honorable mention
Matteo Busetto italy
Photo © Matteo Busetto
title
Hostile environment: four seasons
Image 1: Multi-stage rescue mission: the crew has been winched down to reach a group of hikers in distress in a narrow rocky gorge. Mountain rescue technician, while securing one-by-one these persons so that the doctor can have access to them, observes the helicopter evacuating the first patient.
Image 2: Winch retrieval of an injured skier, previously treated and immobilized on a stretcher by the medical crew winched down to a crowded ski slope.
Image 3: Mountain rescue technician is winched down to a rock wall to retrieve an injured climber.
Image 4: When the presence of too many obstacles makes both landing and descent by winch impossible (e.g. the presence of numerous cable-car suspension cables), arrangements are made via radio for a rendezvous with other vehicles. In this case, the crew is quickly transported by a snow-cat from the landing site to the injured skier's location, following the instructions of the witnesses.
Image 5: A challenging, complex rescue mission has been completed, all the injured hikers were retrieved and transported to hospital or to a base camp. The personnel still on the ground walk up to the summit, where they will be waiting for the helicopter to come and take them back to base. In a rare moment of calm, one of the mountain rescue technicians pauses to contemplate "his" mountains: an impervious, often hostile place, but unique in the world.
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entry description
A portrait of the challenging rescue operations which, every day of the year and under the most variable conditions, are carried out on in the Dolomites (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the most fascinating and popular area of the Italian Alps. Some moments of these special operations documented from the point of view of the rescue helicopter crew (pilot, winch operator, mountain rescue technician, doctor and nurse).Image 1: Multi-stage rescue mission: the crew has been winched down to reach a group of hikers in distress in a narrow rocky gorge. Mountain rescue technician, while securing one-by-one these persons so that the doctor can have access to them, observes the helicopter evacuating the first patient.
Image 2: Winch retrieval of an injured skier, previously treated and immobilized on a stretcher by the medical crew winched down to a crowded ski slope.
Image 3: Mountain rescue technician is winched down to a rock wall to retrieve an injured climber.
Image 4: When the presence of too many obstacles makes both landing and descent by winch impossible (e.g. the presence of numerous cable-car suspension cables), arrangements are made via radio for a rendezvous with other vehicles. In this case, the crew is quickly transported by a snow-cat from the landing site to the injured skier's location, following the instructions of the witnesses.
Image 5: A challenging, complex rescue mission has been completed, all the injured hikers were retrieved and transported to hospital or to a base camp. The personnel still on the ground walk up to the summit, where they will be waiting for the helicopter to come and take them back to base. In a rare moment of calm, one of the mountain rescue technicians pauses to contemplate "his" mountains: an impervious, often hostile place, but unique in the world.
about the photographer
Medical doctor, working for the italian Emergency Medical Service and Helicopter Emergency Medical service. Discovering photography has awakened in me the dream of exploring people and the world.back to gallery
