Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
As a general rule, the only time you’ll see someone hanging from one of the telescopes at Green Bank Observatory is in the summer when there are painters in buckets suspended from the Green Bank Telescope – the world’s largest fully steerable telescope.
Back in October, however, there were several men and women repelling from the 140-foot telescope as part of the SHARC – Snowshoe Highlands Area Recreation Collaborative – training.
The head of SHARC, Charles Evans, said the training was a collaboration between SHARC, the GBO, Pocahontas County Search and Rescue and Snowshoe Mountain Resort to train individuals and groups for back country rescues.
“We’re [SHARC] a mutual aid organization and if something happens – whether it be a visitor or a local resident who needs rescue or even a back country fire – we have the capability to respond and assist with that. That training coincides with that duty. It was a more advanced extraction course on getting patients out of austere environments.”
The two-week training included the ropes work at GBO, as well as work at Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County.
When a person or multiple people are injured or lost and need rescue, it isn’t always in an easily accessible area. This training helped those involved learn how to access steep areas, rough terrain and ways to extricate the basket and/or backboard safely.
“Everywhere we’re working and everything we’re surrounded by – no matter what community you live in in Pocahontas County – you have the opportunity, if you will, to be in a high risk, back country environment,” Evans said.
While he’s used to training in the mountains, Evans said using the telescope as a repel station was a first for him.
“That was so cool,” he said. “Green Bank Observatory has its own in-house rope rescue team, so we teamed up with them and they went through the class with us in order to refresh their skill set and get a new perspective from a back country kind of setting.
“The telescopes were absolutely incredible,” he continued. “I’ve never gotten the opportunity to get up on one so that was a win for me, for sure.”
With rope rescue training, Evans said there are three levels – awareness, operations and technician. He said 10 people went through the awareness and operations portion and three did all three levels.
Those three included himself and his paid staff.
There are always training sessions planned throughout the year to prepare the organizations involved for any kind of situation they may come across with search and rescue efforts.
“We do different types of training, anywhere from things like search and rescue skills – and most of the time that’s what Pocahontas County Search and Rescue and Mike Cassell will put on – it’s a great group to get involved with,” Evans said. “Also, we offer chainsaw safety and operations for fire and non-fire.”
As for the ropes rescue team, Evans said there are slots available and there is an opportunity for paid slots, but he cautions that some assignments require that the team be gone for 14 to 20 days at a time.
“What we’re building out – it’s called a Rapid Extraction Module Support Team,” he said. “We’ll have five specialized people within the county and then the other five would be out on assignment.”
In addition to search and rescue efforts, the team is on hand for anything large that might happen in the county, including flood response and brush fires.
“There will always be people here to help in-county,” Evans said. “We will serve other communities, but with our home being our main priority, we want to make sure it’s covered.”
For those interested in joining in the training sessions or becoming a member of the team, Evans said they may contact him through email at charles@sharctrails.com
