More and more people incorporate Recco in their gear
October 3rd, 2005
Vancouver, BC (September 22, 2005) ¬ North Shore Rescue has officially selected the RECCO® avalanche rescue system as endorsed technology and incorporated the system into its comprehensive search strategy. Highlighting why the decision was made to equip his Vancouver-based organization with RECCO® technology, Search Manager Tim Jones says, "More and more people are skiing with this type of device now.
Now that more and more people have got it incorporated into their clothing and gear, it's part of what we have to incorporate." He continues, "Anything that can make it easier to find somebody makes it easier on us¬that's the bottom line."
Jones outlined the multiple Search and Rescue applications of the harmonic radar technology as an additional reason for incorporating RECCO into their search strategy. "RECCO has an application for us with rescue and safety in a natural disaster and it has an application for bringing out a lot of subjects all at once without transceivers," he says. "There are situations where, if we have people we find stranded in the backcountry and we know they have a RECCO device on them, we could even spot them from the air because of using the detector."
Summarizing his belief in the value of the RECCO rescue system, Jones states, "The biggest benefit is if the general public has these on and we do have a situation where if the system's in place there's a greater chance of people who would normally not wear transceivers, potentially could be rescued alive. So I think the ski industry, by having this available for guys to buy as part of the equipment purchase without them even thinking about it, is probably going to wind up saving a life."
About RECCO
RECCO® is an avalanche rescue system utilized by 440 organizations worldwide to assist in the efficient location of avalanche burials. First introduced in 1983, the technology was developed by Magnus Granhed with the cooperation of Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology in response to his personal experience with an avalanche tragedy. Since then, the system has proven itself effective in the field and has been adopted globally by ski resorts, helicopter-skiing operations and search-and-rescue organizations as an additional tool for avalanche rescue.
RECCO® technology enables rapid directional pinpointing of a victim's precise location using harmonic radar. The two-part system consists of a RECCO® detector used by organized rescue groups, and RECCO® reflectors that are integrated into commercially available apparel, helmets, boots or protection gear. The RECCO reflector never needs to be switched on and requires no batteries to function. Although similar in search procedure to transceivers, the RECCO system is not intended for companion rescue and is not an alternative to transceiver use in the backcountry.
About North Shore Rescue
North Shore Rescue is a Mountain Search and Rescue Team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The team consists of approximately 40 volunteers from all walks of life who are trained in search and rescue operations in mountain, canyon and urban settings. North Shore Rescue is on alert 365 days a year and performs an average of 90 search and rescue operations annually in the mountains and canyons of Vancouver's North Shore. The organization is widely regarded as one of the premier Search and Rescue outfits in North America.
