On Saturday, the 16th, of January, a family of three, a husband and wife, age 46, and their son, age 18, were snowmobiling in the Snowy Mountain Range, west of the Green Rock parking area off HWY 130. During the afternoon one of the three snowmobiles became inoperable. Due to high winds and ground blizzards the family prepared for the night by building a snow cave and starting a fire.
On Sunday morning, the 17th, the father heard another snowmobile in the area and with one of the remaining snowmobiles left camp in hopes of gaining assistance. After a period of time the snowmobile the father was operating became submerged in a body of water. The father then took the last remaining snowmobile in an attempt to find help when his handlebars broke, rendering his snowmobile useless.
Again, due to high winds and ground blizzards, the father was forced to build another snow cave for himself and spent Sunday night in the cave. On Monday morning, the 18th, the father was soon located by search teams. All rescue teams were then diverted to the general area of the father’s discovered location until major ground blizzards prevented further search efforts.
Search efforts resumed at sunrise on Tuesday morning, the 19th. At approximately 8:00 a.m., search teams located the son, at which time it was determined that the mother was deceased. The son was then transported to an awaiting Snow-Cat and shortly thereafter transferred to the Wyoming Air National Guard helicopter where he was immediately airlifted to Ivinson Memorial Hospital. The son has been transported to a Colorado area hospital for further care.
Robert J. DeBree
Undersheriff
Albany County Sheriff’s Office
Module 1: Avalanche Foundations
Module 2: Avalanche Safety and Rescue Skills
Level 1 Avalanche course, Modules 1 and 2, offered by the National Ski Patrol,
Medicine Bow Nordic Ski Patrol, and Snowy Range Ski Patrol.
The course is open to both the general public and members of the ski patrol. It meets all American Avalanche Association standards for level 1 avalanche courses
This is a National Ski Patrol course with both classroom (Module 1) and on-the-snow (Module 2) experience. Participants will receive credit for both modules, and will meet all requirements to take Organized Avalanche Rescue (Module 3) additionally if desired.
TOPICS COVERED: Avalanche conditions, human factors, snow conditions, weather, route selection, transceivers, avoiding an avalanche, and rescue - what to do if you or a member of your group is caught by an avalanche.
TIME: Tuesday February 16th, 6:00 to 9:30 PM
Thursday February 18th, 6:00 to 9:30 PM
Sunday February, 21st all day field session
Thursday February 25th, 6:00 to 9:30 PM
Saturday February 27th all day field session
COST: $32 plus text (Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, 2nd edition, Bruce Tremper, 2008), payable at the first class.
PLACE: Room 115, UW Half Acre Building
RESERVATION OR INFO: rmlynds@yahoo.com
Want to Refresh? If you have taken this course, the National Ski Patrol recommends you refresh every three years. There have been significant changes. Refresher cost is $10 plus cost of text.
Module 3 (Organized Avalanche Rescue) Highly recommended for ski patrollers but optional for non-rescue personnel, this 1-day field course will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016. The fee is $22. More information will be available during Modules 1 and 2.
Paige began the board meeting by conducting a financial report. The new paging system phone number, (720)772-1030, was discussed and a refresher was done on how to operate the call-out website. Problems with the Baofeng radios were brought up. The SAR ATVs and what to do with them were examined. The work left to be done on the Incident Command trailer was reviewed. Purchasing a new laptop and installing a power compositor were discussed. Matt and Brenna would look into obtaining mapping software. Matt would also look into a scanner. It was pointed out that the IC trailer's batteries were old and not functioning effectively anymore, so Kurt moved to buy new ones. Matt seconded and all were in favor.
Upcoming events included the November regular monthly meeting where Crime Scene Awareness will be discussed. There was discussion on offering the class more than once a year because it is a requirement for new members. A topic for the January regular monthly meeting was discussed and will be finalized at a later date.
General business discussion began with considering purchasing SAR hats. Neil helped clarify a fire district and MOU question. Cleaning up and organizing the member roster was explored. It was proposed that members who had been determined as no longer active be moved from the regular member roster to the inactive list. Paige moved for this, Josh seconded, and all were in favor. Members whose statuses were unclear would be left on the roster and would be reexamined in 2016.
Discussion on policy changes included planning a policy dinner and setting a timeline for completion of the new draft of bylaws. It was planned that the new draft of bylaws will be completed by the new year. Revisions will occur after that. A team holiday dinner was discussed for January, most likely on Friday the 22nd. Matt then moved to adjourn the meeting, Kurt seconded, and all were in favor.
In attendance: Dane Purmalis, Dan Hutchinson, Matt Allshouse, Chris Armstrong, Page Hellbaum, Brenna Noll, Bob Meyer, Neil Matheson, Josh Hurt, Kurt Braisted, Harold, and Yvette.
Dan called the meeting to order and read the minutes from the October board meeting. Paige conducted a financial report. Dan then discussed upcoming events including the policy dinner on 11/10, the land navigation exercise on 11/14-15, the upcoming November meeting, and the funeral service for Cathi Carr-Lundfelt which is to be held on 11/10. Dan announced that the SAR callout number changed to 720-772-1030. After-action reviews were briefly held for the callouts on 10/20 and 10/21. Officers and board members present at the meeting then reintroduced themselves. Harold adjourned and a break was taken. Annie then led a condensed class on hypothermia and how to deal with it. Dan then led the lecture on snowmobile safety.
For the second day in a row ACSSAR was called to help locate an overdue hunter. At 11:10 am ACSSAR was activated to search the northern part of the county near Laramie Peak for a hunter that had been missing since 1400 the previous day. While in route to the location, the hunter was located and all ACSSAR personnel return to Laramie.
http://www.co.albany.wy.us/albany-county-sheriff-news-release-1.aspx
PRESS RELEASE
At about 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, October 21, 2015, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office was notified of an overdue hunter in the northern part of Albany County near Friend Park Campground.
Information gathered was that the overdue hunter was 64 years old and hadn’t returned to camp on the evening of Tuesday, October 20, 2015.
The missing hunter had eight friends in their camp, and they had initially begun to search the area on horses and ATV four-wheelers.
A deputy arrived in the area and met with some friends of the man, and they had determined the area where he had been because of his vehicle being located and parked.
Prior to the first deputy arriving on scene, members of Albany County Search and Rescue and additional deputies were activated and began their response to the area.
Additional volunteer search teams with the University of Wyoming R.O.T.C. were placed on standby if needed.
At about noon, a friend of the hunter located him and his vehicle on a roadway some distance away from their camp.
The man advised that he had hiked about 1.5 miles away from where he had parked his vehicle and as darkness approached he determined that his flashlight was not working.
He correctly decided to start a fire to remain warm and took shelter near some large boulders for the night.
He eventually made it back to his vehicle and attempted to head back to their camp, yet took a wrong turn. After traveling for some distance he experienced vehicle problems.
Robert J. DeBree
Undersheriff
Albany County Sheriff’s Office
At 12:16am October 20th, ACSSAR received a request for assistance in locating an overdue hunter in the Foxburough area of the Snowy Range. ACSSAR members briefed and departed Laramie around 6 am. Around 830 the subject returned to camp with the assistance of another nearby Hunter/Camper.
While teams were prepping to return to Laramie, a second call was received for an overdue hunter in the Muddy Park area of the Snowy Range. While the teams were redeploying from the first search, the second hunter was located and teams received a stand down. All members were returned to Laramie by 10am.
Official Release *******************************
NEWS RELEASE - (October 20, 2015)
On Monday October 19, 2015 at approximately 9 P.M. Deputies of the Albany County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a 75 year old man who was reported missing after he walked away from his cabin in Foxborough Estates, which is located west of Laramie near Fox Park.
Both he and his son had been hunting in the general area when he told his son he was going to take a walk.
The man left the cabin at about 4:30 P.M. He had not returned by dark so his son began to search the area with negative results.
Due to bad cell phone reception, his son had to drive to a better location and called the Sheriff’s Office for help.
Deputies responded and searched the area for numerous hours and were unable to locate the missing man.
Due to darkness and with no immediate leads, the search was temporarily suspended until sunrise this morning.
Numerous Albany County Search and Rescue members and deputies responded back to the area and began the search on foot.
At about 8:31 A.M. the man had been driven back to his cabin by a resident who lives in the general area. He was determined to be in good health.
The man had reportedly spent the night on a porch of a cabin, so that he could stay out of the rain.
Robert J. DeBree
Undersheriff
Albany County Sheriff’s Office
The minutes from August's board meeting were read, a financial report was conducted, and upcoming training was discussed. Matt then led a lecture on Wildlife and Plant Encounters.
Finance
• Monthly Summary
• Fundraising letter
• Safety deposit box – update on keys and signatures
• SAR debit cards were discussed
• EMA funding
• JHPTS Buckhorn class – board decision on training reimbursement. This decision will be made at a later time.
• Dan led a summary and demonstration of Google Drive
Equipment/Gear
• New Baofeng radios
• Plates/Tags/Titles update. ATV trailer tags are still expired, but board found no reason to renew them with how late it is in the year.
• Command trailer
• Gear in Brenna’s garage
• Ball locks for trailers (3, possibly keyed the same)
Training
• Joint training opportunity with SEWSAR
• Recent Trainings
• Upcoming Training
• Meeting topics
General/Other
• Donor plaques will be revisited in 2016
• New member ID photos. Todd should have camera
• Get well card for Cathi
• Subscription to Terrain Navigator Pro considered. Easy access to maps/terrain.
Policy Changes
• Training Officer – Yvette offered to fill in for Jason until the next election. Matt voted to approve this, Brenna seconded, and all were in favor.
• By-laws: need review but are in decent shape
• ROPs: need some significant revisions in places
• For a committee or schedule a specific meeting to work on these?
Those in attendance: Dan Hutchinson, Matt Allshouse, Chris Armstrong, Page Hellbaum, Brenna Noll, Bob Meyer, Dane Purmalis
Tuesday August 11th 2:28pm, ACSSAR received a request form the Albany County Sheriff’s Office to assist an injured hiker near the top of Laramie Peak in Northern Albany County. Teams from ACSSAR along with several rescue personnel from Converse County assisted the injured off the mountain and arrived back at the trail head around 10pm. ACSSAR responded with twelve rescuers for the initial call and an additional two for support later in the night. All ACSSAR personnel had returned to Laramie by 2am.
ACSSAR Personnel: 12 Rescuers, 2 support, 2 ACSO Deputies
Vehicles: 6
Miles: Approx. 220 miles round trip
Other agencies involved: Albany County Sheriff’s Office, Converse County Sheriff’s Office and Converse County Search & Rescue
At 7:05, Dan called the July monthly meeting to order, after which Dane read the minutes from the July board meeting. Paige then conducted a financial report and made mention of the thank you letters that were sent to ACSSAR from two individuals who were rescued earlier in the month. Generous donations were included when the letters were sent. The letters were passed around for all to read. Dan discussed upcoming events and training, which included mountain bike team training on July 29, high angle team training on July 30, the Laramie Enduro race on August 1, new member orientation on August 4, mock search on August 16, JHPTS Tracking Class September 18-2o, and the Jelm Mountain Race on September 19. Dan then led an after-action review involving highlights of the two rescues that occurred earlier in July. The details of the after-action review can be found in the minutes of the July 2015 monthly board meeting.
At 7:43, the present officers and board members introduced themselves. A representative named Sarah from the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) introduced herself and advertised NADA and discussed the benefits of acupuncture.
At 7:54, Harold moved to adjourn, Dane seconded, and all were in favor. A short break was taken and at about 8:00, Paige led training on spinal immobilization and backboarding injured people. A few of the other officers with previous medical training contributed to the training as well. Those with experience on how the ACSSAR cots/stretchers worked helped demonstrate how to operate them. The meeting then split into several groups so each attendee could get hands-on training. This included strapping patients into stretchers, spinal immobilization, "log-rolling" patients with spinal injuries, and how to lift the stretchers with and without support straps.