking which is an essential skill to travel safely in the Scottish Mountains. We ended this session by showing how belays can be constructed with the minimum of equipment. My party ended the day by going high up on the ridge Fiacaill a' Choire Chais, this gave them chance to use their new found skills. In the evening we had arranged a talk by a much respected mountaineer Dave „Heavy‟ Whalley, he has spent much of his time in mountain rescue, been team leader of RAF Kinloss and Leuchars, deputy team leader of RAF Valley and worked at the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre ARCC. The talk was well received and informative.
“SAVING LIVES IN WILD AND REMOTE PLACES.”
Mon, 18th Feb, the objective of today was to reach the summit of Cairngorm at 1245m, this would give team members chance to use the skills they gained yesterday. Four of the group decided not to summit because of illness and fatigue, these decisions aren‟t taken lightly but are of utmost importance in extremes of environment, the rest of us took the pathway to the left of the funicular railway. The weather was exceptionally good today the wind was very light but there was hard neve ice underfoot and the path was steep so care had to be taken in our accent. The climb was hard and crampons and ice axes had to be used but this is what we were there for and all stepped up to the mark. Two hours twenty minutes later we were stood on the summit looking at stunning views across to Ben Nevis and the west coast. In line with tradition photos were taken, hands were shaken and team members were congratulated. For six of the group this was the first Munro (hill over 4000 ft) they‟d climbed and for a smaller number it was the first mountain they had climbed at all. I have no doubt that they found it hard; I can remember the first mountain I climbed and swore blind I‟d never do it again. Following this and because it was a stunning day most of us went above the gullies on Coire an t-sneachda and had a chat with the climbers as they sat in the winter sun belaying their seconds. We descended slowly to the car park and our awaiting transport; we retired for a few drinks and more of Ian‟s home cooked food.
2013: First day, first callout Mark Saunders It was so simple. A nice gentle start to the New Year, a short walk to Skelton Tower, near Levisham, in the North York Moors, with family and friends – picnic and champagne (it‟s grim up north). Picnic done we were heading back to car when I received the callout text, with the RV being Levisham Elbow, where we‟d parked. About a 30 minute walk south from the tower. Seemed churlish not to attend. So, I called the Incident Controller (IC), who told me the injured party was somewhere north of Skelton Tower, having fallen over a cliff and was badly injured. Oh, and it was a Black Labrador! I abandoned the family (and my lift home) and headed north to check the cliffs. I walked about a mile and found nothing, but had asked a few passers-by to keep a look out, and, if they saw anything, to stand somewhere prominent and wave. As I was returning to the tower to meet the rest of the team (having no radio or phone signal – there was a limit to what I could achieve alone) I saw somebody on a hill waving. I headed towards them, thus starting a game of leap-frog – the first person had seen my passers-by who had seen the lass with the injured dog, so had come to find me. Half a mile further on were more passers-by and the “owner” of the dog. She took me to the scene where her boyfriend was looking after the dog - Ruby. Ruby was his Mum‟s dog – his Mum was at home. Ruby had walked across some heather which looked solid, but had no ground under it. She fell about 40 metres and seemed to be in a bad way. She was very calm and still, but alert, as well as being wrapped in a sleeping bag and space blanket – carried by the guy with her. It‟s mildly embarrassing to discover that the casualty is better equipped than you are – especially when she‟s a Labrador. All I could offer were a few scraps of Christmas cake and an Anzac biscuit. Luckily, he had phone signal. So, I managed to talk to the IC and give him a precise location. Another group of my passers-by had already told the team where I was heading, so one team Land Rover and 4 team members were approaching from above. I suggested to the IC that the rest of the team should move to below the cliff as that was our easiest evacuation route, to Newtondale Halt on the NYM Railway. I asked for our lightweight stretcher (MIBS) and some oxygen, as Ruby was have trouble breathing (me too!). One of our team members is a qualified vet, so was an obvious volunteer for the “Casualty Care” job. Ruby was sedated and loaded into the stretcher (folded in half). We then carried her out to the waiting vehicle (about 30 minutes downhill) and dropped her off at the vets in Pickering. We later heard that Ruby had a dislocated hip and some internal injuries, but was stable. Hopefully, she will recover quickly.