Prince George, B.C. – Search and Rescue managers from across the north are gathered in Prince George this weekend to gather the very latest information on avalanche safety and winter response.

BC Search and Rescue Association Regional Director and event organizer Trent Blair says the two-day SAR Managers Regional Conference, running today and tomorrow at Esther’s Inn, includes people who head search and rescue teams in communities from Bella Coola to Fort Nelson, 100 Mile House to McBride.  They’ll be hearing presentations from the RCMP, Emergency Management BC and the BC SAR Association.

Blair says “we’ll be talking about avalanche response, winter forecasting, avalanche safety and Winter Operations: How do we effectively rescue somebody from the back country?”

Timely topics in terms of the season and the increasing public interest in back country activities such as hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling and many more.  And with the increase in those taking part we’re seeing a jump in the number of people running into difficulties, some to the extent of requiring life-saving rescue and sometimes at great expense.

Blair says “we do see our stats increasing every year, and I think most of that, as you mentioned, is more people are going out into the back country.  And there’s the ever-increasing technology too, where we get better cell phone coverage or  Sat phones where if people do get into trouble it’s easier for them to access technology to respond with search and rescue or get a helicopter to come in or whatever it may take.”

“But I also think there’s another contributing factor, that we’re starting to see more extreme weather conditions.  So fifteen years ago it would be cold all winter, it would stay all winter and it would be nice and temperate.  We wouldn’t have as many avalanche risks or melt and thaw/freezes.  Nowadays we have worse weather conditions, we have an increase of people going into the back country so therefore we start to see our stats go up.”

Blair adds “also I think Search and Rescue is getting a more high profile name with some of the big searches that happen where they go out and locate and then save people.  Locally in Prince George we’re pretty steady, we do about 40 searches a year.  But provincially and in other larger areas, like say North Shore Rescue in Vancouver, their numbers are going up steadily just like the population of the lower mainland.”

What about inexperience and lack of preparedness by some venturing into the wilderness?  Blair says “that’s a huge problem and we’re trying to come up with an idea called SAR Prevention Canada.  How do we target those “amateurs” or non-seasoned recreationalists that go out there with a sleeping bag and the half-broken snowshoes and then they do get themselves into trouble?  How can we prepare those people better with SAR prevention and know that you need to wear layered clothing and you need to have extra Gortex and snow pants instead of blue jeans?”

“That’s a huge, huge question and that’s a growing population concern that we’re looking at and trying to focus on.  I don’t have the answer for that and we’re still in the developmental stage of how do we target those people and identify them?”

“The people that are experienced and well-versed in the back country, when those people get into trouble they’ve had an accident, they’ve had something that’s happened to them.  They’re prepared to spend the night in the bush and look after themselves but if they’re calling for help there’s something catastrophic that’s happened and that’s just an accident.”

“But how do we prevent the amateur guys that go out unprepared and then get into trouble which, in my opinion, is a preventable measure that we could look at through education or public awareness and we could minimize that.”

Blair says there are all kinds of programs out there but the issue is drawing them to the attention of inexperienced people who hop into the vehicle on the weekend, zip off into the bush and then have to be rescued.