Saturday 30 november from 10 am to 6 pm the new indoor cave training area at the tower of Roton, Farciennes can be visited for the first time. This new facility is rigged and maintained by the grotto Les Suspendus. You can train on different routes: over 600 meters of rope is rigged. Starting January 2014 the training hall will be open to insured cavers 2 friday's a month.
The local area Georgia Search and Rescue (GSAR) Taskforce 6 recently held emergency training in Oakman to learn new techniques, and to get refreshment on previous training.
Taskforce 6 is a GSAR group that is comprised of seven different counties in the Northwest Georgia region.
“This is the first year we did search and rescue training, and some of these guys have never really been tested on the ability to search and rescue in our area,” Director of Gordon County Emergency Management Agency Richard Cooper said.
The training started at 6 a.m. and lasted until 2 p.m. Some of the training the taskforce went over consisted of tornado situations, locating a GPS spot, finding victims and bringing them from the woods and also extracting someone from a cave using a haul system, according to Cooper.
Cooper said the taskforce has been set up for about five years now and is funded by grants. He also added that the taskforce is comprised of firefighters, and on top of the training received to become a firefighter there also has to be 500 hours of additional training to become part of Taskforce 6.
“This was a big success, and it gave our guys some a wonderful opportunity to explore and get experience with our terrain,” Cooper said. “It was wonderful to see them shine doing the job that they had to do.”
Between 27 Apr - 01 May 2012, a five day Mars analogue field test will take place at the Mammoth cave and the Giant Ice cave at the Dachstein region in southern Upper Austria coordinated by the Austrian Space Forum.
During this test, the most advanced version of the Aouda.X spacesuit simulator and selected geophysical and life-science related experiments will be conducted.
Martian caves are considered one of the hotspots for astrobiology on the planet. Besides studying contamination vectors during human missions, the Austrian Space Forum is investigating operational issues related to (sub)surface operations in a Mars analog environment.
After preparatory cave tests in lava caves in Mendig/Germany and the Koppenbrueller cave/Austria, we now increase the complexity and fidelity of the tests by including external experiments and expanding the support infrastructure like communication from within the cave to a rudimentary Mission Support Center.
Preparing for a large field mission in February 2013 in Northern Africa, the Dachstein test is primarily meant to be a full systems check-out for the spacesuit simulator Aouda.X in its most recent upgrade, an opportunity for external teams to study equipment behaviour in an operational setting involving the simultaneous usage of different instruments with the option of a human-in-the-loop, a platform for performing ground validations and terrain tests for experiments, including rovers and study concepts of enhancing the situational awareness of remote support teams for planning purposes
In a bid to conserve, protect and manage caves and cave resources in Soccsksargen region, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here conducted a two-day skills training on cave assessment.
The training held in Maitum town, Sarangani last March 15 and 16 was aimed at providing participants with knowledge and skills in appraisal of caves and cave ss assessment to determine appropriate sustainable uses of caves.
Participants included some 60 trainees from local government units in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, and Sarangani, and the DENR.
Part of the training requirement was an actual assessment of Cave Angko in Maitum. They were guided by regional cave focal person Joy C. Ologuin.
Protected Areas and Wildlife Division chief Ali M. Hadjinasser, one of the resource persons, explained that cave assessment is a comprehensive data gathering and inventory of cave resources that must be accomplished at the site level, hence the role of the local government is very crucial.
On other hand, councilor and Maitum's chairman of the Committee on Culture, Arts and Tourism Jess C. Bascuña emphasized that protection an conservation of several caves in the municipality has been part of their local programs.
DENR’s conduct of the said training also forms part of the efforts of local government units to promote and develop ecotourism sites, which have been identified as a potential source of local revenue as well as a major contributor to national economy.
Protection and management of the country’s caves is a priority of the DENR as mandated in Republic Act 9072 or the "National Caves and Cave Resources Management and Protection Act."
Caves are considered unique, natural and non-renewable resources with important scientific, economic, educational, cultural, historical and aesthetic values. They are also home to specialized mineral formations with unique and diverse flora and fauna. (DEDoguiles -PIA 12/CG Valdez/MCalungsod- Locsin-DENR 12).
Cave Diving is a specialty that is generating a lot of
attention and growth throughout the international scuba
diving community. Credit: NASE Worldwide
This weekend, thousands of recreational scuba divers in the Midwest with gather in Chicago for the annual Our World-Underwater Scuba Show. Among the many new products and programs to be available to diving enthusiasts is a new Cave Diving certification program being introduced by the National Association of Scuba Educators (NASE).
Developed following NASE’s competency based philosophy, training will enable NASE Cave Divers to safely explore the “inner world”.
Cave diving certifications have seen an unprecedented growth in a down economy. The recent movies that depict caves and the shows promoting exploration of the “inner world” have increased the awareness and provided a window of visibility into this exciting part of diving.
“Training is vital for safe exploration of caves and needs to be accessible for those who choose this exciting area of diving,” says Harry Averill, NASE’s Cave Diving Advisor. “Our program is a no non-sense approach to teaching the fundamentals of safe cave diving.”
On 28th of April 2012, the Austrian Space Forum (OEWF) is inviting 20 Twitter followers to the Dachstein Mars simulation.
A Tweetup is an informal gathering of people who are using the microblogging plattform Twitter. ThisMarsTweetup is a unique opportunity to follow live the Dachstein Mars simulation, to meet the spacesuit simulator Aouda.X and to discuss with scientist and space experts about analog missions.
Together with international partners the OEWF will be conducting a five-day simulation with experiments and tests in the mammoth- and giant ice cave at the Dachstein near Obertraun (Austria). Besides the Polish MarsScociety, who won with their MAGMA2 rover the University Rover Challenge in 2011, also a team of the WISDOM radar, a radar experiment from the ESA EXOMARS rover, will test their experiments at the Dachstein, there will also be a remote-science experiment with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Planned activities during the MarsTweetup:
Welcome message by OEWF Social Media Manager Olivia Haider
Keynote by OEWF board member A. Soucek
Dachstein project manager G. Groemer gives insights into Mars analog research & the adventure of Mars simulations
Lectures and discussion rounds with scientists and ESA space experts
Dachstein cave tour to the simulation
Behind the scenes tour to the OPS (Operations = main control room) and the scientists and their experiments (e.g. Polish MarsSociety with Magma2 rover, WISDOM radar, Part-Time Scientists rover Asimov etc.)
More info can be found on the OEWF website: http://blog.oewf.org/en/
he 82nd CST rescue team works to rescue an “injured” Staff
Sgt. Dustin Clement during a training exercise deep within
Jewel Cave National Monument
Staff Sgt. Dustin Clement has a compound fracture. He tripped, fell and broke his leg — nearly in two, or at least that’s what the training scenario dictated.
Staff Sgt. Clement and Sgt. Eric Haivala were searching for potential radioactive material in the cave when it happened. Tourists were getting ill down there and the symptoms sounded a lot like exposure to radiation. So Jewel Cave officials called in the South Dakota Air and Army National Guard's 82nd Civil Support Team. They specialize in dealing with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Clement and Haivala discovered some potentially radioactive material in a trashcan in a section of the cave affectionately referred to as the torture chamber.
But Clement's unbelievably broken leg has changed the mission from an investigation to a rescue.
“Ouch,” Clement said, prone on a corrugated steel staircase more than 300 feet underground in Jewel Cave. “It smells like almonds.”
That's a clever joke for a man this busted up — exposed broken bones reportedly smell a lot like almonds. The pain must not be that great for the man on the floor.
Darko Bakšić, Lana Đonlagić, Ivica Ćukušić
Photo by: Ronald Železnjak, Ivica Radić, Darko Bakšić, Dinko Novosel, Dalibor Paar
From 15th to 18th September in Starigrad Paklenica fifth European cave rescue meeting was held. The organizer of this year's meeting was the Cave-Rescue Commission of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service.
Topic of this meeting was "testing of techniques and systems in cave rescue", but due to the large interest the meeting was expanded and included physicians and divers-cave rescuers.
The meeting participants came from 12 countries: Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Austria, Romania, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Croatia.
The meeting was formally opened on Thursday evening at hotel Alan where Vinka Prizmića, Head of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service welcomed more than a hundred participants together with Stjepan Huzjak, Civil Protection Commander; Đani Bunja, deputy prefect of Zadar County; Krste Ramić, Mayor of Starigrad and Darko Bakšić, Head of the Cave-Rescue Commission of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service.
After the opening of the conference three working groups were formed: medical, technical and diving. Therefore short reports will be separately presented for each of the 3 groups.
Technical group - leaders: Darko Bakšić, Giussepe Conti, Christian Dodelin
Technical group for testing techniques and systems in cave rescue began its work the previous day (September 14th). They tested manoeuvres used on Tyrolean traverses.
Although the Italians, French and Croatians prepared dynamometer for testing and portable computers, it was decided that all testing is to be performed with the Italian equipment. Testing team from Italy was well-coordinated and brought 12 dynamometers and had all the necessary equipment. Rescuers from the Cave Rescue Commission of Croatian Mountain Rescue Service and Slovenian Cave Rescue Service performed all manoeuvres that were jointly tested.
On Wednesday, 14th September straining Tyrolean traverse was tested with various pre-defined lengths from 10 to 30 m. The traverses were strained through stop descender and Italian hitch.
On Thursday, 15th September testing of the Tyrolean traverse diameter of 30 m of length was performed. Configuration of the traverse was as follows:
Anchor
- 3 stainless steel fixes Raumer size 8 * 78 mm placed in the tops of an equilateral triangle at the distance of 40 cm;
- - 3 L-shaped aluminium Petzl’s plates, 3 OK carbiners, 2 AMD carabiners, anchor rope 10 mm Rocca;
Traverse
- Horizontal (anchorages set by clinometers), length 30 m;
- Rope on the traverse and rope for pulling Blue Water 10.5 mm;
Following situations were tested. For each situation 3 repetitions were made.
- Transport of stretcher on a Tyrolean traverse;
- Breaking of an anchor point while carrying the victim in the middle of the traverse ;
- Breaking of the load rope while stretchers with victim are in the middle of the traverse ;
- Manoeuvre of raising stretchers on a Tyrolean traverse using counterweight technique.
On Friday, 16th September, Italian team presented the preliminary results of tests on Tyrolean traverses while more detailed report on the test results will be released after processing of the acquired data.
Medical Group - leaders Lana Đonlagić, Ulrich Nageli
As a part of the fifth meeting of European cave rescuers, on 16th and 17/09/2011, a meeting of the medical group was held which involved 17 rescuers, doctors and paramedics from 9 European countries. The meeting was organized by physicians Ulrich Nagel and Lana Đonlagić.
Idea of the need for this form of cooperation was created last year in Saalfelden, Austria, when the topic of the fourth meeting of European cave rescuers was treatment of injured in caves. At this meeting, a group of rescuers - physicians was created who realized the existence of common problems in providing medical assistance in caves and created a list of issues worth further discussion, which was achieved this year in Paklenica.
Topics of this year's meeting were the treatment of trauma in the underground, indications for specific types of therapy such as antibiotic, analgesic, prophylaxis, etc. due to the potential several days rescue operation. Emphasized the pursuit of providing medical assistance that will enable the injured person to independently exits the underground facility, in order to reduce the possibility of secondary incidents, facilitate and expedite rescue and solve problems such as the need for expanding the narrow passages.
Problems are presented in the form of workshops, each having two technical leaders. At the end of each workshop conclusions were made, which were at the end of the meeting eventually formed into a consensus.
Further more, the need for a tight international cooperation of medical personnel was defined in case of major accidents and the question of legal / financial possibilities of achieving such cooperation was opened.
At the end participants’ need and wishes for further working meetings in this format were brought up and it was proposed to hold next meeting the following year in France, with subject being medicine in cave diving, where they would have the opportunity to discuss the specific features behind the rescue in siphons and rescuing after a long stay in a water.
The success of this conference is perceived in the fact that the consensus was reached on all the discussion topics and the Internet basis was founded for the purpose of a continued exchange of experiences and information.
This group consisted of cave diving rescuers from three countries: Italy, France and Croatia. After a two-day working meeting the following conclusions were adopted:
Better connections between people performing cave diving rescuing in Europe is needed so that they would be able to help each other in cases of larger and more complicated accidents. Also to be able to intervene in other countries that lack such a highly specialized type of rescue and the ability to exchange experience and participate in joint courses and exercises. Meeting in Paklenica during the 5th ECRM (as far as the participants knew) was the first such meeting organised only for the topic of cave diving rescue which at the end resulted with many conclusions that will significantly improve cave diving rescue in Europe.
Conclusions:
1. Inform all European countries that have cave rescuing regarding this initiative to include all countries that have the resources for cave diving rescuing or have an interest to develop it;
2. In all countries mentioned in the Item 1 to designate one person who will be the contact person (national coordinator) for questions cave diving rescue;
3. To list national resources in terms of cave diving rescue such as the number trained divers, specialist equipment, depth / length / complexity of diving;
4. Establish procedures for calling cave divers for help from other countries via national institutions, but also have the option of direct communication between the national coordinators to exchange information faster and more urgent preparation of people and equipment;
5. It is necessary to exchanged statistical analysis of incidents and interventions in order to exchange the data to learn and prepare for future similar situations;
6. It was agreed that once in two years there will be a joint meeting organised which would include practical exercises. The term of the first such meeting will be in October 2012, hosted by France. The whole event would last four days of which two days would include meetings, presentations of national resources, exchange of statistics and analysis of incidents, while two days would be reserved for practical exercises on the field where a certain procedure in Cave Rescue would be jointly trained. Topics of practical exercises would include a search for injured person in an area with more siphons (multi-siphon), where each country would have their part of tasks to solve.
In addition to this historic meeting, participants had the opportunity to a mutual dive in the submarine near Paklenica where we exchanged experience using different techniques of diving.
Members of CNSAS from Italy presented their mobile pressure chamber which was already operational for a year and serves only to secure their cave diving interventions. Also they presented us their book "Soccorso Speleosubaqua" which should soon be published in English. This book is the first such book in the world dealing with the cavediving rescue.
ECRA round table
Apart from the working meetings, a round table on the organization of the European cave rescue association was held where the next steps were agreed which should lead to interconnection of cave rescue services of European countries.
On Sunday, 18th September, two presentations about cave communication systems were shown:
- Felix Ziegler about Cave link communication;
- Pete Allwright about Nicola III cave communication system
European meeting of cave rescuers was held under the auspices of Zadar County and the Municipality of Starigrad. Sponsor of the meeting is hotel Alan.
A multi-space agency group of future ISS residents have set up shop for 5 days of mapping, photographing and geographical sampling. This will serve as an "analog" space mission - one that helps them prepare for the challenges of exploration.
The European Speleological Youth Camp, Juhöföla 2012, will take place in the Schwabian Alps during summer 2012, in co-organisation with the FSE.
It is open to all European cavers under 25 years old, with a tolerance up to 29 years old, and it's a very great experience for all the young cavers who had the chance to live the previous editions.
If you are interested, you can send back as soon as possible the filled forto [email protected]
If you have questions about the camp, Petra will be happy to answer you at this same address.
All information can be found in this pdf or on the Juhöföla website.
Mammut has put together a nice simulation and training tool for their Pulse Barryvox beacon ($360-$450)
The Barryvox is a digital beacon with a sensitive motion detection system that can transmit "life signs" to other Pulse beacons. Efficient for fine searches and for multiple-beacon scenarios. Search strip width: 50m.
The search simulation and training tool will help you to understand the different phases involved in a search for avalanche victims.
April 22nd-23rd, the Colorado Cave Rescue Network will be presenting a seminar in basic cave rescue techniques. Details are available at: http://www.coloradocaverescue2006.org
As the number of participants is limited and we only have a few spots left, please e-mail me as soon as possible if you are interested in attending.
Saturday 30 november from 10 am to 6 pm the new indoor cave training area at the tower of Roton, Farciennes can be visited for the first time. This new facility is rigged and maintained by the grotto Les Suspendus. You can train on different routes: over 600 meters of rope is rigged. Starting January 2014 the training hall will be open to insured cavers 2 friday's a month.
The local area Georgia Search and Rescue (GSAR) Taskforce 6 recently held emergency training in Oakman to learn new techniques, and to get refreshment on previous training.
Taskforce 6 is a GSAR group that is comprised of seven different counties in the Northwest Georgia region.
“This is the first year we did search and rescue training, and some of these guys have never really been tested on the ability to search and rescue in our area,” Director of Gordon County Emergency Management Agency Richard Cooper said.
The training started at 6 a.m. and lasted until 2 p.m. Some of the training the taskforce went over consisted of tornado situations, locating a GPS spot, finding victims and bringing them from the woods and also extracting someone from a cave using a haul system, according to Cooper.
Cooper said the taskforce has been set up for about five years now and is funded by grants. He also added that the taskforce is comprised of firefighters, and on top of the training received to become a firefighter there also has to be 500 hours of additional training to become part of Taskforce 6.
“This was a big success, and it gave our guys some a wonderful opportunity to explore and get experience with our terrain,” Cooper said. “It was wonderful to see them shine doing the job that they had to do.”
Between 27 Apr - 01 May 2012, a five day Mars analogue field test will take place at the Mammoth cave and the Giant Ice cave at the Dachstein region in southern Upper Austria coordinated by the Austrian Space Forum.
During this test, the most advanced version of the Aouda.X spacesuit simulator and selected geophysical and life-science related experiments will be conducted.
Martian caves are considered one of the hotspots for astrobiology on the planet. Besides studying contamination vectors during human missions, the Austrian Space Forum is investigating operational issues related to (sub)surface operations in a Mars analog environment.
After preparatory cave tests in lava caves in Mendig/Germany and the Koppenbrueller cave/Austria, we now increase the complexity and fidelity of the tests by including external experiments and expanding the support infrastructure like communication from within the cave to a rudimentary Mission Support Center.
Preparing for a large field mission in February 2013 in Northern Africa, the Dachstein test is primarily meant to be a full systems check-out for the spacesuit simulator Aouda.X in its most recent upgrade, an opportunity for external teams to study equipment behaviour in an operational setting involving the simultaneous usage of different instruments with the option of a human-in-the-loop, a platform for performing ground validations and terrain tests for experiments, including rovers and study concepts of enhancing the situational awareness of remote support teams for planning purposes
In a bid to conserve, protect and manage caves and cave resources in Soccsksargen region, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here conducted a two-day skills training on cave assessment.
The training held in Maitum town, Sarangani last March 15 and 16 was aimed at providing participants with knowledge and skills in appraisal of caves and cave ss assessment to determine appropriate sustainable uses of caves.
Participants included some 60 trainees from local government units in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, and Sarangani, and the DENR.
Part of the training requirement was an actual assessment of Cave Angko in Maitum. They were guided by regional cave focal person Joy C. Ologuin.
Protected Areas and Wildlife Division chief Ali M. Hadjinasser, one of the resource persons, explained that cave assessment is a comprehensive data gathering and inventory of cave resources that must be accomplished at the site level, hence the role of the local government is very crucial.
On other hand, councilor and Maitum's chairman of the Committee on Culture, Arts and Tourism Jess C. Bascuña emphasized that protection an conservation of several caves in the municipality has been part of their local programs.
DENR’s conduct of the said training also forms part of the efforts of local government units to promote and develop ecotourism sites, which have been identified as a potential source of local revenue as well as a major contributor to national economy.
Protection and management of the country’s caves is a priority of the DENR as mandated in Republic Act 9072 or the "National Caves and Cave Resources Management and Protection Act."
Caves are considered unique, natural and non-renewable resources with important scientific, economic, educational, cultural, historical and aesthetic values. They are also home to specialized mineral formations with unique and diverse flora and fauna. (DEDoguiles -PIA 12/CG Valdez/MCalungsod- Locsin-DENR 12).
Cave Diving is a specialty that is generating a lot of
attention and growth throughout the international scuba
diving community. Credit: NASE Worldwide
This weekend, thousands of recreational scuba divers in the Midwest with gather in Chicago for the annual Our World-Underwater Scuba Show. Among the many new products and programs to be available to diving enthusiasts is a new Cave Diving certification program being introduced by the National Association of Scuba Educators (NASE).
Developed following NASE’s competency based philosophy, training will enable NASE Cave Divers to safely explore the “inner world”.
Cave diving certifications have seen an unprecedented growth in a down economy. The recent movies that depict caves and the shows promoting exploration of the “inner world” have increased the awareness and provided a window of visibility into this exciting part of diving.
“Training is vital for safe exploration of caves and needs to be accessible for those who choose this exciting area of diving,” says Harry Averill, NASE’s Cave Diving Advisor. “Our program is a no non-sense approach to teaching the fundamentals of safe cave diving.”
On 28th of April 2012, the Austrian Space Forum (OEWF) is inviting 20 Twitter followers to the Dachstein Mars simulation.
A Tweetup is an informal gathering of people who are using the microblogging plattform Twitter. ThisMarsTweetup is a unique opportunity to follow live the Dachstein Mars simulation, to meet the spacesuit simulator Aouda.X and to discuss with scientist and space experts about analog missions.
Together with international partners the OEWF will be conducting a five-day simulation with experiments and tests in the mammoth- and giant ice cave at the Dachstein near Obertraun (Austria). Besides the Polish MarsScociety, who won with their MAGMA2 rover the University Rover Challenge in 2011, also a team of the WISDOM radar, a radar experiment from the ESA EXOMARS rover, will test their experiments at the Dachstein, there will also be a remote-science experiment with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Planned activities during the MarsTweetup:
Welcome message by OEWF Social Media Manager Olivia Haider
Keynote by OEWF board member A. Soucek
Dachstein project manager G. Groemer gives insights into Mars analog research & the adventure of Mars simulations
Lectures and discussion rounds with scientists and ESA space experts
Dachstein cave tour to the simulation
Behind the scenes tour to the OPS (Operations = main control room) and the scientists and their experiments (e.g. Polish MarsSociety with Magma2 rover, WISDOM radar, Part-Time Scientists rover Asimov etc.)
More info can be found on the OEWF website: http://blog.oewf.org/en/
he 82nd CST rescue team works to rescue an “injured” Staff
Sgt. Dustin Clement during a training exercise deep within
Jewel Cave National Monument
Staff Sgt. Dustin Clement has a compound fracture. He tripped, fell and broke his leg — nearly in two, or at least that’s what the training scenario dictated.
Staff Sgt. Clement and Sgt. Eric Haivala were searching for potential radioactive material in the cave when it happened. Tourists were getting ill down there and the symptoms sounded a lot like exposure to radiation. So Jewel Cave officials called in the South Dakota Air and Army National Guard's 82nd Civil Support Team. They specialize in dealing with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Clement and Haivala discovered some potentially radioactive material in a trashcan in a section of the cave affectionately referred to as the torture chamber.
But Clement's unbelievably broken leg has changed the mission from an investigation to a rescue.
“Ouch,” Clement said, prone on a corrugated steel staircase more than 300 feet underground in Jewel Cave. “It smells like almonds.”
That's a clever joke for a man this busted up — exposed broken bones reportedly smell a lot like almonds. The pain must not be that great for the man on the floor.
Darko Bakšić, Lana Đonlagić, Ivica Ćukušić
Photo by: Ronald Železnjak, Ivica Radić, Darko Bakšić, Dinko Novosel, Dalibor Paar
From 15th to 18th September in Starigrad Paklenica fifth European cave rescue meeting was held. The organizer of this year's meeting was the Cave-Rescue Commission of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service.
Topic of this meeting was "testing of techniques and systems in cave rescue", but due to the large interest the meeting was expanded and included physicians and divers-cave rescuers.
The meeting participants came from 12 countries: Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Austria, Romania, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Croatia.
The meeting was formally opened on Thursday evening at hotel Alan where Vinka Prizmića, Head of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service welcomed more than a hundred participants together with Stjepan Huzjak, Civil Protection Commander; Đani Bunja, deputy prefect of Zadar County; Krste Ramić, Mayor of Starigrad and Darko Bakšić, Head of the Cave-Rescue Commission of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service.
After the opening of the conference three working groups were formed: medical, technical and diving. Therefore short reports will be separately presented for each of the 3 groups.
Technical group - leaders: Darko Bakšić, Giussepe Conti, Christian Dodelin
Technical group for testing techniques and systems in cave rescue began its work the previous day (September 14th). They tested manoeuvres used on Tyrolean traverses.
Although the Italians, French and Croatians prepared dynamometer for testing and portable computers, it was decided that all testing is to be performed with the Italian equipment. Testing team from Italy was well-coordinated and brought 12 dynamometers and had all the necessary equipment. Rescuers from the Cave Rescue Commission of Croatian Mountain Rescue Service and Slovenian Cave Rescue Service performed all manoeuvres that were jointly tested.
On Wednesday, 14th September straining Tyrolean traverse was tested with various pre-defined lengths from 10 to 30 m. The traverses were strained through stop descender and Italian hitch.
On Thursday, 15th September testing of the Tyrolean traverse diameter of 30 m of length was performed. Configuration of the traverse was as follows:
Anchor
- 3 stainless steel fixes Raumer size 8 * 78 mm placed in the tops of an equilateral triangle at the distance of 40 cm;
- - 3 L-shaped aluminium Petzl’s plates, 3 OK carbiners, 2 AMD carabiners, anchor rope 10 mm Rocca;
Traverse
- Horizontal (anchorages set by clinometers), length 30 m;
- Rope on the traverse and rope for pulling Blue Water 10.5 mm;
Following situations were tested. For each situation 3 repetitions were made.
- Transport of stretcher on a Tyrolean traverse;
- Breaking of an anchor point while carrying the victim in the middle of the traverse ;
- Breaking of the load rope while stretchers with victim are in the middle of the traverse ;
- Manoeuvre of raising stretchers on a Tyrolean traverse using counterweight technique.
On Friday, 16th September, Italian team presented the preliminary results of tests on Tyrolean traverses while more detailed report on the test results will be released after processing of the acquired data.
Medical Group - leaders Lana Đonlagić, Ulrich Nageli
As a part of the fifth meeting of European cave rescuers, on 16th and 17/09/2011, a meeting of the medical group was held which involved 17 rescuers, doctors and paramedics from 9 European countries. The meeting was organized by physicians Ulrich Nagel and Lana Đonlagić.
Idea of the need for this form of cooperation was created last year in Saalfelden, Austria, when the topic of the fourth meeting of European cave rescuers was treatment of injured in caves. At this meeting, a group of rescuers - physicians was created who realized the existence of common problems in providing medical assistance in caves and created a list of issues worth further discussion, which was achieved this year in Paklenica.
Topics of this year's meeting were the treatment of trauma in the underground, indications for specific types of therapy such as antibiotic, analgesic, prophylaxis, etc. due to the potential several days rescue operation. Emphasized the pursuit of providing medical assistance that will enable the injured person to independently exits the underground facility, in order to reduce the possibility of secondary incidents, facilitate and expedite rescue and solve problems such as the need for expanding the narrow passages.
Problems are presented in the form of workshops, each having two technical leaders. At the end of each workshop conclusions were made, which were at the end of the meeting eventually formed into a consensus.
Further more, the need for a tight international cooperation of medical personnel was defined in case of major accidents and the question of legal / financial possibilities of achieving such cooperation was opened.
At the end participants’ need and wishes for further working meetings in this format were brought up and it was proposed to hold next meeting the following year in France, with subject being medicine in cave diving, where they would have the opportunity to discuss the specific features behind the rescue in siphons and rescuing after a long stay in a water.
The success of this conference is perceived in the fact that the consensus was reached on all the discussion topics and the Internet basis was founded for the purpose of a continued exchange of experiences and information.
This group consisted of cave diving rescuers from three countries: Italy, France and Croatia. After a two-day working meeting the following conclusions were adopted:
Better connections between people performing cave diving rescuing in Europe is needed so that they would be able to help each other in cases of larger and more complicated accidents. Also to be able to intervene in other countries that lack such a highly specialized type of rescue and the ability to exchange experience and participate in joint courses and exercises. Meeting in Paklenica during the 5th ECRM (as far as the participants knew) was the first such meeting organised only for the topic of cave diving rescue which at the end resulted with many conclusions that will significantly improve cave diving rescue in Europe.
Conclusions:
1. Inform all European countries that have cave rescuing regarding this initiative to include all countries that have the resources for cave diving rescuing or have an interest to develop it;
2. In all countries mentioned in the Item 1 to designate one person who will be the contact person (national coordinator) for questions cave diving rescue;
3. To list national resources in terms of cave diving rescue such as the number trained divers, specialist equipment, depth / length / complexity of diving;
4. Establish procedures for calling cave divers for help from other countries via national institutions, but also have the option of direct communication between the national coordinators to exchange information faster and more urgent preparation of people and equipment;
5. It is necessary to exchanged statistical analysis of incidents and interventions in order to exchange the data to learn and prepare for future similar situations;
6. It was agreed that once in two years there will be a joint meeting organised which would include practical exercises. The term of the first such meeting will be in October 2012, hosted by France. The whole event would last four days of which two days would include meetings, presentations of national resources, exchange of statistics and analysis of incidents, while two days would be reserved for practical exercises on the field where a certain procedure in Cave Rescue would be jointly trained. Topics of practical exercises would include a search for injured person in an area with more siphons (multi-siphon), where each country would have their part of tasks to solve.
In addition to this historic meeting, participants had the opportunity to a mutual dive in the submarine near Paklenica where we exchanged experience using different techniques of diving.
Members of CNSAS from Italy presented their mobile pressure chamber which was already operational for a year and serves only to secure their cave diving interventions. Also they presented us their book "Soccorso Speleosubaqua" which should soon be published in English. This book is the first such book in the world dealing with the cavediving rescue.
ECRA round table
Apart from the working meetings, a round table on the organization of the European cave rescue association was held where the next steps were agreed which should lead to interconnection of cave rescue services of European countries.
On Sunday, 18th September, two presentations about cave communication systems were shown:
- Felix Ziegler about Cave link communication;
- Pete Allwright about Nicola III cave communication system
European meeting of cave rescuers was held under the auspices of Zadar County and the Municipality of Starigrad. Sponsor of the meeting is hotel Alan.
A multi-space agency group of future ISS residents have set up shop for 5 days of mapping, photographing and geographical sampling. This will serve as an "analog" space mission - one that helps them prepare for the challenges of exploration.
The European Speleological Youth Camp, Juhöföla 2012, will take place in the Schwabian Alps during summer 2012, in co-organisation with the FSE.
It is open to all European cavers under 25 years old, with a tolerance up to 29 years old, and it's a very great experience for all the young cavers who had the chance to live the previous editions.
If you are interested, you can send back as soon as possible the filled forto [email protected]
If you have questions about the camp, Petra will be happy to answer you at this same address.
All information can be found in this pdf or on the Juhöföla website.
Mammut has put together a nice simulation and training tool for their Pulse Barryvox beacon ($360-$450)
The Barryvox is a digital beacon with a sensitive motion detection system that can transmit "life signs" to other Pulse beacons. Efficient for fine searches and for multiple-beacon scenarios. Search strip width: 50m.
The search simulation and training tool will help you to understand the different phases involved in a search for avalanche victims.
April 22nd-23rd, the Colorado Cave Rescue Network will be presenting a seminar in basic cave rescue techniques. Details are available at: http://www.coloradocaverescue2006.org
As the number of participants is limited and we only have a few spots left, please e-mail me as soon as possible if you are interested in attending.
Between 27 Apr - 01 May 2012, a five day Mars analogue field test will take place at the Mammoth cave and the Giant Ice cave at the Dachstein region in southern Upper Austria coordinated by the Austrian Space Forum.
