search and rescue

What’s in a Rescuer’s Pack Series- Part 3 Headlamps… plural!

David Lottmann Uncategorized , , , , , , , ,
Headlamps for Hiking and Search and Rescue
Photo credit to Corey David Photography, an active SAR team member.

Part 1- Physical Mirrored Compass

Part 2- Digital Map (and maybe a physical backup)

Part 3- Headlamps… plural!

Part 4- First Aid Kit & Training!

Part 5- Water and Water Treatment

Every gear list for recreational hiking includes “flashlight or headlamp”. For practicality in outdoor recreation you need hands-free illumination to perform simple tasks. These tasks include tying your boot laces or lighting a gas stove. For this reason, a headlamp is a better choice than a handheld flashlight. It is suitable for the outdoor adventurer and volunteer or professional search and rescue team member.

Things to look for in a quality mid-to-high end headlamp;

  1. Long lasting battery life– Many search and rescue missions start close to sunset. They often don’t conclude until close to sunrise. Rescuers spend a lot of time hiking in the dark. Look for a headlamp that has at least 20-40 hours of “burn time” on lower settings.
  2. Bright!– The woods at night under an overcast sky are dark. You will want a headlamp that has at least 500 lumens.
  3. Durable/Water Resistent- You should look for time trusted brand names and a minimum of IPX-4 rating for water resistance.
Headlamps for Hiking and Search and Rescue
Image from hypergear.com

My current SAR purpose headlamp is the Petzl IKO Core. This headlamp has 500 lumens with solid 100 meter throw. It comes with a rechargeable battery that provides 80 hours of burn time on the lowest setting. The pouch that comes with it doubles as a “lantern” bag when inside a tent. This is a very cool feature during planned or unplanned bivies. I hope to upgrade this to the Petzl Nao RL Headlamp. It has three times the lumens (1500). It also offers 160 meters of range!

A military saying that stayed with me is “One is none, two is one”. Inside my first aid kit, I carry a spare headlamp. It is useful if someone forgets their headlamp. It is also helpful if the batteries of your main headlamp die. The Petzl Bindi is an excellent choice as a backup headlamp.

Headlamps for Hiking and Search and Rescue
Photo credit to Corey David Photography, an active SAR team member.

Tips for Headlamp Use

Regardless of what model you select there are some best practices to be aware of.

  • If you are using a rechargeable headlamp like I am make sure you keep it fully charged. I typically check my battery level at the beginning of the winter season and again at the beginning of spring. Basically I use the “equinox’s” as reminders to check batteries.
  • If you are using removable batteries, AA or AAA, I highly recommend lithium batteries. It is worth the added cost over alkaline batteries. First, they last much longer both with shelf life and during use. Exact numbers are hard to provide. However, in use, I feel lithium batteries last 3-4 times longer than their alkaline counterparts. This alone justifies their added expense to me. An additional benefit, especially for cold weather use, is lithium batteries greatly out perform alkaline batteries in sub-zero temperatures.
  • As darkness approaches have your headlamp accessible or on your head, but do not turn it on yet. Let your eyes adjust to the failing light. Keep the headlamp off until you reach a level of darkness were light is truly needed for safe footing. If traveling when dawn approaches be aware of when you no longer need headlamp illumination. It can be easy to forget to turn your headlamp off as day breaks.
  • Use the lowest possible setting for 95% of your use. When you are traveling up a trail miles to the patient you do not need to light up the entire forest. Use the lowest setting possible to still see your footing and let your eyes adjust to the darkness.
  • Be cautious not to blind your teammates. Keep your headlamp angled down to your footing. Shield the light when you look towards others.

Summary

Headlamps for Hiking and Search and Rescue
SAR Team Member Alexander Roberts- Photo credit to Corey David Photography, an active SAR team member.

A quality headlamp is a suggestion for recreational hiking and a real necessity for search and rescue work. I have a few other mid-range headlamps around the house and stashed in vehicle glove boxes. They include the Petzl Actik Headlamp and the super affordable Petzl Tikkina Headlamp. This ensures everyone in my family has a headlamp during a power-outage. In the growing list of things I carry, a quality headlamp is a must. It easily earns a spot in the top three of my rescue backpack essentials.

What headlamp do you carry?

Ever found yourself wishing for more illumination while outdoors?

See you in the mountains,

Northeast Alpine Start

Support New Hampshire Search and Rescue

Wondering how you can contribute to New Hampshire’s amazing volunteer Search and Rescue community? First, buy an annual Hike Safe Card! If you want to go above and beyond consider making a donation to the NH Outdoor Council. This organization helps efficiently dispersing donations to the multiple volunteer search and rescue teams in the state of New Hampshire. If you would like to donate specifically to teams I am currently a member of you can find their donation pages here:

Androscroggin Valley Search and Rescue Donations

Lakes Region Search and Rescue Donations

While not currently a member I am proud of the decade+ I spent serving on the Mountain Rescue Service Team and their donation page can be found here.

Affiliate links above support the content created here. Making a purchase after visiting one of these links earns the author a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you.

What’s in a Rescuer’s Pack Series- Part 2 Digital Map (and maybe a physical backup)

David Lottmann adventure travel, Climbing Education, hiking, Land Navigation, Mountaineering, Professional Development, Self-Rescue, Tech Tips, Tech Tips, Wilderness Medicine, Wilderness Navigation, Wilderness Survival, winter hiking , , , , , , , , , ,

Part 1- Physical Mirrored Compass

Part 2- Digital Map (and maybe a physical backup)

Part 3- Headlamps… plural!

Part 4- First Aid Kit & Training!

Part 5- Water and Water Treatment

Using Smartphones for Wilderness Navigation

In my last post I shared my opinions on why carrying a physical mirrored compass while hiking is still relevant. Physical compasses are important in both outdoor recreation and professional SAR despite modern smartphone technology. In this post will show my preference for digital mapping over physical maps.

There are some disclaimers and caveats to get out of the way here. Relying on only a cell phone app with no foundation of true navigational skills with traditional map & compass is really a gamble. At some point your cell phone battery will die. It will be too cold for your cell phone to function. You’ll drop your phone in a raging current or deep powder snow and have to go without. I’ll say it one more time…

DO NOT rely on smartphone navigation as your ONLY source of navigation.

But can it be your primary source of navigation? Heck yeah! It’s been 10 years since I wrote this article, Should you use a Smartphone for Wilderness Navigation? in which I make a strong case for the use of smartphone apps for navigation.

Ten years later I still stand behind my arguments in this opinion piece. Even better smartphone batteries have made large advancements in how much juice they can store. Digital displays have improved in resolution, brightness, and color. When I first wrote that piece I was using the iPhone 6 model! Today my iPhone 13 Pro is my main digital navigation tool with some apps I will get into below.

I still do not own a stand alone GPS unit. However, they still have a place in the outdoor recreation and rescue industry. They have a few advantages of smartphone GPS apps for navigation.

  1. Much more durable. Quality handheld GPS units are typically waterproof to at least 30 feet. They can withstand significant impacts that would destroy a smartphone.
  2. Much longer battery life. Most models can run full tracking for over 150 hours without being recharged.
  3. The best models can double as a two-way satellite communication device. This point is less important if your smartphone has satellite communication ability as well.

I would invest in a standalone GPS device if I often embarked on extended trips (a week or longer). This device would serve as a backup communication device in remote parts of the world. After looking at the current market of these devices, I would lean toward the Garmin GPSMap67i. It is a well-reviewed high-end choice in the field of GPS navigation devices with satellite communication feature.

You can rely on your smartphone for navigation like I do. You can find success if you follow a few key tenets. Here are my 8 commandments.

  1. Thou shalt use a proper mapping navigation app (NOT AllTrails).
  2. Thou shall pre-download maps and topographical data while connected to a WIFI or Data network. Do this before leaving civilization.
  3. Thou shall start the hike with a smartphone charged to 100% when you leave the trail head
  4. Thou shall close all unneeded apps. Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth manually. Turn on Airplane Mode. Turn down screen brightness to the lowest usable level.
  5. Thou shall keep your smartphone warm.
  6. Thou shall carry battery backup on extended trips.
  7. Thou shall use Bluetooth headphones if one must listen to music
  8. Thou shall still be capable of navigating should thou smartphone unexpectedly stop working

For more than ten years I’ve been using CalTopo.com on my laptop to create custom maps for both recreational hiking, guiding, and search and rescue missions. I then download the created geospatial PDF’s into the free Avenza app for off-grid use in the field. CalTopo does have an excellent app that you can use. However, I still find it more efficient to create the detailed maps I want on a laptop or desktop platform. It is easier than doing it on a smartphone app.

Using Smartphones for Wilderness Navigation
Geospatial PDF created on CalTopo.com of a fictional Search & Rescue Mission

One of the coolest newer features of the CalTopo software is the ability for SAR teams to enable live tracking. Any group who purchases a “Teams” account can do this for everyone on the team. This feature can allow team members and rescue commanders to see real time locations of members of the search team. Members must be connected to the network by either cellular data. Alternatively, they can link a GPS device like the Garmin inReach Mini 2. This is a powerful tool that rescue commanders can use to track dozens of search teams over large geographic areas!

Using Smartphones for Wilderness Navigation
Image from CalTopo.com

Other apps worth looking at are MilGPS, Gaia GPS, PeakFinder, and Theodolite. I will do a more detailed breakdown of these apps in a future post.

Using Smartphone for Wilderness Navigation
MilGPS app
Using Smartphone for Wilderness Navigation
MilGPS app

Smartphone apps are complex. They could be using a lot of power in the background. The safe bet is just to close all apps you are not using. I pretty much only have Avenza/CalTopo, Strava, and the Camera app occasionally running during my trips.

Using Smartphones for Wilderness Navigation
Peak Finder app

While Airplane mode should turn off WiFi and Bluetooth, these can both be turned back on while in Airplane mode. I think it is best to turn them both off individually. This way, if you come out of Airplane mode to make an emergency call, you don’t accidentally leave WiFi on. You don’t accidentally leave Bluetooth running. This also applies to an “I’m running late” call when you don’t need those connections.

Screen brightness probably has a smaller effect on battery life but every bit can help.

Cold can drain cell phone batteries even if the phone is powered down. Do not carry your smartphone in the top pocket of your backpack in cold conditions. I prefer a hip pocket or chest pocket for winter conditions.

If I’m expected to be out for more than 48 hours, I will pack a backup charger. I prefer options like the Anker Portable 325 PowerBank. There are dozens of other options out there but I would look for store at least 20000mAh of juice!

If you need to listen to music or podcasts while hiking, Bluetooth headphones are a great choice. They will save your phone a lot of battery. This is especially true compared to using the smartphone’s external speakers. The same applies if you’re sleeping in a tent during windy conditions or in a crowded, snoring bunkhouse.

Having a backup paper map is easy insurance against a smartphone failure. I will be honest and say I do not always carry a paper back up with me. I justify this by being very diligent with conserving my battery life. I keep my phone warm in cold environments. I also keep it secure in either a zippered pocket. In a more vertical environment, I tether it to my body with a retractable lanyard.

If you have access to a quality color printer you can print very detailed custom maps directly from CalTopo. If I have the time, I often send the Geospatial PDF’s I’ve created to the local UPS Store. Sometimes, I send them to Staples for laminated color copies. For a SAR mission that is likely short, I rarely carry a detailed paper map. These missions usually conclude in less than 24 hours. I will have the regional AMC White Mountain National Forest Maps for the area I will be in. This way, I can perform resection from any vantage points along my route. I will do this if my digital tools are failing.

Get Skilled

There are some great, and not so great, books on navigation you can learn from. A couple of my favorites:

The Essential Wilderness Navigator: How to Find Your Way in the Great Outdoors, 2nd Ed.

Wilderness Navigation: Finding Your Way Using Map, Compass, Altimeter & GPS

The Natural Navigator, Tenth Anniversary Edition: The Rediscovered Art of Letting Nature Be Your Guide

Pinpoint: How GPS Is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds <- thanks Zeb for pointing me to this one, just started reading it and it’s good!

Guided Instruction

If you would like to work with me directly, I have a custom 8-hour Wilderness Navigation Course. This course covers everything from Survival/Improvised Navigation to creating detailed “White-Out” navigation plans. It also includes using modern smartphone apps. It’s a couple hours of morning classroom followed by real life field practice of all skills. Reach out if you’d like to learn more!

Summary

This topic is slightly controversial. Almost any hiking authority will urge you to carry a paper map at all times. I’m not arguing against that. From a search and rescue team member’s experience, I think back on the dozens of missions I’ve been involved in. I struggle to recall pulling out my paper map at any point during a search. I always have very detailed pre-downloaded topographic data in a smartphone. I carefully conserve power and keep a backup. This combination has always gotten me to my next checkpoint. I continue practicing following a compass bearing through thick woods to a target. I do this because I want that skill to stay sharp and support the existing technology I’ve decided to embrace. I hope sharing this mindset with you encourages you to evaluate your own capabilities.

Support New Hampshire Search and Rescue

Wondering how you can contribute to New Hampshire’s amazing volunteer Search and Rescue community? First, buy an annual Hike Safe Card! If you want to go above and beyond consider making a donation to the NH Outdoor Council. This organization helps efficiently dispersing donations to the multiple volunteer search and rescue teams in the state of New Hampshire. If you would like to donate specifically to teams I am currently a member of you can find their donation pages here:

Androscroggin Valley Search and Rescue Donations

Lakes Region Search and Rescue Donations

While not currently a member I am proud of the decade+ I spent serving on the Mountain Rescue Service Team and their donation page can be found here.

Comments? Questions?

Let me know below! Ask me about anything related to digital navigation, maps, or my suggestions. Let me know what your favorite mapping app is! Do you feel competent with digital mapping navigation?

See you in the mountains,

Northeast Alpine Start

Affiliate links above support the content created here. If you make a purchase after visiting on of these links the author earns a small commission on no additional cost to you. Thank you!

What’s in a Rescuer’s Pack Series- Part 1 Physical Mirrored Compass

David Lottmann adventure travel, Avalanche Courses, Backcountry Skiing, backpacking, Climbing Education, Climbing Gear Reviews, Deals on gear!, Gear Reviews, hiking, Land Navigation, Misc Reviews, Mountaineering, Tech Tips, Tech Tips, Wilderness Medicine, Wilderness Navigation, Wilderness Survival , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Best Compass For Hiking and Search and Rescue

Part 1- Physical Mirrored Compass

Part 2- Digital Map (and maybe a physical backup)

Part 3- Headlamps… plural!

Part 4- First Aid Kit & Training!

Part 5- Water and Water Treatment

With over twenty years of service on multiple Search and Rescue teams in the White Mountains of New Hampshire I’ve had plenty of time to dial in what I carry on missions. My rescue pack is different from my typical guiding pack in a couple ways.

First, I carry more tools for off trail navigation than what I pack for guiding trade routes that I have traveled hundreds of times.

Second, I carry the gear I need to comfortably spend a night out in the woods if need be. In this series I’m going to break down every item in my pack and go into detail about each item, its purpose, and make brand and model recommendations for each piece.

Part 1- Physical Mirrored Compass

Despite my affinity for digital GPS navigation I do still carry a quality liquid filled magnetic compass. My requirements for a compass are accuracy, durability, and dependability. For over two decades I’ve relied on the Suunto MC-2 G Mirrored Compass.

This compass checks all my boxes.

Accurate?

The manufacturer claimed accuracy is to 2 degrees and the resolution is also 2 degrees. With the sighting mirror and dual elevation sight-notches I can take very precise bearings in the field. The full length compass when opened supports accurate single point and dual point resection. In practice I’ve covered a few miles of off trail travel, both dense forest areas and barren alpine zones, and found my objective every time with this compass.

Durable?

In twenty years I’ve never broken on of these compasses. They are rugged. I’ve only replaced it once when it went missing during one of the avalanche courses I was teaching. I’m pretty sure a student accidentally took it home after a field session. Speaking of avalanche safety this compass has a built in clinometer which measures slope angle.

Measuring slope angle with the built in clinometer on the Suunto MC-2 Compass to make better decisions in avalanche terrain

Not only is this ability crucial for avalanche safety but it’s helpful with navigation as well. If you’re trying to determine if a nearby peak is higher or lower than your current location a clinometer can accurately answer that for you.

Best Compass For Hiking and Search and Rescue

(The back arrow above indicates a 35 degree slope along the top or bottom edge of the clear base plate)

Dependable?

One of the biggest reasons I still carry a physical mirrored compass is because of how often I work in cold weather conditions. Smartphones are very susceptible to the kind of temperature I both recreate in, and serve in when on a SAR mission. Even keeping my iPhone warm in an inner chest pocket I have seen the screen stop working in mere seconds when exposed to below freezing temperatures. I have used my mirrored compass during above tree-line searches in sub-zero temperatures. Suunto claims the liquid used will not freeze until -30° C / -22° F.

For occasional recreational use this compass may be a bit more than you need. For light recreational use I recommend my students purchase a model like the Suunto A-10 NH Compass or better if their budget can afford it.

The Suunto M-3 NH Compass is a good mid-range choice. For professional level use for someone who plans to spend a fair amount of time traveling off the beaten paths I highly recommend the added accuracy of a mirrored compass.

I’ve always found success with Suunto compasses but I have a friend and colleague who teaches Wilderness Survival and Wilderness First Responder Courses and he is a big fan of Brunton, so with his trusted endorsement I am including that brand as well below with some general comments on each high end model.

Suunto MC-2 G Mirrored Compass – If you travel internationally this is the model to get as the patented global needle will work anywhere in the world.

Suunto MC-2 NH Mirrored Compass – If your adventures are contained to the Northern Hemisphere this is the model for you. Took me a hot minute to figure out that “NH” didn’t stand for my beloved state of New Hampshire, but for “Northern Hemisphere”. The needle is designed to float freely anywhere north of the Equator.

Brunton Truarc15 Luminescent Compass– My colleague, who probably spends more time then most traveling through the woods in the dark, is a fan of this compass. It certainly looks to me to be a very solid choice for a professional level compass.

Summary

While this series will likely cover the rest of the “ten essentials” soon I purposely started with the compass before the map. If I had to pick between navigating with only a compass or a map, I would choose a compass. While my improvised/survival navigation skills are quite sharp, a compass lets me follow a very specific bearing into trail-less wilderness in darkness or fog for a few miles, and return back my starting point often within a few dozen feet. This type of competent navigation is only gained through dedicated practice in the field and would be impossible with just a map and no compass.

Get Skilled

Best Compass For Hiking and Search and Rescue

If terms like “declination” and “resection” are not familiar to you I would highly suggest seeking out a quality course in Wilderness Navigation. There are many options from free clinics offered by hiking clubs to high level courses. I actually developed my own 8 hour course after not finding a course anywhere that offered the type of classroom/field session lessons I think are effective. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to book a Wilderness Navigation Course with me! I also have a small selection of YouTube videos covering some compass topics you can check out here!

Support New Hampshire Search and Rescue

Wondering how you can contribute to New Hampshire’s amazing volunteer Search and Rescue community? First, buy an annual Hike Safe Card! If you want to go above and beyond consider making a donation to the NH Outdoor Council. This organization helps efficiently dispersing donations to the multiple volunteer search and rescue teams in the state of New Hampshire. If you would like to donate specifically to teams I am currently a member of you can find their donation pages here:

Androscroggin Valley Search and Rescue Donations

Lakes Region Search and Rescue Donations

While not currently a member I am proud of the decade+ I spent serving on the Mountain Rescue Service Team and their donation page can be found here.

Best Compass for Hiking and Search and Rescue

Comments? Questions?

Let me know below! Ask me about anything related to compasses or my suggestions. Let me know what your favorite compass model is! Do you feel competent with compass navigation? Have you practiced recently?

See you in the mountains,

Northeast Alpine Start

Affiliate links above support the content created here. Making a purchase after visiting one of these links earns the author a small commission at no additional cost to the reader. Thank you!

Book Review- Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue

Book Reviews, Mountaineering, Self-Rescue , , ,

In Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue, Bree Loewen, gives us a personal look into her life as a volunteer search and rescue team member in the Cascades with over 20 years of experience. While recounting 14 memorable rescues, or recoveries, out of the hundreds of missions she has participated in, she shares the personal struggles of trying to balance her service to her community with the responsibilities of being a wife, a mother, and a career-seeking thirty-something.

Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue Book Review
Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue Book Review

Her prose is light and humorous at times while still reflecting the grim reality that sometimes it doesn’t matter how skilled you are or how fast you are. Sometimes there’s nothing left to do but hold someone’s hand and be there in the moment with them, at what she suggests is one of the most important moments of one’s life, their passing from it.

Unlike other mountain rescue works Bree does not really spend much time on “lessons learned” or accident prevention rather she focuses on how S&R fulfills a spot in her life that would have a rather large hole with out it. If she doesn’t answer the next call she has serious “FOMO”, Fear Of Missing Out, of both the likely suffer-fest her friends and fellow SMR (Seattle Mountain Rescue) colleagues would be enduring but also the post mission beers or pancakes (depending on the time the rescue wraps ups).

Internal conflict is present in just about every chapter. Having to drop off her two-year old daughter for the 10th time in a month with her mother-in-law and dodge the question “Will you be back before her bed-time?”, knowingly heading out on an all-night rescue when she has a tough nursing exam the following morning, seeing members of the victim’s family back at the parking lot and trying to find the words… through-out the book Bree demonstrates some of the best traits of a rescuer. The ability to lead, to follow, to listen, to order, to endure, to cry, to laugh… to be human.

On death

A fair portion of the book deals with the reality of death in the mountains. Here she is able to lean on some of her training as a hospice nurse and firefighter Chaplain to be present with people during their final moments and continue on mission after someone has left us. I would like to share a couple excerpts from the book that resonated with me…

Having been lowered down alongside a popular tourist waterfall to recover the body of a young woman who committed suicide…

“Who do you you have to be in order to be the right person to do this?… This is one of the most intimate and vulnerable moments of this woman’s life. It should be her mother doing this, and in this way I feel that it’s not the job of a professional, not the job for someone acting with detachment and black humor and the support of a thousand buddies, and a thousand more bodies to collect down the line. This is a job for a human, not a hero, a human who has nothing else to do today but this.”

Having been called out to recover the body of a climber who she knew, who had rappelled off the end of his rope…

“I see Ross’s shoe before I see him, lying under a weather-beaten tree at the edge of one of the few ledges. Ed gave me a camera, and I document everything for the medical examiner. But the photos don’t convey what happened… Only a climber can look at a climber’s fingers, survey the rock, and trace the fall. I touch his belay device first, kneeling under the tree with my feet above another thousand feet of space… I look for the same things every time. I touch the gates on the ‘biners, look for knots, cuts, gouges, fraying, backups, double-backing, shoes, gloves, everything. The absence of things…

I lift Ross in my arms with his body against mine because only a climber can get a climber back, and this is how it happens, the way everything happens in the mountains: with intimacy and fear and effort.”

On humor

Despite dealing with the seriousness of fatalities there are quite a view laugh out load moments where Bree shares the joy and happiness one finds in the mountains, even while out on a search for a missing hiker. I particularly liked this exchange between Bree and her fellow rescuer Jenn regarding an oft-dissed mode of transport during the snowy months…

“We took snowshoes, because even though snowshoes are an accursed method of travel, it is easier to carry insane loads with them, and they make for faster maneuvering around trees while making anchors, and lowering a litter through terrain too steep and cliffy for tobogganing. Traveling anywhere in snowshoes takes so much more effort, though, and I feel like a dork when I’m wearing them, because backountry skiers spend an inordintate amount of time dissing on snowshoers. Being a snowshoer is just not cool. Jenn, who is better at staying up on these sorts of issues than I am, tells me that brown is the new black, purple is the new pink, and I’m not allowied to wear gaiers, even in knee-deep slush, because it would be a huge fashion faux pas.

“No one in Colorado wears gaiters,” she tells me.

“How often do they have knee-deep slush there?” I ask her.”

On motivation

Much of the book is focused on the “why?”. Why do we ask our families to miss us at yearly gatherings, our husbands and wives to put the kids to bed without us and get them ready for school the next day alone, our employers to understand why we are late to work (or miss work completely) while we walk miles in the dark to help a stranger. To this Bree offers much confirmation of feelings I’ve felt but couldn’t express. She answers the question in different ways through-out the book and I particularly liked this passage towards the final chapters…

“I love the cold. I love the struggle, the realness, the ridiculousness, and the tenderness of it. Rescue missions are not actually work, not a career; money, power, and prestige mean nothing out here. It’s not a vocation, it’s an avocation. I don’t know why it took me so long to find the words to hold it up against. This is just what I do for love, just taking the time to be with someone who needs someone to be with them.”

Summary

Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue is a powerful read for anyone who spends time in the mountains. Members of search & rescue groups will connect strongly with missions Bree shares that are similar to missions they have been on. Hikers and climbers from novice to experienced will get a valuable look into how complex search & rescue can be from the wide angle big-picture logistics to individual rescuer’s story, motivation, conflicts, and resolve. It’s a story worth reading and worth sharing. Thank you Bree for sharing yours.

Bree Lowen’s first book, Pickets and Dead Men, is about her seasons as a climbing ranger on Mount Rainier, I and just ordered a copy!

See you in the mountains,

Northeast Alpine Start

Support/Donate to Search and Rescue

Seattle Mountain Rescue

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Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue