Practice Gets Real: Glacier Collapses During Rescue Training

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While a group was completing a rescue course in the Peruvian Andes, they weren’t expecting part of a glacier to collapse right next to them, turning a training session into a real-life situation. Jose Forero was participating in the training on Vallunaraju Mountain when, suddenly, a serac (an ice ridge among the crevasses of a glacier) appeared to implode before his very eyes. The massive glacial feature sheered off and fell into the water far below.

“When practice becomes a real situation,” Forero wrote in his Instagram post sharing the frightening footage. “Today, at the international rescue course in Vallunaraju [. . .] we had to face and resolve a real-life situation involving the breaking of a large mass of serac. I felt real fear when it began to crack, and I was the ‘back-up’ for my friends from Colombia and a partner, who was able to perform the rescue maneuver very well and recover our rope partner.”

Thankfully, the group’s training kicked in and helped them all stay calm. Forero added that the wave that followed after the block of ice fell into the water was “huge,” and he felt grateful for his years of experience and prior training.

Watch as part of a glacier collapses during rescue training:

Header stock image of Vallunaraju Mountain in Peru by Christian Kapteyn/Getty Images

Source: https://outdoors.com/practice-gets-real-glacier-collapses-during-rescue-training/