On Monday, I got a call from a television producer friend who just began pre-production for a SAR documentary. So much for saving the best for last, that’s actually my favorite announcement, and it’ll be fun to contribute and see the finished product, possibly sometime this fall.

On Tuesday, we had a short rescue mission. It actually came Wednesday morning at 1:00 a.m. A motorcycler somewhere above Cedar Hills called in with possible head injuries. Due to a kink in the notification system, we got paged 20 minutes later than we should have been, and we had scarcely begun sending out search teams to comb the foothills when a team member watched the rider roll slowly out of a canyon on his own. I would have arrived home by 2:00 had a few of us not hung around talking for another hour.

On Wednesday night, I gave the keynote address for the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce Great Kids Awards ceremony, where a pair of 7th graders from every junior high in the valley was recognized for being generally awesome people. They received some awesome prizes, and you can watch my presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH5xf1RLiCg

Thursday night was our monthly team training and business meeting. It went quickly and it was nice to see everyone. I replaced my 200′ rope and prussiks since my old ones were showing some wear.

Lindsey and Rob had their baby with them, who has better attendance than some of our team members, so when I got home, I photoshopped this picture of her, making her an official member of BSAR (baby search and rescue).

On Friday, I finished working out the details between the Mountain Rescue Association Education Committee’s Webinar Training Subcommittee (which I founded and chair) and PMI (awesome climbing rope manufacturer) for monthly training that we’ll create for members of the MRA. The rest of you can watch them on our websites afterward.

Saturday brought our monthly team training, which was swiftwater rescue this month, despite low river flow levels so far this year. I covered the foot entrapment station where groups practiced retrieving people from the river by capturing them with throw bags (and ropes) from the river banks. You can see some footage of our training on this news story: http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_11048.shtml

And on Sunday, not to be outdone by the other days of the week, NPR’s All Things Considered played an interview they recorded with me on Thursday afternoon.  Listen to it here: http://www.npr.org/2014/05/04/309075885/calling-off-the-search-the-emotional-toll-of-search-and-rescue

Now let’s see if this week can somehow top last!!!!

In this photo (click to zoom in), I’m the top left bright green dot. A girl fell 30′ and tumbled another 60′, and luckily stopped on a steep scree slope just down and right from me. You might call that a miracle.

She had serious injuries (but is expected to be okay) and no one knew exactly where she was. Her boyfriend, who had earlier hiked down the trail, got worried and borrowed a cell phone to call 911. The people who lent him the phone hiked up and, when the wind was blowing toward them, heard her screams. She had probably been there for an hour or two before they found her and tried to keep her warm while waiting for SAR and North Fork Fire to arrive. She was found high on the mountainside and far from any trails. Another miracle.

We set up 6 lowering stations to bring her down, including one I built with five pitons set in tiny cracks in the cliff just above her with water flowing over them. The operation went smoothly (of course), and a waiting Life Flight helicopter flew her away.

Maybe you’re thinking that none of these events are really miracles. It was just people doing small things. Like lending a cell phone. The bystanders who found the girl were hiking in the area anyway. SAR and NFF have rescued dozens of people along that stretch of mountain, and we consider it simple and easy. But that’s how most miracles come about, with just people, usually doing just small things.

If you were thinking these are no miracles, try looking at it from another angle, like the girl’s, who lay in pain for hours and who now recovers safely in a warm, soft hospital bed rather than dying on cold, hard rocks.

Now look around. Who do you see who needs a miracle? What small thing can you contribute? What are you waiting for?

One such stuff is the revision of my book An American in China: Starting Over. A travel guide to the adventurous life. I wrote it years ago about my spontaneous trip to Taiwan and the unexpected “vacation” in Mainland China that followed. Back then, I was sorting out many deep feelings stirred by that tumultuous experience, and the process of writing helped figure it out.

I had done some revision on the book and it sat for several years until I decided to hurry up and finish it and get the new edition out. So I did. I spent half the day today designing the new cover. It’s now on Amazon Kindle and the book will be available in a day or two.

If anybody wants one of the original version (I have about a dozen left), you can have one for five bucks. Just let me know.

I also added 75 Search and Rescue Stories: an insider’s view of survival, death, and volunteer heroes who tip the balance when things fall apart on Kindle. I sell the vast majority of books on Kindle these days.

I hope to finish up two more books this year. One is 80% finished and the other is about 30%.

Part of my plan is this: if I can double my book sales, then I’ll sell everything and move to Guatemala, Thailand or Nepal. Might as well. I hope to accomplish this by next summer – if not sooner, but it’ll take that long to get everything in order. So unless some other opportunity knocks, it’s back out into the world for me. I probably should have gone years ago. Better late than never!

From a book review by author Jules Harrell in the Mountain Rescue Association quarterly publication Meridian:

From Amazon.com:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and fascinating, July 30, 2011 by Baird

This book is well worth twice the price charged, especially given that part of the proceeds are donated to SAR. Divided into quick, engrossing chapters that each tell the story of a SAR operation, it’s immensely readable. Some stories will make you laugh, some will leave you in awe. Shaun Roundy has a fast-paced, light-hearted writing style that never bogs down. Everyone in Utah County should read this before heading to the mountains or the lake; maybe then we’d have fewer people getting ledged out on a cliff in a t-shirt with no gear every month.

I have never required the assistance of SAR, but my brother did, and some these stories seriously brought tears of gratitude to my eyes. Anyone considering volunteering for SAR or something similar (working at a mountain resort, national park, or similar) should definitely read this first to get a feel for what they might be facing and to understand the mindset required.

If you stumbled across this book and are wondering whether to buy it: I promise you will not regret the purchase. It’s a book I’ll proudly display on my shelf for years to come. The selfless sacrifice SAR volunteers undertake is nothing short of inspiring, and this book is an easy and fun way to learn more about SAR and support it at the same time.
5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME book, one of a kind!, July 18, 2011 by P. Burns

Once I started reading this book, it seemed like an injustice to put it down!
Waiting inside were the tales of desperate victims, anxious heroes and the land they challenged which threatened to steal their lives! The heartfelt stories of love, loss, hope and failure kept me enthralled as I experienced the thrill of success, the tearful suffering of the hopeless and the exhilaration of the search.
This is a heart pounding, tear jerking, hooraah eliciting collection of stories of amazing volunteers whose quest is simply to help those in need.

Others tell me that they thoroughly enjoy it and fellow rescuers say they appreciate the reminder of rescue memories and that they identify with the ideas I express. I’d love to hear what you think! Order yours now from 75 Search and Rescue Stories