Dam Rappelling

It's not every day I find the Altadena Mountain Rescue Rescue Team rappelling from the Devil's Gate Dam. But there they were Wednesday as twilight was coming on.

I let them rappel (wasn't that nice of me?) and they let me take photos. When they were finished, they answered my questions. I hadn't known before that to become a member of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team you must first become a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy as well as an EMT.

Wow. I'd heard it was an all-volunteer organization, but let's be clear: these guys are volunteer heroes.

And not just guys. The deputy leaning over the dam is a woman, and so is the trainee in this photo. It was her first rappel ever, and she was already a pro.

The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team has its own website at amrt.org, but I couldn't get it to load. How much does that matter? Do they have to be techies when they've got so much else going for them?

You can see a cool rappel from a helicopter in this video of the Rescue Team.
I shot the trainee's full rappel, and those photos are at Overdog.