13 May East York’s own Spiderman part of rescue missions

East York Mirror Newspaper

To many he is known as Toronto’s own Spiderman-fearlessly scaling the city’s high rises to clean windows, do restoration work and assess weather damage to buildings.

But for East York resident Ivan Kristoff, an accomplished mountain climber/instructor, paraglider pilot and search and rescue coordinator, its his work with the Canadian Rescue Emergency Service Team “CREST” (later rebranded as the Highrise Emergency Aerial Response Team “HEART”)  that means most to him.

CREST founder Kristoff explains that the main objective of the group is to provide emergency response and post-accident investigation (by providing evidence with digital cameras and communication systems with laptops on-site) to accidents in inaccessible places; like !he outside of a high-rise building, bridges, towers or during a natural disaster.

CREST members are volunteers who train for and practice a wide variety of skills in the wilderness, caving and water rescue operations.

These skills include rock and wall climbing, rappelling and rope access work, use of technical rope rescue systems in extreme situations, first aid and much more,” says Kristoff, a certified mechanical engineer technician.

If you’re interested in becoming a part of CREST contact Kristoff at www.ivankristoff.com