The rain streams down in waves, pummelling Saturday morning walkers and their raincoat-adorned dogs about 100 metres down a trail behind the Squamish Adventure Centre.
Unbeknownst to those early risers, on the rock face 10 metres above the trail, Raven Rescue academy students are already well into their day of training.
Were the walkers to look up and through the trees, they would spot the orange or black rain gear of the students cautiously rappelling down the moss-covered boulder while carrying an empty stretcher.
It is the eighth day of the technical rope rescue technician course for the 10 students in the academy, who hail from all over the world and came to Squamish for the specialized training.
“[They learn] how to access patients who are stuck in a vertical world or a horizontal world, like on a slope,” said academy instructor Craig Gerrard.
The technical training is primarily for firefighters, search and rescue volunteers, and industrial emergency rescue teams, but anyone brave enough and with a keen interest in this type of work can take the course, said Gerrard, who is from Vancouver Island.
“The course starts off with a lot of fundamental stuff, so starting off with basic knots, anchor systems, mechanical advantage, working into how to be safe for yourself and then how to rescue others,” he said.
Other training during the month long academy includes confined space training and swiftwater training.
During training, students hang on the ends of ropes, like they did on Saturday, swim through rapids and practise rescues from vehicles submerged in water, according to Raven coordinator Andrea de Vries.
“During the academy, we pack five of our leading courses into a month-long window, run the courses back to back, and in the end welcome dozens of newly minted technical rescue personnel to the workforce.”
Gerrard said Squamish is the best place in B.C. to hold this type of extreme training.
“It is easy for people to get to,” he said, adding the academy includes students from as far as Abu Dhabi, Special Forces from the U.S. and members of fire departments from across Canada.
“We like bringing people to Squamish… it has good terrain and a good brew pub,” he said with a laugh.
Each course is carefully controlled and monitored by certified rescue instructors such as Gerrard, who started out in search and rescue 20 years ago and moved on to firefighting before becoming an instructor.
On Sunday, the training moved to the Squamish Fire Rescue for dry-land training and then on to Mamquam River and then Cheakamus River for swift-water training.
To learn more about Raven Rescue visit www.ravenrescue.com. The company offers training in a variety of areas, including swiftwater rescue and ice safety.
