I consider it an honor to be on the rescue team. For me I feel like I've got these skills accrued over a number of years [of climbing] and its an opportunity to give back.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue Service Cave/Cliff/Technical Unit specializes in extracting injured victims who are literally between a rock and a hard place. The team’s work is unpredictable, often dangerous and always an adventure.
And the team is recruiting climbers.
Veteran climber for the past 30 years Todd Wells has been a member of the team since 2010, and he says climbers are well suited for this type of rescue work.
“They are fit, they have good basic rope skills, and hopefully there’s a willingness to suffer,” says Wells. “Those three qualities of a climber can make for a good cave rescuer.”