Monday, May 12, 2008
During the early part of last week, climbing rangers conducted two upper mountain SARs. On the morning of Sunday, May 4th, three climbers left Camp Muir, following a gentle downhill traverse to reach the base of the Wilson Headwall, About ten minutes out from the camp, they stopped to scout and evaluate the need for roping up prior to entering a known crevasse area. While stopped, one of the climbers fell through the snow into a crevasse to a depth of approximately 120 feet. The climbers were able to put out a distress radio call via the park frequency. Climbing ranger Arlington Ashby responded within 15 minutes of the call from Camp Muir and assessed the situation. Climbing rangers Thomas Payne and Joe Franklin soon arrived from Camp Muir to assist in the rescue, with Payne assuming the role as team lead. The stranded climber was wedged headfirst deep in the crevasse, giving responders only two feet of vertical space in which to maneuver. After removing his pack by cutting the straps, they were able to haul him out of the crevasse. “The position of the climber, stranded headfirst at a very narrow point in the crevasse, combined with his hypothermic condition, made time a critical issue and a quick crevasse rescue imperative,” said incident commander David Gottlieb. Due to these factors, the climber was removed from the crevasse, placed on a backboard, then taken to Camp Muir. A Bell Jet Ranger helicopter was placed on standby to fly him out once the weather cleared. During this time, rangers worked with the Northwest Helicopters pilot to reconfigure the Jet Ranger to carry a litter. Although the climber fell 120 feet, he suffered only superficial wounds. That same day, two climbers left Paradise at 9:00 p.m. with the intention of doing a single push summit climb and skiing back down the mountain via Fuhrers Thumb. On Monday afternoon, the park received a 911 call from one of the climbers, reporting that he’d become separated from his partner and lost in a whiteout somewhere on the summit. That evening, his partner skied down to Paradise. On Tuesday morning, the park brought in a Hughes 500 helicopter operated by Whirlwind Helicopters and organized a two-person observation team. A break in the weather permitted the observation flight around mid-day, during which the observers located the climber on the summit. The helicopter was found to be too heavy to take on another passenger at 14,000+ feet, so the pilot returned to the Kautz Helibase to drop off one of the rangers. During the observation flight, the pilot exceeded the aircrafts’ capabilities, causing it to overheat. The climber eventually tired of waiting for the helicopter to return and skied down to Paradise. There were no injuries or accidents due to the overheating of the aircraft. Said Gottlieb, who was also IC for the second incident: “It is our responsibility to respond to requests for assistance proactively; a delayed response costs lives here.” He went on to say that he was pleased with the outcome of both SARs, as there were no employee injuries, the damaged helicopter ascended safely before anyone was hurt or anything bad happened, and neither of the climbers was seriously injured.
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