An Adventurous Weekend

An Adventurous Weekend

By Allan Olson

Now, by and large, I’m not an adventurous person. I’m not into risk taking or spontaneous decisions, as they would very likely backfire on me – so I just avoid them. This weekend, I made an exception. What an awesome adventurous weekend! The weather was nice as well, since it was above the donut.

On Saturday, January 26, I not only had the opportunity to cover the 12th Annual Multi-Agency Rescue on the ice of Cass Lake, but I was given the chance to participate. This event is put on each year to give the local fire fighters a chance to hone up their life saving skills in the unfortunate event someone goes through the ice.

Two years ago when I last covered the ice rescue, I was asked if I wanted to participate. I quickly declined. I’m not much into water when I can’t touch bottom and was apprehensive about doing it.

This year, I decided that if I was asked, I just might do it – unless I backed out at the last moment. After watching them for the better part of three hours, I was asked by the Cass Lake Fire Chief Jason Londgren if I wanted to try it. Before I knew what was coming out of my mouth, I said – “sure.”

Immediately, the thoughts erupt­ed in my head. Why? Am I crazy? (Family and friends need not answer that question.)  

At the same time, excitement started to build. I was going to put on a thermal protection buoyant suit (or “gumby suit” as I call them) and “jump” in the water. Now after watching and listening for a few hours, I certainly knew I wasn’t going to jump in, after hearing the complaints of the water going down the inner layer of the suit.

So after I committed to doing this, I wasn’t going to back out. I headed over to the changing station and got out of my boots and snowsuit, then with some assistance, tugged on the gumby suit. The assistant explained how to get the air out of the suit, then advised me not to try the same method in the water or I would be in for a chilling experience. With the air out of the suit, it clung tightly. It gave me a “shrink wrapped” feeling.

My first mission was to use the Rapid Deployment Craft to help “rescue” someone in the water. The first mission went rather smoothly. Secured by a rope, I walked the boat out to the edge of the ice, got it over the “victim,” placed the rescue buoy around the individual, then stood up and fell back. I gave the team manning the ropes the proper signal and they pulled us to safety – what an exhilarating experience!

The next mission was to rescue myself out of the water and over the ice. I worked and I worked. Finally, I improvised, or as one of those watching said – I did some “thinking outside the box.” I grabbed hold of the metal stake that was driven into the ice, easily pulled myself to safety and rolled away from the ice just the way I was told.

The next task for me to complete was to pull myself to safety using the ice picks. After a demonstration, I was eager to try; however, it wasn’t meant to be. I worked for what felt like an eternity, and when I was almost to the point where I could get out, I fell backwards. I was frustrated and didn’t want to give up. I kept trying and trying, but I was finally too exhausted and couldn’t do it. I gave the motion and said the words “help me,” and was pulled to safety.

“You need to get out of the office more,” is what I was told by the chief. He’s probably right.

The final task (after at least a five minute rest) was to “rescue” someone from the water again. This scenario was slightly different, as I had to crawl to the victim with the buoy over my head. That takes some coordination, of which I have little. Like the first mission, I had to let the victim know I was coming to help and what I was going to do. With the buoy secured around the victim, I crawled backwards into the water, got behind the victim to provide an assist out of the water. I then gave the signal to the ropes crew to pull us to safety.

It was definitely an awesome experience, and I’m glad that I didn’t back out. I look forward to doing this again another time – hopefully, with better “self-rescue” results. I’m also glad that the professionals, who made it look so much easier, are training to do this on a yearly basis. The coldest part of the whole experience was when I accidentally splashed some water on my face. Even that wasn’t too bad after working so hard to get out of the water.

As for Sunday, we took the opportunity, with the break in the weather, for an afternoon of geocaching. We headed out north of Bemidji in Three Island Park. We tried to find a series of caches, but we didn’t have much luck. Whether it was the snow covering the caches, or just plain old rotten luck, we only found two of the five we attempted.

In all, it was an excellent weekend to be out enjoying the fresh air in January.

Thanks for reading. Remember to watch out for school buses on the roads; they are carrying a precious cargo – our children. Also please exercise caution when venturing out on the lakes. Thanks again for reading, and have a great and safe weekend.

For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com