Mountain Rescue: When a Canyoning Trip Becomes an Emergency

From our Sports Club Ultra Trail Sierra Blanca, we want to inform you about what our vice-president experienced this weekend. Whilst out on a route, a walk in the mountains, he came across some people who needed assistance due to illness in the middle of the canyoning activity they were doing with a company.

Our role as a club, as people who love the mountains and are passionate about this sport, will always be to try to care for our environment, to look after our people, to educate and to value all these sorts of situations. In this circumstance, our vice-president, José Ramón Pacheco, found himself in this situation in which he didn't hesitate for a single moment to act and take charge in order to safeguard those affected.

He informed both the president of the Ultra Trail Sierra Blanca Club so he could contact the company that had brought these people to the mountain (the company abandoned them) and alert them to the situation: they had 3 people from their group outside the group and one of them was in a condition requiring medical attention. Likewise, he contacted the Civil Guard, with the mountain GREIM, so the rescue protocol was activated, as this person couldn't continue.

What did our vice-president do? He took charge of sheltering these people, taking them to a shaded area, as it was extremely hot. Thanks to his extensive knowledge of the route they were doing, he knew of a nearby spring to which he went to fetch water: four one-and-a-half litre bottles for this person and their companions, keeping them attended to at all times because the GREIM (helicopter) would take an hour and a half to arrive.

He had previously sent the exact coordinates and marked the area where the helicopter had to land in the highest zone, with an orange rucksack so they could spot it clearly from the air. It was excellent work, recognised by the helicopter pilot, having brought this person as close as possible to the rescue zone. Finally, the rescue was carried out without any incident.

This post is so that absolutely all of you bear in mind that even the most qualified person can have an incident in the mountains and we always have to be prepared. We always have to notify where we're going, where we are; if we're going to an area where permits are required, we must request the appropriate permits (this company did not have one as they were not on the official list when checked by authorities) and, above all, if we don't know the environment, go with people who know it, who are prepared and have emergency services telephone numbers.

At the end of the day, from our club we have the great fortune that this is our essence and we want to convey this to everyone so you can see that a simple walk and an entertainment route can become a complex situation, in which, if we're not prepared, we can have a very bad time. That's why we always place great emphasis on safety measures and are constantly training and refreshing our knowledge in navigation, medical attention, GPS systems usage, etc.

Health and mountains, companions.