| Bedrock Mountain Rescue | ||||||||||||||||||
| By Ju Rui-yun; translated by Tang Yau-yang; photos by Chen Hong-dai; used with permission of Rhythms Monthly | ||||||||||||||||||
The second day after he had gone missing while trekking the Hapen Trail in Wulai, northern Taiwan, Mr. Xu fell a distance equivalent to the height of a three-story house. The fall did not kill him, although it gave him many bruises and a bleeding head wound. He used a small towel to stop the bleeding, and then he tore an undershirt into strips to make a bandage for the gash.
He spent two more nights out in the wilderness as the golden 72-hour window for search and rescue came and went. Four days had passed since he had become lost. Believing that any rescue efforts to save him would have stopped by now, he reasoned he was on his own for survival. Weakened by injuries and hunger, he staggered in a direction that he thought would give him the best chance of safety. Then, at a spot about a 15-minute walk from the nine-kilometer mark on the trail to the Fushan Botanical Garden, he ran into Zeng Jun-bin (曾俊賓), the captain of Bedrock Mountain Rescue. “I thought we had lost him,” Zeng said, “so when I saw a man with his head covered in blood staggering along, I thought it was an illusion.” After confirming that Xu was indeed the missing person that his organization had been searching for, Zeng said to him, “I’m a rescue worker. I’m here to rescue you.” Then Zeng and a teammate tied Xu—now a wobbly 90-kilogram (198-pound) lump—to themselves and descended the mountain with ropes. “The effort caused inflammation of the ligaments on either side of my legs,” Zeng said, referring to the effects of the prolonged “braking” down the slopes with so much extra weight. “Even so, it was exhilarating to find him when I had all but given up hope and when the going was really tough.” Zeng, in the prime of his life, spends about half of his time conducting rescue operations or training his teammates. Wearing a quick-dry outfit, sunglasses, and rain boots, he is either scaling a mountain slope, rappelling off a cliff, walking up a stream, or zigzagging through a forest. He and his group of mountaineers can respond very quickly and safely to distress calls because of the training they undergo for their selfless, voluntary service.
A dedicated team Zeng once worked in the electrical cable industry, and he also used to sell garments and furniture. When he founded Bedrock Mountain Rescue more than three years ago, he quit his job and opened his own small business. That allowed him to devote more of his energy to being the captain of the organization—a job that demanded much work but paid no salary. He has since assembled a hundred rescuers and support personnel. All of them are volunteers. They contribute their money and effort, and they willingly take risks to fulfill the mission of rescuing people that have gone missing in the mountains. They work mostly in the mountains of northern Taiwan, but they have worked in other parts of the island as well. “We’re a bunch of happy fools,” Zeng said of his people and himself.
They are, to be more exact, a motley collection of people with a strong sense of purpose and mission. They come from all walks of life but share one trait: They love the challenges of looking for and the satisfaction of finding a missing person. February 18, 2015, was Chinese New Year’s Eve. While most people in Taiwan were im-mersed in family reunions and other festivities, members of Bedrock left their homes and rushed to Shuiyang Forest, Nantou County, central Taiwan. They were responding to a mission order that Zeng had just issued to search for a man named Chen Li-xun (陳立勳), who had not been seen by the team of hikers he was with since the afternoon of the day before. Bedrock member Huang Yi-zhen (黃伊真) lives in that county, so she went to the Shanlinxi police substation to gather information while other members headed her way. Once they had assembled, Zeng studied the information Huang had collected, mapped out routes that he believed Chen could have taken, and established search areas. Due to the scope of the task, he called more people to report to work. All of them showed up before dawn to join the first group. The expanded search team would set out at the crack of dawn to blanket their assigned areas. Zeng also called in a team of people whose job was to round up basic foodstuffs and cook hot food to support the others. The mountaineers split into squads and set out at the first light of day, covering the routes that Zeng had mapped out for them. One team found footprints on their route, so they followed that route for 30 minutes, shouting Chen’s name as they went. They finally heard a call responding to their shouts. Heading towards the voice, they gradually shortened the distance between themselves and the missing man. Zeng called the support team around noontime with good news: “We’ve found him!” Chen’s family embraced the support team, and everybody cried with joy. “We weren’t optimistic at first,” said Chen’s mother, Li Li-ling (李麗玲), a month after the event. Despite their pessimism, she and her husband found strength and hope in the discipline they witnessed among the Bedrock members. The emotional support the couple received from the team also helped a lot. When Li almost had a nervous breakdown while waiting, Chen Cui-cui (陳翠翠) of the support team promised her, “We won’t quit until we find him.” That deeply moved Li and bolstered her spirits. The event showed Chen Jia-xuan (陳嘉瑄), Chen’s father, how fragile human life could be and how selfless some people were. “It opened my eyes to the fact that many nameless people in Taiwan are actually doing a lot for our society.”
A crazy bunch Traditionally, Chinese New Year is a time when most people go home for family reunions. Who doesn’t want to stay with one’s family or loved ones during the Chinese New Year holiday? Who doesn’t want to snuggle in a warm bed on a cold winter night? But sometimes Zeng and his team cannot. When they are called upon to help, they have to respond quickly. Zeng laughed at himself for being so nuts as to be a volunteer mountain rescuer. He and his companions receive no pay and are required to foot the bill for all expenses—such as personal outfits, equipment and transportation—out of their own pockets. But Zeng takes great comfort in knowing that he is not the only nut around—he has a hundred others to prove it. Though Zeng is the captain of the group, he doesn’t really give orders. After all, they are all volunteers. But every time he calls them to action, they hurry to the spot and get to work. He is pleased with his group’s responsiveness. If there would be just one word to describe Bedrock Mountain Rescue, it would definitely be “fast.” Rapid deployment is essential in their work. A rescue is often most successful if the missing person is located within 72 hours of disappearance. There is no time to waste. Chen Shen-rong (陳身榮), an advance team member, is fast too and more than willing to do things for his squad. He can finish a marathon in just three hours, barefoot. He also runs two companies, but whenever he learns about a missing hiker, he is quick to tell Zeng that he is ready to go. Chen Cui-cui is another member who joins a search party at the drop of a hat. She runs a fast-food restaurant, but whenever she receives word from Zeng, she tells her customers she has to go on a rescue mission and asks them to pack up their unfinished food in doggie bags. Life is more important; a rescue cannot wait. Zeng believes that people who get lost in the mountains have better chances of survival than people who are caught in floods or fires. Lost mountaineers may survive unaided for days instead of just minutes. Mountain rescuers can find people alive even if they’ve been missing for a week. It was for this reason that Zeng, an avid mountaineer himself and once a high mountain guide, founded Bedrock. He has led his colleagues in almost 60 large-scale mountain search missions in the last three years. They have been successful eight times out of ten. Zeng signed a joint rescue agreement with Shei-Pa National Park to raise the visibility of Bedrock and to make its services available to more people. He and his organization also assist the Taipei City Fire Department on search missions. Cai Ying-de (蔡英德), a former fire chief, has searched with Zeng many times. He likes Bedrock for its ready availability. “They have always had people for us when we needed them,” he said. Zhang Wei-ren (張維仁) of Shei-Pa National Park observed, “There are just a few mountain rescue organizations in Taiwan. They all need frequent training to keep in good shape, and Bedrock excels in this regard.”
Relentless training By eight o’clock one morning, a group of Bedrock members in hiking outfits had gathered at the Shanzihou fire station in Shilin, Taipei. They listened to Zeng teach them how to use GPS and cell phone route tracking apps in mountain rescues. He talked for about two hours before taking them outdoors. Their outdoor training this day took place on Qixing Mountain, which has a peak elevation of 1,120 meters (3,675 feet). They were split into five teams, each applying what they had just learned to navigate to designated coordinates. They also received training in physical fitness, rock-climbing and rappelling. Xu Jia-wen (徐嘉妏) had been with Bedrock for just over a month, but even that short time was enough for her to notice how frequently the members trained. “Our training calendar is packed,” Xu said. “On weeknights we have rock-climbing and indoor lessons. We often have lessons on weekends as well.” Lessons are often followed by tests. Huang Yi-zhen, the member living in Nantou who gathered information for the search in Shuiyang Forest, described the requirements to pass a rappelling test. A woman must complete the designated distance within four minutes while carrying a 12-kilogram (26.4-pound) load, and a man in three minutes or less with 15 kilograms (33 pounds). Not one second more. In addition, a participant has to succeed in three consecutive tries, or four out of five tries. Zeng makes sure that his people survive the mental and physical stress of training. If they do, they’ll have a better chance of success on real missions, when lives are at stake. When taking the rappelling tests, everyone suits up and finishes roll call by eight in the morning. Non-stop training in vertical drops lasts until 10:30 p.m. at the earliest. Only then comes the test. “Once, one of us didn’t finish the test till one o’clock in the morning,” Huang said, “and they had to go to work just a few hours later.” She continued by saying that whenever she felt overwhelmed by the hard work required of Bedrock members and considered quitting, she thought back to the search for Chen Li-xun during the Chinese New Year holiday. She recalled how worried his parents had been, and that was enough to keep her on track. She knew she had to hang in there if she wanted to fulfill her desire to help others. One of the staple drills that she and her teammates perform is fetching things that Zeng throws…off a cliff. Zeng firmly believes in training hard on difficult tasks: “Without rock-solid training, how can we expect to perform well in real rescues? Training only on a calm sea can hardly produce a fine sailor.” The captain believes that a person should train four days a week for at least three years in a row for him or her to become a mature mountain rescuer: “Rescue groups in Taiwan could all do better in training, which will go a long way toward improving the current level of rescue operations.”
High tech Zeng also understands that, in addition to stringent and intensive training, appropriate equipment is essential in making a rescue mission successful. For example, he has used multi-rotor aerial drones during searches of short-grass pastures and cliffs. He also makes good use of GPS. Many people have used GPS, but they probably have not kept records of the routes that they have traveled. However, keeping track of the routes can be extremely helpful in boosting the efficiency of a search when time is of the essence. If routes that have been searched are not tracked, rescuers may very well repeat the routes unnecessarily and waste precious time. On the other hand, if the GPS and route trackers are put to good use, the routes traveled and data identified along those routes can be collected and compiled into useful information that can be used in planning subsequent follow-up search routes. Any moment saved could mean the difference between life and death. “We may lose a victim to hypothermia or dehydration if we reach him or her one moment too late,” said Wang Ying-ping (王盈蘋), a Bedrock member and the instructor of the GPS and route tracker class. Zeng and the others are bent on avoiding such tragedies. Some Bedrock members were themselves the targets of search parties when they were lost in the mountains, or they personally know someone who went missing in the mountains. They know the urgency of their rescue missions. Wang Ying-ping was once on a hike where she witnessed a fellow hiker die of acute mountain sickness. Later she attended one of Zeng’s workshops on mountaineering safety. She heard Zeng say to the audience, “Your teammate is in trouble. You want to help, but you can’t because you don’t know how. That’s when you wish you had learned more on how to help a person in that situation.” That statement really hit Wang, and she decided to take up mountain rescuing.
His life Bedrock Mountain Rescue is relatively new, just over three years old, but Zeng’s history with mountain rescue goes back a lot longer than that. He grew up at the foot of a mountain, so trekking in the mountains is second nature to him. Mountain rescue is a natural extension of that. He began to be involved sporadically with rescue ten years ago. When he was on hiking trails, he would save some food and water in case he ran into people in need. When he heard about people missing in the mountains, he would team up with his friends to attempt a rescue. When asked why he loves mountain rescue so much, he said, “It’s in my blood. It’s a part of my life.” Of the multitude of mountains in Taiwan (two thirds of the island are ruggedly mountainous), over 260 peaks tower higher than 3,000 meters (9,900 feet) above sea level. Of these, a hundred have been designated as Taiwan’s Top Hundred Peaks. The first time Zeng tested his mettle on those high mountains, he succeeded in scaling 13 of them in one trip.
Somewhere on that trek, a teammate sprained his ankle. Zeng administered an ice pack to the injured hiker and later carried his backpack. Because they had to limp along more slowly, they consumed more of their supplies, so they had to ration food towards the end of the hike. Though they made it safely home in the end, the trip taught Zeng that even a small thing—like a sprained ankle, which could happen to anyone—could badly upset plans. It sparked in him the desire to learn more so he could help more people survive unexpected incidents. He delved into many aspects of mountaineering, like wilderness survival, map reading, roping, GPS and route trackers, and using multi-rotor aerial drones for photography. He has gained a wealth of experience in all these areas. His prior jobs taught him good people skills and prepared him well for interpersonal communication. Those skills have come in handy in his position as the captain of Bedrock. He needs those abilities to organize and coordinate within the team and represent them in dealings with other organizations. It is apparent that Zeng is dedicated to his work, but sometimes dedication alone isn’t enough, especially in setting up a voluntary rescue organization. Along the way, he has had to learn a lot of the ins and outs of the art. A few months after the inauguration of Bedrock, Zeng and his team went on a rescue mission to an area that is said to be the most difficult mountaineering route on the island. After Zeng made a steep 1,500-meter (4,920-foot) descent, he lost contact with the rest of the group. What was worse, two support teams did not show up as promised. He was carrying 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of supplies on his back, and he was pounded by rain and sleet. All alone, he felt helpless and scared. But he could only press ahead. Fortunately for him, at noon the next day he ran into the group that he and his team had come to rescue. He successfully accomplished the mission, but he knew that he had been lucky. He learned from the experience the importance of logistics and that “the devil is in the details” when it comes to mountain rescuing. “Rescuing requires teamwork, and it’s how precisely a good team executes things that makes it stand out from the rest of the pack,” said Zeng. Zeng has worked hard running Bedrock. He keeps his word, gives orders, and gets things done. He gives the impression of being in command of everything. Still, he said humbly, “I’ve never thought that I’m all that capable. I work hard, and I keep working without thinking about it too much. I just hope to be helpful to others and to lead Bedrock to grow steadily.”
Those who have worked with Zeng—his associates, mountaineers who have been saved by Bedrock members, and families of mountaineers whom the organization has helped—all agree that he leads by example. He is conscientious, responsible, and bent on his principles. However, Zeng points out that Bedrock would amount to nothing if it had only one Zeng Jun-bin. He wants to train his people and bring up at least ten more Zeng Jun-bins to ensure that his organization stands strong and solid.
Tough appearance, soft heart Zeng’s cool, tough guy appearance can be deceiving—he is actually quite a talker. Besides mountain rescuing, his other notable skill is talking on the phone. He calls his teammates to assign work and to share what he knows with them, and sometimes he calls people to convince them to join his team. “I don’t want to risk disturbing my wife, so I often stand outside my home and talk till the wee hours of the night before going back inside.” Ye Pei-wen (葉佩雯), Zeng’s wife, humorously described his phone conversations: “In terms of persistency and tact, he’s almost like a con artist. He brainwashes people with messages like, ‘You can be a rescuer, yes, you can.’” Being married to a mountaineering nut was a challenge for Ye at first, but she has learned to live with it. She felt that their home was more of a hotel to him. She was also bothered by how infrequently they talked—sometimes no more than ten sentences to each other in a whole day. But she’s adjusted her mindset to look at the bright side: “I congratulate myself on being quite independent. Now I even occasionally help him buy things that he needs for his missions.” She has also resigned herself to the fact that rescue work comes first for her husband, his team members come second, and his family comes last.
Huang Yu-xuan (黃宇瑄), once rescued by Bedrock, is now part of its support team. She is a single mother, so at times she needs to take her son along when she attends training sessions or works on rescue missions. This does not sit well with some members, so Zeng mediates on her behalf. He has also asked her to go home early so she can care for her son. This lesser known side of Zeng flies in the face of his more usual tough guy image. “He may look strict, but he has a soft heart,” Huang said of Zeng. Zeng has a softer side towards his wife, too. “My wife was unlucky in that we met when I was busy looking for people to form the group,” Zeng said wryly. They have been married for four years, and he confesses that their marriage remains precarious. During the early days, he often spent countless hours borrowing and then washing equipment for his rescue missions. Once he was so tied up with things that he did not sleep for nine straight days. He also tended to fall out of contact with his wife while on a mission. But that is in the past. Now he has learned to appreciate his wife more, and he has felt the need to let her know his whereabouts by using the check-in function in Facebook. “I’m nothing; she’s the really great one,” Zeng praised his wife.
Bedrock Mountain Rescue has saved many people since its founding. Many of those beneficiaries have donated goods to the group as a token of their gratitude, or have joined Bedrock to help advance its mission. Huang comments that, based on her observations while helping in rescue missions, Bedrock is the group that has been most able to go deep into the mountains to search for and save lost hikers. Zeng pinpoints the requirements for this kind of work: “You must have a passion for it. As soon as you learn that somebody has gone missing, you have to set out immediately to save his life. You have to give up many things to do this type of work.” What has Zeng himself given up in the pursuit of mountain rescues? “I want to have children, but I can’t now.” Zeng’s zeal apparently is still alive and well. Besides busying himself with rescuing, he is actively getting the word out on mountaineering safety training. He knows that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As can be imagined, his path has not been an easy one. What has made him thrive? According to his wife, it is his personality—he is the kind who is undaunted by setbacks. Roadblocks have never made him lose heart or give up. He gets going when the going gets tougher. Mountaineers are fortunate to have Zeng and rescue groups like Bedrock available. After all, Taiwan is 70 percent mountains. When you get lost on a hike, call for help and people like Zeng will jump into action.
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