On Friday (July 3), a friend and I were climbing the north face of the north peak of mount index. In the brush gullies just below the large bowl (~6 pitches up), he fell while leading a traverse pitch, gashing his leg below the knee on a protruding rock. The gash was roughly 4 inches long and down to the bone. Both of us are wilderness first responders and have rescue training. Since he was unable to use his leg, and we were unable to completely stop the bleeding, we initiated a rescue via cell phone and were evacuated by helicopter. He is fine, but recovery will be several months.
Although minor in comparison to our safety, the other casualty of this trip was my pack which was accidentally dropped as it was being hoisted into the helicopter. I don't know if it fell to the bottom of the route or is hung up on brush somewhere on the face. It is a black and blue Cold Cold World pack and contains my rack, camera, and several jackets.
While finding it seems unlikely, I can offer $100 to anyone who finds it and can return it to me or to the base of the route for me to pick up.
cheers,
Ryan Leary
leary2001@hotmail.com