A swiftwater entry doesn't have to be graceful, it just has to gets the job done. A good swiftwater entry can make or break your swiftwater swim. Part superman, part belly flop, it involves extending yourself into the current and can give you the jump start you need to make your target. In our swiftwater rescue courses...
We braved the early winter weather that came through the Sierra Nevada this week, and had a great few days training on the Truckee River and the surrounding mountains. We had two students all the way from Argentina joined by a few other folks from various parts of California's fire rescue. Rain snow or shine,...
In the heat of the summer, when I'm not in my drysuit teaching with Sierra Rescue, I spend a chunk of the summer months up on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. I've been guiding commercial whitewater trips for ECHO River Trips for the last 9 seasons. About 5 seasons ago...
Foot or body entrapment rescue can be one of the more challenging and time sensitive problems we as swiftwater responders have to deal with. In such cases, the initial size up is imperative, and should determine 3 things: 1) scene safety 2) Victim heads up or heads down 3) available resources. There are many more parameters...
Most of the Sierra Rescue crew headed up the coast to Fortuna, CA last week to teach and train 65 of the newly signed on members of the Watershed Stewards Project. Julie and Abi headed up the Wilderness First Aid training while Zach worked the stream rescue component. Energy was high and we had a...
