Remember to keep the relative safety our sport in perspective. In Australia, only about 0.5% of snowsports participants need medical attention of any sort and as far as I know we have quite a high injury rate compared to other countries (hard snow, ice, crowded runs, inexperience, gung-ho attitude)
I can't speak from experience for crack rescue but have other mountain and crevasse rescue experience. In almost all rescues I have taken part, where it isn't safe to approach the casualty, a rope is involved. These are organised rescues, however similar principles apply on BC trips. Re: short