A fundamental level exercise for HAR- High Angle Rescue took place at Margalla, the foothills of Himalayas, Islamabad a few days ago. 21 volunteers and members, who are certified First Aiders as well, participated in a day long activity. This time, most of the participants were students, belonging to various institutions.
Fortunately, it was a sunny day and climate was very pleasant. The members gathered at the point of arrival well in time and we left the POA at 08:40 in the morning. The hiking route has already been finalized by the instructors but was kept undisclosed. The first part was consisting of a rather easier hike for an hour or so.
The second part got harder since the participant chose a self identified fire line on the hills to reach at the top. Though, the entangled trek was relatively easier and clean as compare to a 2500 feet, vertical attempt but some participants (M. Zubair, Fawad, Ameer, Adil, Ali, Umar. Imran and Asif) convinced others to move straight to save time for other tasks. This part consumed almost 2 hours. Everyone was sweating whilst removing the hurdles in the way that were mostly the brush and the bushes.
The third part was the most interesting part for all the participants since a nice cliff was found both safe and challenging for rappelling. The solid rock had some sharp edges which were made smooth using little boulders and a polyurethane sheet. Besides, the point where we coupled the 9mm line was a bit messy but almost everyone dealt with it making a good maneuver whilst leaving the edge of the rock. In the middle of the route, there was a challenge for every rescuer. That was to how to keep his body away from the branches of a tree while maintaining balance and coming back to the descending route.
Furthermore, the landing place was not that spacious and everyone needed to keep his safety in mind all the time after removing harness and till reaching downhill. Both, the leaving and landing points had no line of sight so on the top instructors were feeling the tension of the rope to measure the exact time being consumed by every rescuer. Mr. Jamil Khokhar was declared the winner at the end.
It was almost the time for sunset when we all were enjoying our lunch while sitting at rocks and enjoying a pretty view of the federal capital. The brown basmati rice with chicken- called Murgh Pulao helped participants restoring energy and gaining some calories for another day of training.