Search and Rescue

Accidents do happen, and with increasing numbers of climbers in Tasmania - both local and interstate – they are likely to be more frequent. 

Rescues are organised by the police, and if you are in trouble dial 000 and ask for ‘police’. 

Tasmania Police have a dedicated and capable rescue team, that in recent years has performed technically-challenging climber rescues off The Candlestick and The Wedding Cake. However, the nature of Tasmanian climbing means that many venues are difficult to access due to their remoteness and/or position, and in some circumstances the police may not be able to access an incident without technical climbing skills. 

In view of that possibility, the CCT runs an active Vertical Rescue (VR) group to assist in providing a search and rescue capability for climbers, as well as the general community. We hold regular monthly practice sessions, and from time to time throughout the year hold larger exercises. We practice with the ethos of being a capable team in our own right, but in reality, any incidence is likely to be in conjunction with the Police, and we try and organise joint exercises as much as possible.

The nature of climbers means that during the climbing season many of our members will be away climbing, so it’s important to have a broad pool of people that we can call on in the (hopefully unlikely) event of an incident.  

There is no ‘formal’ entry requirement, but as a benchmark we expect potential members to have:

1. extensive experience (multiple years at least) of multipitch trad leading – basically you should be able to look after yourself on the crag.
2. a willingness to attend practice sessions reasonably regularly, and to be on the callout list
3. motivation to contribute to the Tasmanian climbing community 

It’s a significant investment of our free time to train new members up, so we prefer to think of membership as a community service, rather than an opportunity for some free instruction.

Current CCT VR contacts are:

Chris Hampton
Will Hobbs

We also have a facebook page, that we will try and keep up to date: https://www.facebook.com/CCTVRTAS

Please email enquiries re VR group, training etc to cct.vrteam@gmail.com

Below are some photographs taken by wilderness paramedic Richard Bugg of the last two SAREX's held on the Acropolis in August 2012 and Coles Bay August 2013. The link for 2013 is at the end of this page.

Training Days & Reports

• Sarex 2013

• SAR Training Day 5th Dec

Gallery

Part way through the resuce	Loading the helicopter	Walking back after the chopper left	CCT president Simon Young rescuing CCT vice president Alex Lewis
Above the south face of the Acropolis	Police and the CCT team	Rescue below the south face of the Acropolis	Assisted rescue
Alex Wilson on the Acropolis	Alex Wilson	Helicopter at Narcissus	Acropolis plateau
Over Acropolis	Fast response vessel to Narcissus		Waiting for the helicopter
Simon and Alex in the middle of a assisted rescue	Enroute to the Acropolis