Index rescue?

[slothrop]

Early this afternoon a helicopter flew close by the Index town walls, landed near town, and later picked up what looked like a paramedic and a litter on its winch.

 

I hope this wasn't another climbing accident... anyone know what happened?

[slothrop]

It looks like someone took a fall and was injured.

 

http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/04/4/4/18434384.cfm

[backcountrydog]

he was on the 2nd pitch of rattletale about 20-30ft above the ledge and fell, hit the ledge and bounced off. no gear ripped as the only piece in the dihedral was towards the bottom. he was doing it in 1 pitch form the ground. injuries werent TOO bad, good bump on his face, cut up and a little bloody, but coherent.he didnt appear to have any spinal injuries. he was carried via litter to the talus just east of rattletale and airlifted from there. he was wearing a helmet.

[Adventurewagen]

He was actually on the first pitch, just above the first ledge. He placed a #2BD from standing on the ledge but didn't place anything else on the remainder of the pitch. He ended up falling from the top of the crack just before topping out. We figure he fell about 20+ feet to the ledge where he hit his face pretty bad, but got really lucky landing on the sloping edge in some fairly soft dirt. He then bounced off the ledge and went at least another 30ft before his piece caught him. The piece looked fine when we pulled it from the crack. He is ok, but broke his cheek bone and nose. He got extremely lucky for being so stupid and running it out without placing any additional gear in the very protectable crack. He had no lack of gear to place, just lack of common sense that day.

[backcountrydog]

i think that most (?) start the 2nd pitch off the ledge, but like i said, 'he was doing it in 1 pitch from the ground'. anyway, he was released after 1 night in the hospital. good thing he was wearing a helmet, or things would almost for sure been a lot worse. good luck on the recovery bro.