My mine rescue and Steve’s bear encounter
Today I volunteered to help with a mine rescue simulation competition here in Kamloops. The even has only increased my respect for these teams who really have to work quickly, intelligently, and cohesively in order to handle quite a range of emergencies. I spend my day hanging 50 feet off the ground (pretending to be unconscious) and the teams had to harness and lower me, rescue 2 other people with different injuries, and navigate some other situational factors. To the credit of these rescue teams, I never imagined feeling as safe as I did being suspended in the hands of these professionals. Thanks for saving us!
Steve has the dubious honour of trumping my sudo close-encounter with his real-life close encounter with danger by coming face to face with a huge black bear earlier today. With his permission, here’s his account as relayed via instant messenger:
10 am, me and duncan were doing a stream sample
when a huge, and i mean huge 1000 lb+++ blcak bear charged through the bush 5 FEET IN FRONT OF US
I SMELLED HIS BREATH
I was at this time spraying myself with bug repelant and got some in my eyes, so i took my glasses off, when duncan screamed that we had a bear
i then tried to find my glasses, got them on, grabbed my bear spray and started to yell at the huge beast
HE DIDN’T MOVE
we were talking to him in an non-confrontational voice
with our hands in the air
and he didn’t move, he began to circle us!!!
got down wind to get a good smell
and then began to beat at the bushes just 10 feet below us
we called the camp when i got my spray and the chopper came in under 2 minutes
came over just as we were heading up a tree
and scared the bear away
when then got our gear and headed for the chopper which landed in a clearing just 100 meters away
even the camp manager and the heli pilot commented that that was the biggest black bear they have seen
his face, which was 5 feet from mine, was the size of a standard kitchen sink