Squad member Matt Rukavina (left) and Todd Sosey from Mohave Search and Rescue in Arizona wait to set bottom anchors for the twin trackline. To the left is a sturdy sheet of solid ice left over from last winter. Photo by Dani Nagler.

SOUDAN — Twenty-two members of the St. Louis County Rescue Squad participated in a day of rope rescue training at the Soudan Mine. The 91-member, all-volunteer unit specializes in wilderness search and rescue (SAR), water rescue and recovery, and first aid and public safety. The July 23 exercise is an annual event, offering newer members the opportunity to practice and gain experience building and operating complex rope systems in a stunningly beautiful setting. Soudan Mine State Park staff benefit by having trained rescuers familiar with the layout of the park and the characteristics of the pits should a real emergency occur.

Following a safety briefing, risk assessment, and a review of “rules of engagement” for putting people cliffside, preparations begin by identifying suitable anchors around the West Tower Pit for conversion to points of attachment (POAs). Large boulders and bigger trees are tagged “bombproof,” while marginal anchors like smaller trees, rocks and cracks are back-tied to other anchors to make them “substantial.”

Dani Nagler prepares to go cliffside in this view from the observation deck. Photo by Arika Preas.

Meanwhile, another team erects the Arizona Vortex, an artificial high-directional (AHD) that can be deployed in several configurations. Today’s choice is the Sideways A-Frame or “SA” configuration, an extremely strong and easy-to-build design that is highly tolerant of changing force vectors. AHDs also ease transition on loads going over the edge. Guy lines for the Vortex are tensioned and secured, and the team is ready to put some “knees in the breeze.”

The cliffside team of four is led by Ethan Buehl, a registered nurse in his “real” job and “certified knot nerd” in the rescue realm. The team’s job is to set distant end anchors for a trackline that will carry others to the bottom without exposing them to possible rockfall off the sides of the mine. This year offers a new challenge: late winter snows and heavy spring rains have left considerable icy cold, iron-tinged water in the bottom of the pit—35 feet deep in one spot. Each member carries a Mustang immersion suit strapped to their rig to be donned for the swim across to the opposite end of the pit. Cliffside members typically find snow and ice from the previous winter in the bottom—even in October— but this year’s July event reveals a LOT of snow and ice. Caves, drifts and adits explored in previous years that never see the direct light of the sun are choked full of milky ice.

With bottom anchors secured, work turns to constructing a two-tensioned rope system (TTRS) riding twin tracklines. This is a fairly recent concept in rope rescue that takes the conventional un-tensioned belay system and puts it to work at equal tension with the main line. Loads are shared, reducing forces on all elements and increasing overall safety. Leading topside operations is Dan “72- Dan” Hamilton, an engineer at Minorca and seasoned rope rescue technician. Retired paramedic and tactical medical instructor John “Koopster” Koop fills the Edge Boss role, performing a final inspection of all people going cliffside as well as managing raising and lowering evolutions.

First over are Patty Stone, a retired dentist from Virginia, and Kelsey Dooley, a non-profit executive from Two Harbors. Each utilizes an Arizona Technical Edge Kit (Aztek) as their main POA, with an adjustable “cowtail” as their belay. Both mains and belays attach to a Kootenay carriage, its big central pulley configured to smoothly ride the tracklines. Twin neon green control lines lower the pair smoothly to the bottom. A 3:1 mechanical advantage system run through a Harken capstan winch will haul them back up to the top. Three hundred feet below, Ethan and fellow squad member Matt Rukavina dart about like otters, toasty warm in their Mustang suits as they enjoy a dip in what may rank among the most unique swimming holes on the planet.

Immediately behind the topside work area to the west lies the Breitung Pit, where iron mining first began in Minnesota. Discovered by George Stuntz in 1865 and confirmed marketable by Albert Chester ten years later, Soudan ore is hard rock hematite (Fe2O3), averaging over 67 percent iron and remarkably low in silica and phosphorous. The West Tower Pit opened in 1883 and by 1902 had shifted exclusively to underground operations. To stand in the bottom is to journey back to a time when hardy Iron Rangers worked by candlelight with pick and shovel to pull iron-rich ore from the ground. Later, steam drills made work easier, and nearly a dozen such relics can be found in stopes and drifts throughout the pit. It’s a historian’s and geologist’s dream.

Shards of glittering silver ore can still be found, calved out of the cliffs above. In the southwest corner of West Tower, thick moss grows a hairy green coat over an ancient rope ladder. Sound echoes, yet with a closeness not found anywhere else—it’s like standing in an enormous bedroom closet. The air smells earthy and humid, but healthy as in a greenhouse. From the surface, the bottom of West Tower looks flat. It’s actually a deeply sloped V-shape, the edges slowly raised by 140 years of falling rocks forced out by Nature’s frost. One first makes contact 160 feet down in a standard rappel. True “bottom” is 330 and rarely visited due to ice and standing water.

Even with the Harken winch, hauling system work is physically demanding, and to keep the internal furnace burning teams rotate out for a tasty lunch prepared by veteran members Jan Makowski and Arika “Top Shelf” Preas. Dehydration is always an issue, so everybody pours in the fluids. Reports of just how good the food is are jokingly sent down by radio to the teams on the bottom. A one-liner from 72-Dan cracks up the group, sending tears of laughter streaming on even the old salts. The atmosphere is light, yet businesslike. These people are closer than brothers and sisters, having seen and managed imagery and sensory input on countless calls that no human should have to experience. They teach and mentor without being pedantic, eager to see the newer folks grow and season.

Weather is coming in, there’s a missing person search brewing down South, and the teams are beat. Personnel are hauled up from below, the last pair releasing the tracklines, swimming the pond, and riding up vertical. Gear is piled and sorted…a dab of colored nail polish on hardware identifies which bag it goes into. A last 360-check for litter and lost items, and it’s time to head for home.

Rick Slatten is captain of the St. Louis County Rescue Squad. His father helped start the unit back in 1958, and Rick’s earliest memories are “watching Dad get dressed for a search.” Rick has over 42 years in the search and rescue business, and as he says, “I have the search gene in my DNA.” He and his wife and fellow squad member Debbie live in rural Proctor, frequently coming North on Rescue Squad calls.

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