MOUNTAIN RESCUE IN THE SPANISH PYRENEES

Every year many people are drawn towards the mountains. It gives them an opportunity
to take a break from their daily lives and to connect with nature. It presents a perfect
setting for a wide variety of outdoor activities such as trekking, snowboarding, ice
climbing, rock climbing, paragliding, canoeing, canyoning, cliff jumping, base jump and
so on.
With so many choices to enjoy from we seldom remember that these high mountains are
pretty hostile places due to obvious reasons like height, idiosyncrasy of its geography,
and mainly because of the weather conditions which can change suddenly. Therefore it
is recommended that people are well-trained to indulge in the various outdoor activities.
In order to enjoy well they should also be aware of the risk involved in these activities to
avoid any mishap.
When someone meets with an accident in these places, without a shadow of a doubt,
the most versatile and the most effective way to rescue them is with a helicopter.
Without the helicopter service it is very cumbersome to transport casualties from the
place of accident to a safe place from where they can be driven by an ambulance or
another vehicle. In absence of the helicopter service it would take almost eight hours in
the rescue mission.
Even though the helicopters are becoming indispensable in the rescue missions,
nonetheless they pose their own limitations which we need to bear in mind. In Huesca
(Spain) the rescue missions are carried out by The Civil Guard which is an armed
institution of military nature. For past few years the numbers of call-outs have been
increasing considerably. Therefore 2004 onwards during the summer season two
helicopters have been reserved for the rescue missions; one at the Huesca airport and
the other one in Benasque, (a small village among the Pyrenees near the France
border). Now the average call-outs per year are more than four hundred, which means
around 1,000 people are rescued every year.
Generally our helicopter crew includes either two pilots or a pilot and a mechanic along
with two rescuers and one doctor. These crew members are specialized in high
mountain rescues and have to reach the accident site promptly. They are specifically
trained to handle the casualties in these mountain areas. Sometimes when required it
becomes essential to use specially trained dogs in difficult terrains for the search and
rescue purpose. They are an efficient asset especially during rapid deployment postavalanche.
In the rescue operation after locating the place of mishap the next step is to extract the
casualties in the first trip of the helicopter itself before it reaches its base because of two
reasons. Firstly, it is very much possible that the weather conditions may worsen down
further and it may become impossible for the helicopter to reach that place later on.
Secondly, the amount of time that the casualties have to helplessly wait and suffer at the
place of mishap will be too much to bear and sometimes fatal too!
In the rescue operation two different methods are adopted to rescue the people: by
winch or by partial support of a skate. When the winch are used the second pilot or the
mechanic goes back to manipulate it, then the rescuers and the doctor are sent down
near the casualties. After being treated they are brought up and the helicopter will
inbound to the hospital.

When there are gale-force winds the operational limitations of the winch makes it unsafe
for using. In this case the helicopter has to land as close as possible to the casualty, just
touching a part of one skate where there is a steep slope or a cliff. Depending on the
injuries it is necessary to carry the causalities up in a stretcher. The stretcher can be
used either way, by a winch or by partial support of the skate.
Operating helicopters is hazardous and leaves little margin for error, especially when the
helicopter is working in great heights and has to ensure that it has enough fuel. Fuel
management becomes a nightmare when several calls are received to rescue people.
Reaching the refuelling stations on time, tracking and extracting the casualties is not
only a gigantic job but also demands a tactful mind since we cant leave the casualties in
the middle of nowhere without help.
There are two major hindrances of the rescue operation: weather conditions (low cloud,
high winds, snow and icing) and the aircrafts performance. The helicopter's payload
greatly depends on the amount of fuel it is carrying and the ambient weather conditions.
There is always a constant trade-off between fuel, payload and having a good power
margin, especially in the mountains.
Like others aircrafts, the helicopter has to land and take off against the wind direction
which is a tough task in hostile topography. Pilots have to keep a cool head in hectic and
stressful situations. Furthermore, pilots have to keep a check on obstacles like trees,
wires, birds to avoid accidents.
Sometimes it becomes critically important to refuel the helicopters in France. In order to
make the rescue operations more successful an agreement has been signed between
France and Spain which drastically reduces the time taken to get the casualties. Under
this agreement both French rescue helicopters and Spanish ones are allowed to cross
the border to rescue people when the weather conditions are bad and also to join the
rescue operations to minimise delay when there is an imminent threat to life.
In order to use the rescue service, the helicopter should be alerted at the earliest. You
do not have to pay for the use of a Civil Guard helicopter. The helicopter flies to search
or rescue someone even if the hotel management reports that their guest has not
returned back. As you can imagine, in these mountains everything is different when it
comes to call-outs and rescue operations as the life is at stake.
Awareness about the mountain range is of vital importance as they can become fatally
dangerous just in a few minutes. Therefore it is very important to check the weather
forecast before making a program. Going to the mountains by yourself should be
avoided and always share your plans/ programs with someone before you go. Let us
avoid the hardest pill to swallow to have to inform the next of the kin about fatalities.
Its better to be safe than sorry.