Heaven's Gate Complex - Operational #1
My first operational rappel was a cherry mission. A Kaman K-Max helicopter was doing bucket work on the Heaven's Gate Complex and was forced to perform an emergency landing in the middle of the forest. Our mission was simple: rappel in and fall some trees to improve the helispot to accommodate an additional helicopter. Once the helispot was cut, another helicopter flew in, dropped off the K-Max mechanic, picked us up, and flew us back to PV. The whole operation, from start to finish, was over in four hours.
View of the Heaven's Gate plume from PV
Crystal Creek Fire - Operational #2
The highlight of the fire wasn't the rappel in, but the chance to drop this monster tree that had been struck by lightning and still had heat in the top.
The tree hugger's name is Seth; Seth is a C-Faller and he walked me through this task - this is by far the largest tree I have ever dropped and I could not have done it without his experienced guidance.
Face Cut
Falling!
Miscellaneous Fire Pictures
(because I know you enjoy the pictures much more than my boring commentary)
South Fork Complex
Cuddy Complex
More pictures pending...
1 comment:
you're right, the pictures beat the crap out of words any day... I should follow that advice
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