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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1996)
Background: On November 5,1995, U of O students Frank Allard and Michael Casey were caught in an early winter blizzard while backpacking and climbing on a private trip in the Three Sisters Wilderness in Oregon's central Cascades. As a result of whiteout conditions, they failed in their attempt to return to their base camp, and succumbed in the storm. The Allard and Casey Memorial Safety Library was created by the UO Outdoor Program and the Associated Students of the University of Oregon in response to this tragic accident. This Library makes a variety of state-of the-art wilderness safety and rescue gear available for the use of the student body at no cost. Come by and check it out! ,-1 U of O Outdoor Program Mail Card Please put me on your newsletter mail list! | Name _ _ _ _ Date: _______ | Dorm 3ox # _ | Or off-campus address... I Address, F.O. Oox: _ __ _ City: _ Zip: _ | This address is: | Q] "Change of Address" I'm already on the mail list L J permanent, I I or valid till / / I am: L J Student EU Non-Student ] Sueineee/'Organization I Safety Library Philosophy: The goal of the Memorial Library is to make outdoor safety equipment avail able to U of O students in order to lessen the risks inherent in wilderness travel. Ultimately, safety is the responsibility of the individual and to a lesser extent, the group the individual is a part of. Each individual and group must take advantage of all resources available in order to make safe decisions in high risk outdoor activities. Those resources include personal outdoor skills and experience, proper equipment, common sense and good judgment, careful planning, weather awareness, and much more. The safety and rescue equip ment available from this library can at best serve as only one small part of a total safety effort. One should never make a decision whose success counts on the usability, accuracy, or effectiveness of any electronic equipment! This means that you should not undertake an activity with electronic aids that you would not undertake without those aids. ndji emergency communications. Users need to be aware that many wilderness areas have poor or no coverage, although coverage is increasing each year. It is often necessary to climb to a ridgetop to establish a connection. The phones are for emergency use only, and the user is responsible for all phone company charges. VHF radios: VHF radios are exclusively for use while on the water, primarily sea kayaking and sailing. They have a range of between 15-30 miles, and are very useful for obtaining marine weather forecasts, for communicating with the Coast Guard and with other boats. GPS units: Garmin Global Positioning System units are avail able for use as navigational aids in wilderness travel. Utilizing satellites, the system is accurate to within 300'. It's most common use in backcountry travel is to aid a traveler in returning to a particular point, such as camp or the car. They are also extensively used in sailing. Avalanche transceivers: Ortovox FI transceivers are available to aid in locating persons buried by avalanches. A video is available for training purposes. Selection of a safe route and observing ava lanche warnings are your best ways of avoiding a avalanche in the first place. Few persons survive being buried by an avalanche, even if found quickly through the use of a transceiver. Avalanche probes, shovels: Both sectional probes and lightweight shovels are available. This equipment is essential in addition to the transceiv ers for locating and extracting persons buried by snow. Books and videos: A wide variety of instructional videos and books are available at the Library. Topics include mountain rescue, avalanche awareness, river rescue, GPS instruction, and wilderness first aid to mention a few. Availability*. The gear is available for any UO student or Outdoor Program participant to use on outdoor adventure activities. There is no charge for any of the gear, although any cell phone use must be reimbursed. Users are also responsible for any loss or damage. O.P. Contact Info O.P. Events E-mail List The Outdoor Program has a popular e-mail list of those that would like to receive a notice of the current week's upcoming on campus events. Fill in the submission form on our web page, or send an e-mail directly to dgeiger@darkwing.uoregon.edu with a subject message, "add events list" and nothing in the message body. World Wide Web Page Once again the Outdoor Program is exploring the wilderness, except in this case, it's the virtual wilderness: the Internet. You can now find the latest information about OP trips, events, environmental concerns, and much more at the OP's World Wide Web site. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~opwww Event, trip and general OP Information: 346-4365 OP Trip Facility (Bam): 346-4371 Coordinator: 346-3730 Assoc. Coordinator 346-0636 Address: EMU Outdoor Program, Uof O, Eugene, OR 97403