Risk and Rescue screens on opening night of the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, Friday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. (doors at 6:30 p.m.) at Centennial Theatre, 2300 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver. Presented by North Shore Rescue. Tickets and info at vimff.org.
Somewhere, far below the hovering helicopter, someone was lost. Filmmaker Melanie Wood knew this, but all she could see from her bird's-eye vantage point was an awe-inspiring expanse of mountain peaks, deep valleys and endless evergreens.
Members of North Shore Rescue see the backcountry differently than most. A fallen rock, a beaten path, a discarded piece of clothing - these are all clues that might lead to the discovery of a person in distress.
"They're amazing, the way they train and the way they know their mountains," Wood says. This was especially true of the team's late leader, Tim Jones, who passed away suddenly a little more than a year ago. "He knew those mountains like every pore on the back of his hand."
Wood and her film crew spent months training with North Shore Rescue, trudging through icy terrain and going on helicopter ride-alongs to gather footage for To the Rescue. The documentary examined Canada's search and rescue system and aired on CBC's Doc Zone in February 2014.
Wood has since reworked that film to create a 26-minute documentary following just the North Shore Rescue volunteers who risk their lives to save others. Risk and Rescue makes its world premiere on Friday, Feb. 13 at Centennial Theatre on the opening night of the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.
"It's one of those films that is a really good human story about the guys on the team and I think that will draw people in as much as the excitement of the rescues themselves, which I have to say are pretty nail-biting sometimes," Wood says.
The screening will be preceded by the awarding of the VIMFF Community Award to Tim Jones, in memoriam, and followed by an after-party celebrating the 50th anniversary of North Shore Rescue. Before Wood could start filming this project, she had to go through rigorous training with North Shore Rescue so she'd be able to keep up with the team in the field and stay safe. "The very first training session I realized, holy, these guys are serious."
Part of her education included learning how to hop in and out of a helicopter hovering several feet above the ground. Wood and her crew were on pager 24 hours a day in order to capture the searches and rescues documented in the film. Sometimes she would join alone, other times, if space allowed, she would bring camera and sound technicians. Those on-call operations certainly got the adrenalin pumping, but it was a pre-scheduled avalanche response drill dubbed "Snowman 3" that really left a lasting impression on Wood.
"That was pretty exciting, to be out with them on that. It was dark, all you had was your headlamps and flares and people were calling out," she remembers. "To listen to those guys and to watch them, they deal with it as though there are real bodies and it was amazing to me to see how few people survive an avalanche and the kind of decisions the team members have to make in the field."
Wood was also struck by the level of expertise the volunteer members bring to the North Shore Rescue team and the sacrifices they make in their personal and professional lives in order to help others - all for no pay. This is something she hopes viewers will grasp after watching Risk and Rescue.
"I hope that they understand that this is a really important volunteer organization," she says. "I'm not saying it shouldn't be volunteer, I think it's the only way search and rescue can work is to have really good volunteers, but it's important that they train well and stay safe and I hope people understand that."
North Shore Rescue relies heavily on private donations and, since Tim Jones' death, the team has established the Tim Jones Legacy Fund, a long-term endowment. The goal is to raise $6 million and put any accumulated interest towards the team's annual operating budget. "Then they can spend their valuable time doing more important things like safety training and upgrading skills" instead of raising funds, Wood says.
Directing To the Rescue and later Risk and Rescue really drove home for Wood the unforgiving nature of Vancouver's backyard, no matter the season.
"I hope that people get a sense of how treacherous the North Shore mountains are," she says. That doesn't mean stay away, she adds, it just means that those venturing into the backcountry should know what they're getting into, be prepared, and not assume that nothing bad will happen.
"That's what everyone thinks," Wood says. "No one goes out intending to be rescued."
