Cristina Berna

Mountain search and rescue is one of the most demanding rescue activities of them all. It take place under very severe and often dramatic conditions like high altitude, snow and ice, crevasses, glaciers and avalances. It is the stuff of real heroic acts and romance. The occassional demand for assistance, but on a larrge scale, is then often carried out by volunteers, mainly locals due to the demand for local area and climate knowledge.
This book is mainly focusssed on the Alps, but also visits outher European mountaineous areas. The special conditions has led to the development of specialized equipment and the most visible is the widespread use of helicopters which have a high degree af maneouverability in inacessible terrain and ability to carry a payload. The helicopter services work together with traditionsl ground based teams and sometimes move these teams to the search area.
Helicopters swiftly move injured persons to a medicsl facility. Professional mountain rescue services are quite common near tourist resorts like ski resorts where there is a regular demand. The authors have made a similar book on American Air Rescue and the styles have both similarity and differences between the two continents. We hope the reader will enjoy our selection of photos.