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Accident on Mt. Rainier


chris_w

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I just saw a news flash on King 5 about a rescue on Mt. Rainier. Somebody got hit in the head by a rock on the Carbon Glacier. A helicopter was dropping off either the 2nd or 3rd rescue team when it went down. Everyone is suppose to be OK. The team that went down is still able to climb up to the injured climber to help.

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The news is going to eat this one up. I wish they would just stick to talking about cats stuck in trees, etc. Those are one of the few things that they are getting good at. When it comes to other critters, though, I think they have some room for improvement. [big Grin]

 

On a serious note. I'm glad everyone is ok...jason...

 

[ 06-25-2002, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: AllYouCanEat ]

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The 6:00 news just showed footage of the downed 'copter. It's at about 8800' & "not in danger of rolling". The fuselage looked fairly intact. No mention on what side of the mountain/location/route. There was also footage of a 3-person rope team decending...

looked like it was taken from another helicopter. Apparently, everyone was able to walk away...both climbers & rescuers. Very few details were given. No real media frenzy....yet.

 

Sharon

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I think that there was a thread on rec.climbing entitled "Braile Book Accident" or something like that with a few links to news stories about the accident.

 

Sounds like the climber had some serious fractures but was otherwise in stable condition when he was hoisted off the ground, but the chopper apparently had some mechanical problems (?)shorty after lift-off which resulted in the fallen climber and a rescuer being dragged into a tree at high speeds. The climber died as a result of the injuries he sustained in his collision with the tree and his rescuer sustained multiple injuries.

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This is just 'frigging great.' In a time where the government is ever encroaching on our individual liberties, we're going to further their ammunition by going to the mountains and getting hurt and dying up there, requiring helicopter e-vacks while they crash on nation-wide television, ad. nauseum, all the while the the whole world watches? Generation-X people should give up the sport of climbing and perhaps take up scuba-diving, sky-diving, or something other than destroying a sport that they never should have been privy to... to begin with. Dennis

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They need to get the Libery Ridge out of "50 Classic Climbs". Too many yahoos totally underestimate that climb.

 

Sounds like he just got hit in the head by falling rock, how does this make him a "yahoo"? It's a risk we try to minimize but we all take it.

 

Rich

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Our party decided to bail on the Kautz this weekend after a large block of ice nearly killed a RMI group which was next to us on the chute. I think the recent warm weather is making conditions deceptively worse then they appear. Please everyone be careful, dont ever be afraid to turn back and live to climb another day.

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quote:

They need to get the Libery Ridge out of "50 Classic Climbs". Too many yahoos totally underestimate that climb.

because they are from Pennsylvania - that makes them yahoos???? c'mon david, because you are from WA [Eek!] doesn't make you any more qualified or experienced than the next guy.

 

the kid was hit in the head with a rock - there was nothing he could have done. next time bite your tongue until you have some facts to back your stupid comments [Mad] . you too dennis [Wazzup] .

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ADR-901, I argree whole-heartedly, but it ain't gonna happen because you're dealing with an entire generation of people who see climbing as nothing more than a means with which to further their resumes. These people do not have any real appreciation, or respect, for the mountains. They are just going to continue going up there and dying, in droves, and make us all look like ass-holes. Dennis ---- "Alive people are always smarter than dead people."

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quote:

Originally posted by Dennis Harmon:

ADR-901, I argree whole-heartedly, but it ain't gonna happen because you're dealing with an entire generation of people who see climbing as nothing more than a means with which to further their resumes. These people do not have any real appreciation, or respect, for the mountains. They are just going to continue going up there and dying, in droves, and make us all look like ass-holes. Dennis ---- "Alive people are always smarter than dead people."

Why do you refuse to take resposibility for these bad bad young people Dennis? [Razz][Razz][Razz]

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Apine K, I never knew them to be "bad," as in your words, but mainly selfish and un-trained and too damned many of them. The kid they were hoisting off Mt. Hood was supposedly a 'critical patient,' but it seems he didn't have a problem appearing on the "Today's Show," along with his wife two days later and I noticed that they never addressed the extent of his injuries. He was the injured party when the helicopter crashed. Do you suppose that there could possibly be too darned many cell-phones, climbers, and helicopter crews waiting to rescue them? Just a question. Dennis

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quote:

Originally posted by David Parker:

They need to get the Libery Ridge out of "50 Classic Climbs". Too many yahoos totally underestimate that climb.
[big Grin]

Well-accomplished climber buddy of mine--definitely not a yahoo--was on Lib Ridge about 10 years ago, and took an egg-sized rock to his Petzl Ecrin (first-generation) helmet. He is normally very attentive and aware. The rock was totally unheard, and unseen, until it nailed him. Sent him right to his knees, and he was glad he didn't fall (he wouldn't have gone anywhere, he was roped to competent partners). The rock broke through the plastic, and lodged right into the top of the helmet, having not quite gone halfway. Made for a great souvenir, along with the retired helmet. He was glad it stopped short of his skull. He might have been his own patient in the Brain Injury Rehab Institute he ran at the time in Spokane.

 

--pindude

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