I’ve started training to become a volunteer for the Larimer County Search and Rescue. While there are several reasons why I decided to join, much of my motivation is selfish. I want outdoor training and I want to meet other people excited about the outdoors. (Not surprising, I already know several on LCSAR, which is why I probably was convinced to join.) Gaining more experience and training I think I’ll be more confident in taking people into the outdoors. I have a lot of girlfriends that have asked to go and I want to be competent. After all, that IS how I got into backpacking...I was invited by girls who KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING and were confident in their skills. Saturday was a long day, but I believe it’s going to be a really good thing for me. My vision is that I’ll be able to help more missions during the summer than the winter, but there are a lot more people in the mountains then anyway.
My favorite part of the day on Saturday was learning to tie some important knots. (Which made me want to go climbing…and I did on Sunday evening) We worked on the single bowline, the double bowline, and the bowline on a bight. A friend added the butterfly knot and Prusick Loop to my repertoire. I’m not lying when I say I think my knitting skills will help me with the knots.
The next step is training on navigation which is absolutely a necessary skill. I never really go off trail and maybe someday I’ll want to or have to, and I haven’t used many of these map skills since my Freshman year of college when I was a geology major.
No comments:
Post a Comment