During their weekly training, members of the Summit County Rescue Group dig out a vehicle buried beneath two meters of snow during avalanche burial scenario with multiple vehicles Wednesday, March 20, at the High Country Training Center in Frisco. "After these last few weeks of extremely hazardous avalanche conditions causing buried roads and broken gas lines, a scenario to mimic these real-life threats only seemed fit," said SCRG's Liaison Officer, Sage Miller.
During their weekly training, members of the Summit County Rescue Group conduct avalanche burial scenario with multiple vehicles buried beneath two meters of snow Wednesday, March 20, at the High Country Training Center in Frisco.
During their weekly training, members of the Summit County Rescue Group dig out a dummy victim buried beneath two meters of snow during avalanche burial scenario with multiple vehicles Wednesday, March 20, at the High Country Training Center in Frisco.
Summit County Rescue Group team member handler Doug Lesch, with avalanche rescue dog, Keena, take a break following the training session Wednesday, March 20, at the High Country Training Center in Frisco.
A vehicle, dug and evacuated, is seen beneath two meters of snow for the Summit County Rescue Group training scenario involving avalanche burial with multiple vehicles buried Wednesday, March 20, at the High Country Training Center in Frisco.
During their weekly training, members of the Summit County Rescue Group evacuate a victim on a stretcher from a buried vehicle beneath two meters of snow Wednesday, March 20, at the High Country Training Center in Frisco.
On Wednesday evening, 30 members of the Summit County Rescue Group rushed to search and dig out vehicles with live patients inside buried beneath 20-foot piles of snow at the High Country Training Center in Frisco. As part of the weekly training, the rescue group took it to the next level due to recent events in Summit County with historic high snowpack. “Training with hyper-real scenarios like this; which are high risk, low frequency, allows us to induce the stresses and critical thinking required in a real event and allows a safe training environment to practice and assess the skills needed,” says SCRG training director Helen Rowe. Funded almost entirely by grants and donations, the group is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization to provide backcountry rescue services.