SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Map reading, using a compass and first aid skills are all subjects a savvy search and rescuer should have some expertise in – and a flare for acting does not go amiss.

Laurin Trudel of Yellowknife Search and Rescue surveys a map during a simulated training operation beside the Yellowknife River Saturday. - Charlotte Hilling/NNSL photo

New search and rescue recruits are put through their paces and taught the finer points on finding missing people with the use of true to life, marathon training scenarios that can last over 12 hours.

That was the case for Yellowknife Search and Rescue (YKSAR) participants last Saturday, who began their day at 8 a.m. and did not leave their makeshift headquarters at the Yellowknife River until about 10 p.m.

The search scenario involved two people, whose identities were kept a secret, to disappear into the wilderness with just a select few people in on their location. So why would anyone volunteer to be the victims in this scenario, left to sit in the harsh cold for an undetermined amount of time?

"Some people just like to be in the bush," said Terry Hauff, plans chief with YKSAR.

Not even Hauff knew the identities of the two people they were searching for.

"We prefer not to know who they are because if I know, I'm already going to build into my mind what they're going to do," he said.

New recruit, Kathy Mitchell, said the exercise was very absorbing.

"It feels very real," she said. "I have no idea who they are because this is supposed to be a true to life exercise."

Mitchell, a nurse, said she decided to volunteer with YKSAR because she wanted to learn mapping and compass skills.

"As far as mapping and compass work goes, I'm no good," she said. "And I often go berry picking, so it's nice to know the compass work so I feel a little more secure."

About five years ago Mitchell employed the use of search and rescue when her husband failed to return from a Ski-Dooing expedition.

"It was a whiteout storm and he didn't have a GPS," she said. "So we called search and rescue when he was three hours late and it was 40 below."

She said her husband eventually found his way back to civilization on his own and came out of the experience unharmed.

Laurin Trudel, YKSAR search manager, said there were 14 volunteers directly involved in Saturday's exercise. September had seen an influx of new volunteers following what he calls the "solicitation" period.

"In August we explain who we are and what kind of things people can expect to be involved with," he said. "Then, as a result of that, usually about 80 per cent of them disappear and the other 20 per cent take the next step."

Following the successful training exercise the next step for YKSAR will be to educate the public by stationing themselves on popular trails and advising people on what safety equipment they should carry with them, in order to avoid the need for a real life search and rescue operation.