WILDERNESS SEARCH & RESCUE

Chrysalis Academy Tokai: 16 – 19 June 2005

The Chrysalis Academy in Tokai was the venue of our fourth cave rescue seminar, a joint venture between the CPSS and Highangle. After breakfast and registration on Thursday morning the forty two delegates attended excellently prepared lectures on caving, its equipment and hazards by Anthony Hitchcock, followed by one on radio communication by Roy van Schoor of Delta Search and Rescue.

The course was at two levels, a basic for the less experienced and a technical one for those experienced in vertical rope access. After lunch Dion Tromp began the training at the tower facility for the twenty two Technical rescue members while Ron Zeeman and I took the Basic attendees for instruction in rope handling, knots, belaying, pulley advantage techniques, stretcher packaging and handling. The “patients” were passed over obstacles, under vehicles and belayed down slopes to mimic cave conditions. 

Friday the Technical crew continued their intensive training on vertical access and stretcher handling, doing everything except abseiling upside down so I hear. 

The Basic members were taken to Kalk Bay for practical experience. The facilitators were Anthony Hitchcock, Peter Swart, Ruth Stasiak, Trefor Lloyd and myself. Two teams of ten were formed and given the following two rescue scenarios in turn.    Aladdin cave was chosen to experience packaging and movement in a tight passage and ending in a belay from the west entrance.    For the other, Clovelly cave was used where packaging was required in very low conditions followed by extraction via a sandy floor with its attendant bulldozer effect.

Saturday, the day of the big exercise, saw the winter weather returning. As the convoy of vehicles moved up the mountain the clouds came down to meet us. Base camp was set up alongside the cement road opposite the Victoria dam, the SAAF providing us with two large tents and trestle tables. 

Advance camp was established at the  overhang close to the cave entrance. Roy van Schoor and team from Delta Search and Rescue towed their communications caravan up the mountain and set up an excellent radio network which proved invaluable. 

Smugglers cave, a vertical crack system, was the scene of the “accident”. By the time Dion, his team and rescuers departed for Smugglers at mid day the rain was lashing and visibility down to 20m. This tight cave has four vertical pitches but it was found that pitch three was very unstable and dangerous with the result that the dummy was assembled and weighted at the top of this pitch. “Dead Fred” was attended to and packaged complete with a drip. He was a large guy with the result that by the time he reached the surface he had acquired many other unprintable names. Teams had been positioned at various stages to pre-rig the cave in preparation for the stretcher movement on the way out. They had been warned and were prepared for a long stay in the cold underground, but unforseen problems extended the full exercise to eighteen hours. 

For most of the eighteen hours Christine Lombard doggedly sat in the wind and rain at the entrance maintaining radio communication between the underground rescuers and base. Steve Craven and Lee Hall conveyed large pots of chicken curry and rice from Chrysalis up the mountain for supper. We then found we actually had no means of getting this underground. Ruth and Trefor kept this warm for breakfast Sunday morning starting at 03:00. 

Meanwhile on Saturday Trefor, Ruth and Ron descended into Wynberg and assembled a dummy on the lower ledges past the start of the corkscrew. The twenty Basic attendees, after setting up the surface facilities, were summoned to rescue the victim, Rocky Bonaparte. They based at the entrance crack and brought him out through the narrow eastern entrance. However it was dark and pouring with rain. With everyone’s raingear still at the other overhang all went back totally soaked. 

Another oversight, we had not provided any chairs at the base camp and with the rivers running through the tent we had nowhere to sit. 

After daybreak Sunday morning the Technical rescue team were sent down the mountain to shower and sleep while camp was struck. Lunch and debrief followed at Chrysalis at 13:00. 

The general comment was that the course had been well organized and that the assistance of Chrysalis Academy with accommodation and food and High Angle with the technical training had assisted in everyone having learnt new skills both in the field and on the management side. The expertise of Delta Search and Rescue in handling the communications was undoubtedly an integral part of the success of the whole exercise. 

All reports end with a list of thanks: 

A special word of thanks to the members of CPSS who supported the exercise, Dr Stephan Craven, Lee Hall for collecting the food and assisting in setting up camp, Anthony Hitchcock for presenting the opening lectures and assisting with the practical training, Peter Swart, Stephan Moser, Trefor Lloyd and Ruth Stasiack for their assistance especially in the practical aspects and Stephan Butcher for handling the computers and capturing the photos. Trefor and Ruth traveled from Port Elizabeth to assist as facilitators on the course and their experience and enthusiasm were much appreciated especially in the “kitchen” very early on Sunday morning when something hot to drink was like gold and even hot stew. 

The support of the Spelaeological Exploration Club (SEC) from Johannesburg truely made it a SASA effort thanks to Pete Kenyon and Sharon Reynolds.

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