search and rescue On Melbourne Cup long weekend 2009 I headed out to Mt Arapiles for what was intended to be the first of many climbs in my planned three day conversion from hiker/skier/mountaineer to rock climber - but it wasn’t to be. Instead I received an introduction of another kind. I got a first climb that, if not for some level headed decisions, could have been my last and one that eventually ended with my lead being rescued three pitches into a five pitch route. For anyone who was there on the day here is the story behind all those emergency vehicles driving in and out of the park.
Although I’ve placed hand and foot on many a rock face before it had always been in gloves and snow boots - sometimes even crampons. Everything I knew about pure rock climbing I learned at climbing gyms and by reading books. So as you can imagine I didn’t know much at all. Some would say I effectively knew nothing and that’s certainly the attitude I was taking with myself. But before rolling your eyes at the suggestion one can learn something of rock climbing from books, read on. The fact is that the first chapter of David Roberts’ On the Ridge Between Life and Death played an important role in my decision making on the day. In Robert’s story it ended with the death of Gabe the seconder leaving the lead climber behind to write the story. Thankfully in my experience the seconder (in this case me) and the lead both live to tell the tale. I’m here to write it down in the hope that it can serve as a lesson for those who choose to read it.
In February of this year 121.5 MHz EPIRBs stopped being detected by the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system making them effectively obsolete. Despite this the units are still detectable by many commercial aircraft and, if activated, can result in a full scale search and rescue operation. Due, in part, to a rise in false alarms from this type of beacon they will become illegal to use one for any purpose after 1 February 2010.
