# Avalanche rescue team heads to 2010 Olympics



## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/revelstoketimesreview/community/83315502.html

Jenn Coulter is on her way to Whistler with her dog Farley for her shift at the Olympics let's hope that it is quiet on the mountain for her tenure there. 

An article about their mission with some of her co-workers. 
_Six Revelstoke residents will be putting three pairs of boots and 12 paws on the ground when they head to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics to volunteer with search and rescue efforts, including avalanche rescue. _
_They are Zuzanna Driediger with rescue dog Hero, Lisa Weber with rescue dog Griffin and RMR patroller Al Roberts with rescue dog Sadie. _
_Roberts had already departed for Whistler when I met up with Weber and Driediger at lunchtime in Centennial Park last week to find out more about their mission. _
_They’ll be on call for any avalanche rescue, and will be generally helping out with the increased backcountry traffic expected due to the games. The Integrated Security Unit will be commanding them. _
_The Revelstoke rescuers are members of a few overlapping groups. Locally, the Revelstoke society is known as Canadian Canine Search and Rescue, which includes members with avalanche dogs and other types of rescue dogs – such as those used in earthquake rescue. Provincially, they’re affiliated with the B.C. Search Dog Association (BCSDA). Nationally, the avalanche dogs are associated with the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association, or CARDA. _
_Driediger says combining her love of dogs with the ability to perform a valuable service has kept her involved with rescue dogs over the years. “It’s trying to be able to help people, and I love dogs and I think we underestimate the potential of what dogs can do,” she says. _
_Driediger has almost a dozen years of experience locally, working with her first rescue dog for nine years, and then starting over again over two years ago with Hero. “When I moved here there were no dogs, and I was amazed,” she says. “And it’s kind of cool that now there’s a group of us where, with my last dog, I was kind of alone and it was hard to train, but more people are getting into it. It’s a great thing to do with your dog, and it’s fun.” _
_They say it’s hard to express the time commitment that the volunteers put in with their dogs in terms of hours. It’s definitely a big commitment, including one or two simulated rescues per week that could include going up Mount Mackenzie for a simulated avalanche, or driving out of town for training. _
_Although it takes up a lot of time, Driediger says it’s enjoyable work. “It’s just a really neat working relationship to have with an animal, and to be able to help other people out with it – and its fun,” she says. “I like being outside, I like playing with my dog and just seeing what an animal can do.”_
_There’s also lots of adrenaline involved at times. “Dope on a rope,” says Weber, is slang for the act of dangling from a helicopter on a rope with your dog so you can be flown into a rescue. “It’s not on my to do list – hang under a helicopter – but it is just one of many tools we can use,” she says, going on to list the some of the diverse training exercises rescue handlers do with their dogs. “Our dogs are trained to ride on snowmobiles, ride up chair lifts, ride inside helicopters, do hover entrances and exits with helicopters,” says Weber. “They just need to be exposed to every different possible means of travel, noise, terrain, distractions – you just expose them to everything.” There are also less thrill-seeking ways of responding, including with ski-touring gear and basic backcountry survival equipment. _
_Because they associate getting strapped into their work vests with adventurous training exercises, Griffin, a Belgian Shepherd, and Hero, a German Shepherd, are understandably keyed up, and seem a bit annoyed at being told to lay down and stay in one spot while Weber and Driediger do their interview. To make matters worse, a steady stream of lunch-hour dog walkers go by, throwing balls past them as other footloose dogs run by and generally tease them. Hero has a booming whine which he uses to implore Driediger to get going, and gets rebuked for his protests a couple of times. _
_Driediger says that although the event will likely be a little chaotic for her taste, she’s very much looking forward to the chance to go to the Olympics. “I just think it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she says._


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