Alison Arnold, 53, of Laramie, Wyoming, injured both ankles and received a minor head wound after taking a 15-foot tumbling fall about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 28th. The accident occurred when Arnold and two climbing partners were descending the CMC route on Mount Moran. As they approached the notch near Drizzlepuss, Arnold — who was temporarily unroped and not wearing a helmet at the time — slipped and took a tumble. She landed on her backpack and a coil of rope, which likely protected her from further injury. Arnold’s climbing partners were able to get her roped up again, and she climbed up to the Drizzlepuss notch. The trio then descended another 100 feet before deciding to bivouac for the night. Another climbing party ascending the CMC route early Sunday morning came upon Arnold and her companions. The climbing party had a cell phone with them and made a call for assistance. Teton Interagency Dispatch Center received the call for help on Sunday morning. An interagency contract helicopter conducting an overflight for possible new fires in the area was diverted to assist with an aerial evacuation of the injured climber. Two rangers were flown from Lupine Meadows to Arnold’s location on Mount Moran and inserted by short-haul. After they provided medical care, they placed Arnold in an evacuation suit. She was then flown in tandem with an attending ranger to the Lupine Meadows rescue facility on the valley floor, transferred to a park ambulance, and taken to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson, where she was treated and released. This marks the tenth major search and rescue operation in Grand Teton National Park this year.
