A Joint Rescue Mission

The volunteer rescue team leapt over the steep cliffs, each rescuer attached to a rope. Motivated by agonizing screams from an injured climber–lying like a rag doll at the base of the mountain–they bounded fearlessly down the peak’s rocky face.

Within minutes, the rescue team reached the victim. Luckily, this was only a training exercise involving Israel’s Negev Highlands Rescue Team and the American Rocky Mountain Rescue Group and Alpine Rescue Team.

Each group learned new tactics and rescue techniques, thanks to the shared training in Israel and Colorado. “[The Israelis] are very good at man-tracking skills,” said Steve Chappell, the assistant group leader for the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group. The Negev team rescues between 40 and 50 people a year, which inspired Chappell to send some members of the American rescue team to man-tracking training classes.

“We do a pretty good job of sharing ideas around the country, but not so much internationally,” said Charley Shimanski of the Alpine Rescue Team. “This gives us a great opportunity to see rescues we’ve never used.”