Conference Program Details

Low Angle Training
This 6 hour workshop will cover low-steep angle rescue techniques which are part of the California’s Rescue Systems 1 curriculum. These techniques are used by agencies including county SAR teams, USAR teams, State parks, NPS, and Fire agencies. The class will cover anchoring to vehicles, raising and lowering systems, litter configurations, patient packaging, and more. This class will primarily be all hands on.

Arizona Vortex Tripod for High Angle Training
This 6 hour workshop will cover the components, setup, and proper rigging of both Arizona Vortexes; v.1.0 and the new v.2.0 “Multipod”. During this class we will cover setting up the artificial high directional (AHD) as a Tripod, Easel A Frame, A Frame, and a Gin Pin. Attendees will learn proper setup techniques and the limits of the AHD in a wilderness setting. This class is a 1 hour lecture with 5 hours in the field.

Mountain Bike Ride in the Marin Headlands
On Thursday, June 15th at 4:00PM we will have Mountain Bikes available for rent at a 50% discount with helmets at the Conference, courtesy of Mt. Tam Bikes in Mill Valley. There are numerous great trails and fire roads to ride at every level of ability. For hard-core folks, we will have a guided 2.5 hour grinding ride with technical single track downhill that will get us back just in time for dinner. To reserve a bike, please E-mail Michael St. John

Medicine at High Altitude: Stories from Mount Everest and Beyond
Jo Feldman earned a BS and MS in Environmental Education where she spent most of her time leading outdoor adventure trips, studying geology and teaching about environmental issues. After graduate school, Jo worked as a National Park Ranger at Sequoia and Grand Canyon National Parks providing wilderness medical care and participating in search and rescues, including helicopter rescue and rappelling off the rim of the Grand Canyon. Jo then left the Park Service to pursue a career in wilderness and emergency medicine. She initially trained as a Wilderness EMT and Paramedic, and is now an Emergency Medicine Physician at Stanford. Starting in August, Jo will be a Fellow in Wilderness Medicine. Her research focus is on Marine/Surf Zone Medicine and Natural Disaster Medicine. Jo just returned from Mount Everest and will include high altitude medicine and rescue stories from Everest in her presentation.

High Angle Litter Scoop Training
This workshop covers the use of a modified AZTEK litter bridle and a technique used to scoop a subject that is supported on a rope against a wall. Attendees will become familiar with the AZTEK litter bridle, the AZTEK as a high angle litter attendant tether, and tying in the subject with Purcell prusiks. This class is about 10 minutes demonstration and 50 minutes hands on.

Cliff Rescue Offset Training
This workshop covers the setup and operation of a tracking line offset. Offsets are used to change the original fall line of the rescue package, which is very useful in over coming obstacles and adjusting the horizontal orientation of the rescue package. Attendees with become familiar with using the Arizona Vortex for this application and the necessary rigging involved to perform this technique safely. This class is entirely hands on.

Kootenay Highline Training
This workshop covers the setup and operation of a Kootenay Highline System. Attendees will be exposed to the use of the Arizona Vortex in this application, delivering a pilot line and equipment across a span, tensioning the track line, and transferring the rescue package across the span. This class will be about 20 minutes lecture and 90 minutes hands on.

Dynamic Shock Load Evaluation of Ice Screws: A Real-World Look
by, Marc Beverly and Steve Attaway

The main objective of this testing was to gain an understanding of the behavior of ice screws under dynamic shock loading and peak forces needed to hold a falling climber in a real world setting. There is little information regarding real-world testing. Rather, most testing in done in laboratories and the tests performed there only evaluates the tensile strength of the materials and not necessarily the application for which they were intended to be used in the first place. Climbers rely on word of mouth, books, periodicals, and training from others to gain insight on the equipment used. Good data is not only hard to find but is difficult to acquire outside in real world conditions. This was an attempt to find scientific-based data that might help climbers think more critically about their ice screw placement.

Multi-point Pre-Equalized Anchoring Systems
by, Marc Beverly and Steve Attaway

Building an anchor is one of the most important aspects of any technical rope system. The goal of this research is to obtain a better understanding of load distribution in a pre-equalized anchor system using multiple point configurations. All climbers, mountaineer, technical rescue teams (Mountain Rescue, USAR), guides, or anyone who needs to build an anchor with multiple points in the system does so with little understanding of how a pre-equalized anchor systems works. A series of slow pull tests were performed to gain a better understanding of the forces generated in a pre-equalized system. The results from these pull tests relate to how the anchor is set up, regarding speed and safety. We evaluated three and four point pre-equalized anchors in both 0* (perpendicular) and 45* (off-axis) configurations with symmetrical and asymmetrical anchor points.

J. Marc Beverly, BS-EMS, M-PAS, WEMT-P, I/C, PA-C
• Technical Rock and Ice Climbing Guide for over 10 years.
• AMGA Certified Rock Guide.
• Over 20 years of Mountain Rescue experience.
• Faculty UNM School of Medicine Paramedic and Physician Assistant Programs
• Faculty University of St. Francis Physician Assistant Program
• Faculty Eastern New Mexico University- Roswell
• Co-Investigator Research Dept. New Mexico Heart Institute and Heart Hospital of NM.
• Presented at ITRS 2002: Medical Care in SAR; subsequently published in Fire Rescue Magazine, 2005.
• Aeromedical Paramedic- Lifeguard. Abq, NM.
• Ski Patrol- 10 Years Santa Fe Ski Area, NM.
• Cardiothoracic Interventional Cardiology Physician Assistant
• Paramedic Program Director- Kirtland Air Force Base Pararescue School
• Dad

Stephen Attaway, PhD.
• Over 25 Years of Mountain Rescue experience
• Presenter at ITRS 1998, 2000, and 2001, 2005
Stephen Attaway has been an active member of Albuquerque Mountain Rescue Council (AMRC), for 17 years and has participated in over 200 rescue missions. Steve’s interests in rescue originated from cave exploring. Steve has been involved with cave exploration for 28 years and is a Fellow of the National Speleological Society. He participated in over 10 cave rescues including the 96-hour rescue in Lechuguilla Cave during April 1991. Steve attended Georgia Tech where he received both his Master of Science in Civil Engineering and his Ph.D. in Computational Mechanics. Competition Mechanics is the field of science related to numerical modeling of the stresses and strains associated with displacement of materials. Steve currently is a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, where he currently holds the rank of Distinguish Member of Technical Staff in the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department. Steve has received international recognition for advances in parallel computer algorithms for computational mechanics. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In his current research, he predicts the response of buildings to terrorist attacks.


Accidents in Mountain Rescue Operations
by Charley Shimanski, Education Director, Mountain Rescue Association

While rescue mountaineers must strive at every turn to focus on the safety of their victims, they understandably must put their own safety first. Rarely, rescuers will be hurt, or even killed. This presentation will profile a number of rescue accidents, and will include analysis of those accidents.

This multi-media presentation will include a detailed discussion about the multitude of elements pertaining to the risks in rescue operations in mountainous terrain.

At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:

Utilizing data and still/video images from several Mountain Rescue Association teams, National Parks, and foreign agencies, this Power Point presentation will include still and video images. Case studies of accidents and near-misses in mountain rescue operations will be featured in this program.

Charley Shimanski: Education Director, Mountain Rescue Association
Charley Shimanski is education director for the Mountain Rescue Association, a national organization of rescue mountaineers. A nineteen-year veteran of Colorado’s Alpine Rescue Team, Charley has participated as a field member and Incident Commander for hundreds of rescues among Colorado’s highest peaks.

Charley is the author of the Mountain Rescue Association’s Helicopters in Mountain Rescue Operations manual, and co-author of the Avalanche Rescue Operations manual, as well as several others. He has consulted rescuers, mountain guides and climbers throughout the world, from Israel to China, from Kilimanjaro to Aconcogua. He is a frequent speaker at meetings of the Mountain Rescue Association, National Association of Search and Rescue, Wilderness Medical Society and the International Technical Rescue Symposium.

Charley has appeared in USA Today, People, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times, as well as CBS This Morning, NBC Nightly News, and CNN.

Charley serves as president and chief executive officer of the Colorado Nonprofit Association since October of 2004. Prior to that, he was the executive director of The American Alpine Club from 1993-2004. He also has an extensive 13-year career in the banking and investment industries, having worked for United Bank of Denver and Oppenheimer Funds in Denver, and Darlington Asset Management in Geneva Switzerland and London England.

Charley describes his most memorable rescue as the one that landed him a wife… she was the reporting party of a rescue, and she later agreed to marry him.


Ben T. Ho, M.D. CAPT, MC, USN, Ret.
Ben is a retired U.S. Navy Captain with over 24 years of service, including tours of Southeast Asia, Africa, the Mideast, and the South Pacific. His last assignment was the Senior Eye Surgeon for all U.S. and Allied Forces during the 9 months of the Persian Gulf War. His is currently on the teaching faculty at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.

Ben is a member of the Oakland US&R Task Force (CATF4) and has participated in operations during the Loma Prieta earthquake, the Oakland Hills firestorm, Hurricane Iniki, the Los Angeles earthquake, the Oklahoma City bombing, the World Trade Center disaster, Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Rita.

Ben and his German shepherd partner Argus are certified as a FEMA Advanced Disaster Canine Team. Ben is additionally qualified as a Search Team Manager, Search and Recon Technician, and Medical Team Manager. He has been a Reserve Police Officer in California for 24 years, is a State instructor in firearms and the PR 24 baton, and is on the teaching faculty of the Sheriff’s Police Academy. He and Argus are actively involved in backcountry rescue with Wilderness Finders Search and Rescue Dog Teams from Lake Tahoe.


Keith Lober, a National Park Law Enforcement Ranger and the Director of Yosemite’s EMS and Search and Rescue Program (YOSAR), is a twenty-five year seasoned veteran of emergency medicine, fire suppression, law enforcement, and technical rescue. Keith has gained a wide spectrum of experience that incorporates everything from having been a paramedic with the Washington DC Fire Department to his current role as being responsible for Yosemite’s more than 230 yearly rescues, searches, and recoveries.

Throughout his career with the National Park Service, Keith has participated and managed operations in places such as Rocky Mountain National Park, Glen Canyon National Reserve Area, Sequoia Kings National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park.

An accomplished climber, mountaineer, and past professional mountain guide , Keith has done notable abroad climbs such as a winter ascent of the 1938 Route on The North Wall of The Eiger (Switzerland 1982), The Walker Spur on the Grand Jorass ( France 2003), and the Lotus Flower Tower (Canada 1978). Whether on rock or ice, in the middle of a rescue or out for exercise, Lober finds himself right at home on whichever vertical face he seems to land.

As a Nationally Registered Paramedic since 1984, and a tactical medic / ranger for both the Pacific West Special Events Tactical Team (SET) and Yosemite’s Special Response Unit, Lober possesses the ability to function in a multitude of very specialized law enforcement, medical, and rescue roles and is regularly requested throughout the US for assistance during major operations and natural disasters.

Keith Lober is both an instructor of advanced Technical Rock Rescue and Swiftwater Rescue. Having personally been lowered over El Capítan more than a dozen times to extract injured climbing parties and having directed more than 30 big wall rescues, Keith has an unusual level of knowledge in operating and managing teams in the vertical environment. Lober has extensive training and experience in helicopter operations involving heli-rappels, cable hoists, and short haul techniques.

To date, Keith has been awarded three of the prestigious Department of the Interior Valor Awards for operations in Yosemite National Park.


High Angle Rescue Scenarios
Attendees of this workshop will be split into six different groups and be given a subject that is either hanging mid-face or stranded at the base of a cliff. Each group is given a subject to access and a cache of ropes and gear to work with. Each group will plan their rescue, assign roles, access and extricate the patient. These scenarios will have a window of 5 hours for groups to assemble, perform the rescue, and debrief.


Mountain Adventures: Climbing, rescue, and being struck by lightning: a presentation by Mike Gauthier

Join Mike Gauthier, author, photographer, and Mount Rainier Head Climbing Ranger for breathtaking images and stories from Mount Rainier, the Grand Teton and the Alaska Range. As a director of climbing and rescue operations on Mount Rainier, Mike has seen sides of Washington's iconic peak that few others ever will. Mike will review some climbing adventures and dangerous rescues in which he has participated. You won't want to miss this entertaining and informative show.

Bio: Mike Gauthier joined the Mount Rainier climbing staff in 1990 and now directs the Mountaineering and Rescue program for Mount Rainier National Park. He's been struck by lightning three times, caught in avalanches, and managed many complex rescues on North America's premier mountaineering destination. In addition to his activities at Mount Rainier, Mike has led six expeditions to Mount McKinley and the Alaska Range, and is an avid snowboarder, rock climber, and photographer. His photography has appeared in Outside, Men's Journal, Backpacker, and Rock and Ice magazines. He conducts workshops in mountain rescue techniques, backcountry snowboarding, and avalanche awareness. In 2004, Men's Journal named Mike one of the 25 Toughest Men in America, and in 1998, the American Red Cross named him a Wilderness Rescue Hero. Mike lives in Mount Rainier National Park.