She’s with CU Anschutz Medical School’s Stress Trauma Adversity Research and Treatment Center, working with cops, emergency service providers, search-and-rescue teams as well as guide services and ski patrols. Search and rescue team members can be the overlooked patients in a traumatic mission, said Laura McGladrey. (Provided by San Juan County SAR) Cumulative trauma can break in an avalanche of anguish The San Juan County Search and Rescue team that recovered the skiers included a county commissioner, a town councilman, business owners, local avalanche experts and other residents of Silverton. “The impact to the team was definitely real,” Donovan said. After the hectic summer and the recovery of five men - two beloved Durango locals and three influential men from Eagle - they still are. A few close calls in the area last season, including a complicated rescue of a snowboarder near Telluride in March 2020, left the San Juan team on edge. “And we still have a lot of winter left,” said Jim Donovan, the emergency manager for San Juan County and director of Silverton Avalanche School.ĭonovan’s San Juan County Search and Rescue team was ready for a busy winter. Across the U.S, 33 have died in avalanches, with 26 skiers, snowmobilers and climbers killed in February alone, marking the darkest month for avalanche fatalities in more than a century. The 2020-21 season has been particularly deadly for backcountry travelers. But the 11 men killed in Colorado avalanches so far this season have been older, most of them with years of backcountry experience. A host of state agencies joined search and rescue teams to promote avalanche awareness and backcountry safety. The largest worry heading into the 2020-21 season was about a flood of newcomers to avalanche terrain. “The worst snow conditions in Colorado in the last 10 years,” Holland said. That storm worsened with a spectacularly sketchy snowpack that began shedding large avalanches with every new snowfall. The COVID restrictions and capacity caps at ski areas were “a perfect storm of bad formula,” said Kimmet Holland, a 40-year veteran of emergency services who directs Silverton’s Emergency Medical Services crew, all of whom are certified in avalanche safety and high-alpine rescue skills. When winter backcountry gear sales exploded in the fall alongside resorts announcing capacity limits and restrictions at ski areas, high-country search and rescue teams braced themselves. Teams across Colorado were exceptionally busy last summer as Colorado’s hills crawled with campers, hikers, bikers and paddlers finding respite from the pandemic in the backcountry. Most of the state’s 2,800 search and rescue volunteers know that weariness. That’s following an extraordinarily busy summer and fall. Rescuers in San Juan County have had a challenging winter. But sometimes, it’s hard to admit when you need some help.” We have some psychological support and we work to get help to our people. “You get good at putting that image in the back of your head, but all that never goes away. “Even if you’ve been doing this a long time, it’s still difficult,” Lloyd said. Stress threatens Colorado search and rescue teams as calls for help climb during coronavirus - The Colorado Sun Close
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