A fond farewell

Yesterday SARDA Wales were in the Peak District to say a fond farewell to our President John Poulter who died peacefully at home. John had been involved in Mountain Rescue and with the Search Dogs since the 1970's and will be remembered by all as a true gentleman of the mountains. Fittingly as we gathered at Hope Cemetery to pay our respects the heavens opened and the landscape turned an ephemeral white as the snow arrived in earnest at Johns departure. Happy memories and stories were shared in Johns local pub between family and friends before we made our way back over the snowy hills to Wales. Rest in peace John, we will all miss you.

Scottish Winter Training Week

We have just got back from our annual winter training week in Scotland. This year we had five dogs & handlers and three bodies and we based ourselves at the Kings House Hotel in Glen Coe. The week started on Monday with the team heading to the Nevis Range for a day of winter skills. The snow was bullet hard neve and was ideal for learning/refreshing the essential ice axe and crampon skills that we would need for the rest of the week. The dogs had a great time skidding about in the snow and we had some lovely sunshine into the bargain. That evening we had a lecture on avalanche avoidance, beacons and digging in preparation for the following day.

On Tuesday we spent the day looking at avalanche avoidance and use of the dogs to locate avalanche victims. We walked up onto Buachaille Etive Beag and made use of some snow shelters that had been built by another group. We refreshed our knowledge of how to assess risk of avalanche, the use of transceivers and spent time teaching the dogs to locate and dig out victims.

On Wednesday we did some mountain area searching with the dogs under the North Face of Ben Nevis. We were joined by SARDA England handler Joy and her Collie and each of the dogs worked well in a couple of different areas.

Thursday saw us undertake a joint exercise with the Royal Navy Sea King. We were picked up from the hotel with the bodies being taken up onto Buachaille Etive Beag and then the dogs and handlers following behind in a second flight. We did a search scenario in the snow before making our way down on foot as the helicopter had been forced out by the heavy snow and strong winds. A great end to a great week and many thanks to all who took part. There are more photos on the SARDA Wales Facebook page.