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Three Lions Photos
An Alpine rescue squad assembles equipment The rescuers, ordinarily guides, drill during
for ascent to "injured" climber in practice drill. bad weather conditions to toughen themselves.
The "injured" mountaineer is really a guide, too, who
receives first aid at "accident" scene high in Alps.
Now the ticklish part a descent down precipitous slopes with victim helpless in sack-like stretcher. The "survivor" rides a sled to guide house and safety.
T
I en Italian mountain climbers, roped together,
tumbled 2,000 feet from Piz Palu in the Swiss Alps this
Summer. Although there was little hope of survivors,
an Alpine rescue team started up the treacherous paths.
Their perilous journey was rewarded: an injured man,
cushioned by an envelope of snow, had survived
one of the worst climbing disasters in years. The
survivor joined a long list of climbers who owe their lives
to such Alpinists, men always ready to leave their regular
jobs as expert guides to aid distressed mountain parties.
The teams stage regular training exercises during the
worst Winter weather to make certain every man knows his
job in a time of crisis. Several members of the squad
act as stranded climbers, injured in an accident about
halfway up a precipitous slope. The remaining members
of the squad climb to the "accident" as rapidly as possible,
administer first aid, and carry the "survivors"
down some of the steepest slopes in the Alps.
All phases of the "rescue" are carried out under the worst
possible conditions to toughen climbers for the real thing.
4 Family Weekly, September 8, 1957