Wilderness search and rescue squadKane Mortlock is a member of a specialist search and rescue squad in the Volunteer Rescue Association, New South Wales, Australia. Read about his experience from a one week trip in the Australian Southern Alps. 
On Sunday the short ride/walk up the top of Mt. Kosciuszko (about 9km from Charlotte's Pass where you park your car) went past a hut "Seaman's Hut" built by the American parents of a fellow who was killed with friends around 1920s or 30s. There is also a plaque up for 4 snow boarders who were killed in 1999, 1.5km from the hut. From memory I think it was proposed that they asphyxiated in their snow shelters cooking or something, they knew enough to build them.
In the afternoon the weather did what it can do up in the alpine zone in New South Wales and turned nasty very fast with a thunderstorm. I had looked up the forecast before I left, of course, and so was expecting the storm and accordingly bailed at the very first sign of the storm. Even so, I still only just outran it with a 7.7km downhill sprint on my mountain bike back to the car.Bushwalking by bike… 
Then on Tuesday while reconnaissancing a big trip that may include a 1500m vertical day, I was smart enough to get a puncture in my rear tyre without any spare which saw me walk in 2 hours what could have been ridden in 45 minutes to get back to my car. The interesting part being as I was alone for this recon and hadn't been in the area before I had called my Rescue Team Leader from my local unit of the State Emergency Services (deal with flood and storm damage in my Australian state of "New South Wales" - but also do search and rescue). I told my Rescue Team Leader that if I did not call him by 8pm, for him to call in the cavalry for me.
I'd left myself heaps of time. Even with the puncture I still made it back to the car by 7pm - only to find that my phone did not have reception (mental note: make sure of that next time). Driving back off the hill I managed to call him by around 7.23pm (to his relief) when my phone came into service. Wilderness search and rescue squad 
Then on Wednesday I was called in to search for a lost German. I'm also a member of a specialist wilderness search and rescue squad. The German had been missing since Monday lunchtime when he and his wife had had a dispute about which way to proceed on their walk. They argued so sharply that they parted company, each going their own way! The wife walked out to Thredbo ski resort Monday afternoon on schedule. The husband still had not been found by Tuesday evening when our squad (and quite a few others) were activated. The happy news was that the German fellow was found Wednesday afternoon about 5pm, just before it started to rain and get cold for the evening. He was found by a unit (not mine) driving their 4wd along a 4wd track. This unit had stopped to look at an alpine hut (Cascade hut), before proceeding in their vehicle the German just walked straight out of the bush onto the track in front of them.
Five minutes either way and he would have been missed. He had faired very well for two nights in Alpine territory (very warm nights they were for the mountains), but he had a cold, wet night coming up if he hadn't been found when he was and that could have led to hypothermia, etc. Should never part company in the bush like that, even if you are reasonably fit. Bushwalking in the Australian wilderness Talking to police about it, apparently another foreign walker had gotten lost in the same area two years before and made a classic mistake about the Australian wilderness. This walker had struck a river (Jacob's River) and started following it, expecting to come across a town like you do in Europe. In Australia, this just is not necessarily the case and in this instance, she led searchers on a four day chase into completely uninhabited Australian wilderness (where there are no huts, no tracks, no roads, nothing, no civilisation at all). Specialist bushwalking rescue squad Other than that, our rescue squad had a small issue with your Dick Cheney as well ... As we are known as the specialist bushwalking rescue squad (fitter, etc.), we can be tasked with searching the nastiest terrain and searching the farthest.
On this occasion we were originally tasked with some pretty rugged country and we were promised a helicopter winch out at the end of the day. But our police helicopter ("Polair") was called off site at lunch because of Vice President Cheney's arrival in Australia so we had to walk out! 200 body guards allowed to be armed (thanks to rushed through legislation allowing that) and he needed our chopper as well. Oh well, it didn't matter, I enjoyed the walk and the successful search, just missed out on the fun at the end. Kind regards, Kane Mortlock Feb-2007 Australia
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