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Last week's Guest Speaker was Russell Tilsely, leader of the Alpine Cliff Rescue team based in the Wakatipu. Russell talked about his background in IT, globally, and his earlier skiing and climbing in Colorado USA. He once visited Queenstown, from his home in Auckland, in 1993 for some 3 months ski patrolling and is still here after being a Mountain Guide and working on ski patrols at Remarkables and Coronet Peak. Russell outlined where Alpine Cliff Rescue Teams fit - a sub-team of Land Search & Rescue (LandSAR) in N.Z. - "the Coastguard on the mountains". Other teams are based in Wanaka, Mt Cook, the West Coast, Christchurch, Ruapehu and in Taranaki. The Wakatipu team was formed back in the late 1980's of members with appropriate skills then working on the mountains and ski fields. There are currently 14 members who are professional mountain guides and recreational climbers. The team is available 24/7 and, like LandSAR, are.called out by the Police. They respond by helicopter and rely very much on their pilots' flying skills. Alpine Cliff Rescue teams are funded by LandSAR N.Z. but teams also have to fund raise locally - their equipment has a finite life and has to be replaced at predetermined intervals. Russell spoke to several photos of his team in both training and performing mountain rescues. |
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