MOUNTAIN RESCUE IS ABOUT SAVING LIVES NOT JUDGING PEOPLE
Published: 5th Mar 2010
 SCOTLAND'S mountain playgrounds have been enjoying an extended winter sports season this year. Sadly, however it has not been without tragedy. Last month, two climbers were swept to their deaths in Glencoe and another was injured on Ben Nevis.
However St Andrews mountain rescue veteran Rod Stoddart (pictured here with his dog Dreish courtesy of RAF Leuchars) pointed out this week that the last thing teams want to do when they go out into the hills to rescue people, is to judge them. “We never judge, we just try to save them,” he explains.
The former RAF man was awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year Honours list for services to mountain rescue in Tayside over an incredible four decades.
However Rod (55) who saw service in the Falklands and now works in a civilian post at RAF Leuchars, near St Andrews, says any accolades he’s received are shared by the dedicated band of Scotland's Mountain Rescue volunteers who turn out, time after time to help save lives wherever someone has gone missing.
“It was an honour,” he says quetly. “I was surprised to get it and it really is for all the Mountain Rescue teams who go out time after time and search for people in difficulties.
“The biggest hero in all this is my wife, Kathleen. We have been married 30 years in July and all that time she's been supporting my work in mountain rescue and all the other things I do with young people. She's been left to bring up the children while I've been away and is the real unsung hero.”
The super-fit grandad has been on thousands of rescues but is reluctant to pick out any single incidents for comment. He is conscious that whatever the circumstances, someone's family has been affected and he respects their feelings.
Sadly, and perhaps more often than one would imagine, the person being searched for has not been climbing in the Munros but has got lost in his or her own local area, due to illness or memory loss due to diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Whatever the reason, the Tayside Mountain Rescue team member and his faithful Welsh Border Collie, Driesh, are ready, whenever the call comes, sometimes at a moment’s notice. “The car's loaded, ready to go, all the time,” he says.
Dreish is obviously devoted to his master, but also knows the line between work time and play time. Rescue dogs are introduced to training gradually, from around six months. Work is reward-based, Rod explained, so there are no titbits which might lead to embarrassing moments with picnickers en route to a rescue!
Once the person being searched for has been found, either for real or in training, the dog is given a favourite toy to play with.
Rod, who also coaches swimming in the nearby town of Cupar, gets a huge buzz from spreading the message about the great outdoors to children in local schools. “If it keeps them off the streets and encourages them to get out and about and exercise, safely in the fresh air, that's all I could ask for,” he confides.
Perhaps surprisingly, he wasn’t always a mountaineer. He got involved way back in 1977, after RAF pals who were in mountain rescue and the Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA), in Scotland, encouraged him to come out at weekends. He was hooked and since then has trained three dogs that have made it through the rigourous qualifying process onto the SARDA call-out list.
The human team members are just as carefully assessed. Rod trains every day, either running or using weights and a couple of times a week he runs with a heavy pack on his back to stay at peak fitness. “You have to have had a minimum of two years in a mountain rescue team before you can go on to Search and Rescue dog work,” he explained. “You have to prove you can work in winter conditions, look after yourself and be able to give first aid. Dogs have to be able to be helicoptered and winched up to 200feet so they can be used on high narrow ledges where helicopters can’t land.
The relationship between dog and handler is crucial as the dog has to communicate its ‘find’ clearly to the handler and the handler in turn has to be able to read the dog’s signals. It takes two years for a dog to be fully trained in all the aspects of rescue. But they never stop learning and gaining in experience.
Call outs can vary, from mountain incidents to inner city searches. Last year he was called out 45 times by SARDA. While there are some areas, such as mine shafts, you just can’t use a dog, Rod says the time saved when one is used in a search is considerable. “Twenty guys covering a large area in a line search will take around two and a half hours. Covering the same area with a dog would take 40 minutes.”
Volunteers are always welcome, either to learn more about searching or to act as 'casualties' to help in dog training. To find out more please visit http://www.sarda-scotland.org/
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