Mt. Adams South Side rescue

[sobo]

I don't usually do stuff like this, but I figgerd that since there were so many people up there this weekend, someone would ask sooner or later, and I wanted to put out the info before a bunch of spray got started.

 

If you don’t already know about it, don’t worry – it was no big deal. If you do and were interested in some of the details, particulars follow:

 

Just so you know, all references to the injured party are intentionally left ambiguous by request of the injured party.

 

Saturday, July 10, 2004:

Climber sustained lower leg injury while glissading from False Summit to Lunch Counter (LC). Subject was an experienced backpacker who wanted to "up the fun level" to “mountaineering”. This was their first time on a glaciated peak. Subject was wearing crampons during the glissade, which is being viewed as the cause of the accident that led to the injury. A complete assessment of the injury (fracture vs severe sprain) was not possible without x-ray, but injury was clearly not a compound fracture, and hence not life-threatening. Time of the accident was unclear, but was apparently late morning or around noon.

 

Two USFS climbing rangers were already on scene at LC as part of their employment responsibilities, and climbed up the glissade path to assist subject, and with help of other independent parties, transported the subject down the glissade path to tents at LC, using an improvised rope litter and carry. One of the rangers is EMT-trained, and spent the night with the subject. A cell phone was used to alert the Mt. Adams Ranger Station.

 

CWMR received the call for assistance at approx. 1400 hrs Saturday. The main body of CWMR was on the Nisqually Glacier at Mt. Rainier for their quarterly training exercise. This necessitated the need for calls for additional assistance from TMR, PMR, and the Crag Rats of Mt. Hood as back-up. Upon arrival of the first two CWMR members, we found 2 or 3 Wind River SAR members at the Ranger Station. We told them that the injury was not life-threatening and asked that they stand-by and possibly return in the morning as there was not enough support to start up the mountain, and the patient was stable, comfortable, and indoors (tented) and with medical care. Wind River SAR departed, but was not needed again later and did not return.

 

Helicopter evac, while possible early in the course of the incident, was not approved by the USFS District Ranger, as the nature of the injury was not viewed as life-threatening and they didn’t want a helo inside the wilderness area. Weather deteriorated later in the afternoon, effectively ruling out all helo ops by 1700 hrs Saturday and now forcing a labor-intensive extrication. Other Mountain Rescue teams were contacted as several individuals would now be needed to extricate the subject from the mountain.

 

Sunday, July 12, 2004:

By shortly after midnight, state-wide and regional call-outs had produced 13 members of CWMR, most of whom had driven all night from Paradise to Trout Lake via Randle and USFS 23 after completing a day’s training; 7 members of TMR, who had also been training on the Puyallup River and others coming off a climb of Mt. Forbidden; 5 members of PMR; 2 Hood River Crag Rats; and about a dozen Yakima County SAR and 5 Klickitat County SAR “ground pounders” who would later prove quite valuable.

 

Wake-up call at 0200 hrs, and a Hasty Team dispatched to LC at approx 0300 hrs with CWMR unit WEMT, PMR’s EMT, one or two TMR members (??) and 2 other CWMR in support. Litter Team dispatched at approx 0330 hours, and Rigging Teams dispatched at approx 0400 hrs. Crag Rats held in reserve.

 

The first teams reached the subject at approx 0600, and the subject was packaged for the lower, which was initiated by 0800. Subject reached bottom of Crescent Glacier by approx 1230, whereupon Yakima County and Klickitat County SAR "ground pounders" took over litter evac using litter wheel attachment. Subject reached trailhead a little after 1500 hrs, whereupon they departed for a Tacoma-area hospital in their POV for x-rays and treatment.

 

Mission shutdown at approx 1600 hrs. Total mission run time approx 26 hours. Approx 42 MR/SAR individuals, plus the initial independent party help and the two FS Rangers on scene. Really quite a commendable turn-out for such an injury. Almost (but not quite) overkill. It takes a lot of people for a litter-carry and trail evac.

 

If you were on the South Side this past weekend and wondered WTF was going on there, I hope that this answers most of your questions. If I left anything unclear, ask here or PM. Kudos to all those who turned out and helped.

[jon]

George W Bush's first climbing accident!!!!!

[sobo]

George W Bush's first climbing accident!!!!!

 

Well, I can tell you that it wasn't George.

[philfort]

On the way up Sunday, we met two climbing rangerettes coming down who helped out with the lowering from the false summit the previous day. They were very cute.

[sobo]

On the way up Sunday, we met two climbing rangerettes coming down who helped out with the lowering from the false summit the previous day. They were very cute.

 

Yes, they are, aren't they? That was Beth (lighter-haired one) and Eileen (the taller one). A class act.

[iain]

first contact with subject was at 0600 at LC but was not at trailhead until after 1500? did you go via the adams glacier?

[sobo]

Iain,

Check your PMs. My response to that question is not fit to print here, as it may offend others who were present.

[klenke]

Ah, glissading with crampons on. Dumb idea. Even doing it for a very short low-angle bit (60 feet) wrenched my knee enough for it to hurt for an hour or so afterward. At high speeds it is assinine.

[Gaper_Jeffy]

Iain,

Check your PMs. My response to that question is not fit to print here, as it may offend others who were present.

 

Oh come on, you can't tease us with a response like that then provide no details.

[Bandit]

The guy probably had his crampons duct taped on his boots and didn't want to spend the extra five minutes to take them off. Jesus H. , Martha, we've got ourselves some shoe shiners up der on dem der Mt. Adams. I just wonder if he had a black plastic garbage bag to get extra speed on the descent? They should make that an Olympic event. Black plastic garbage bag glissading, SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cj001f]

first contact with subject was at 0600 at LC but was not at trailhead until after 1500? did you go via the adams glacier?

Do MR people ever use ski patrol toboggans to evacuate people? They'd work quite well on the South Side...

[philfort]

When we passed by them at about 8000ft, they were moving her pretty quickly down the snow. They had 6 or so people holding onto the litter with straps, and then another group hand-belaying the litter with a super long rope from above.

 

Down below where the snow started to get patchy, they had a crew waiting with the "big wheel" to stick under the litter. Would have been interesting to see how that thing handled the snow... maybe that's what sobo was alluding to :-) 'cause once the "big wheel" was on the smooth dry trail, I imagine it would have gone really quickly back to the trailhead...

 

Seems like if the rescuers had had skis (and ski patrol training), they could have moved much more quickly down the snow.

 

Nonetheless, good job and kudos to those getting her out

[iain]

first contact with subject was at 0600 at LC but was not at trailhead until after 1500? did you go via the adams glacier?

Do MR people ever use ski patrol toboggans to evacuate people? They'd work quite well on the South Side...

 

It depends who is on the team and what the snow is like. If we ski a litter down the south side (of hood, that is) it is usually done with 4 people with tag lines to act as some form of "belay" on a titanium take-apart litter. A hand railed cascade toboggan would be nice, but the steel handle rails and all the extra chain brake stuff just weigh a ton. You also wind up doing a lot of steep traversing at times, and having the 4 people helps then. I have skied an akia into Three Fingered Jack to ski out plane debris and tools though. It would be nice if they made a lightweight version of the handles.

 

There would be hell to pay if you spilled a patient skiing down a toboggan though. I can't even imagine. And it's not like you're evacuating someone from the groom on the Palmer, though sometimes the snow is that good as you well know. Whatever gets them out of there w/o hurting them further.

[cj001f]

It depends who is on the team and what the snow is like. If we ski a litter down the south side (of hood, that is) it is usually done with 4 people with tag lines to act as some form of "belay" on a titanium take-apart litter. A hand railed cascade toboggan would be nice, but the steel handle rails and all the extra chain brake stuff just weigh a ton. You also wind up doing a lot of steep traversing at times, and having the 4 people helps then. I have skied an akia into Three Fingered Jack to ski out plane debris and tools though. It would be nice if they made a lightweight version of the handles.

 

There would be hell to pay if you spilled a patient skiing down a toboggan though. I can't even imagine. And it's not like you're evacuating someone from the groom on the Palmer, though sometimes the snow is that good as you well know. Whatever gets them out of there w/o hurting them further.

That's kind of what I guessed. Dumping someone would be very poor form. An extra week or so of training to ensure this doesn't happen probably isn't the best use of resources either.

 

You can get fit a Cascade 200 litter w/AL handles, fins, etc. but that's probably 3x the weight of the TI jobbies. A 2 handled litter would be just about perfect.

[iain]

yeah there are times where it would be great in the right hands. That helicopter crash from a few years ago comes to mind, where you had a ton of patients that could survive a sled ride. Timberline patrol was able to ski one guy down from crater rock during that one. Now if we just had 5 more of those up there and 10 skiers on scene...

[cj001f]

Now if we just had 5 more of those up there and 10 skiers on scene...

If you've got 42 MR people on scene I hope some of them can ski......

[Bandit]

Why ski when you can slide on black plastic garbage bags?

[JoeMack]

I'm glad to hear that she made it down safely. It sounds like it required quite a crew to get her off the hill.

 

I had been climbing above Lunch Counter at about 11:00 and looked over to see a guy and a gal that were just sitting there on the side of the glissade chute. I asked them "howsit goin"? "Not so good" was the reply. I crossed over to them. She had twisted her ankle and I think was a little embarrassesd because she had known that glissading with crampons was a no-no, but she probably was a little afraid of going too fast in the chute. I don't think she had broken the ankle (she likely would have been in more severe pain), but she couldn't straighten it, either. Her boyfriend had splinted her ankle with their two ice axes, but I saw that the spike ends were facing up, with the inside one in her crotch. That didn't look too safe, so I recommended turning the axes with the spikes in the other direction. Some other folks calme along with ropes and straps and were able to put together a shoulder and butt harness with the straps and some caribiners. The plan was to lower her down the glissade track (seated on her pack, facing uphill) with her boyfriend below her and a climber or two on the rope above belaying.

 

I was starting to get pretty chilly and seeing that she was in relatively competent hands, I decided to continue climbing. Skiing from the summit was crappy, but the SW chutes were pretty nice. I was alone in there for the entire descent. Quite a change from the crowds on the climb up.

[sobo]

Iain,

Check your PMs. My response to that question is not fit to print here, as it may offend others who were present.

 

Oh come on, you can't tease us with a response like that then provide no details.

 

It would be unprofessional of me to post my thoughts publicly. Please understand.

[sobo]

Now if we just had 5 more of those up there and 10 skiers on scene...

If you've got 42 MR people on scene I hope some of them can ski......

 

We had ~2 dozen MR people on the snow. We had ~1.5 dozen SAR ground pounders to take over the litter once off the snow.

 

We (MR) all can ski, but skiing with a litter usually works better on groomed slopes than on suncupped firn/ice, with a pack on, and handling a Cascade toboggan with a patient in it.

[cj001f]

We (MR) all can ski, but skiing with a litter usually works better on groomed slopes than on suncupped firn/ice, with a pack on, and handling a Cascade toboggan with a patient in it.

 

I didn't mean to criticize, or get people defensive - was just curious.

 

PUHA!

[iain]

gotta love the bachy action

[sobo]

I didn't mean to criticize, or get people defensive - was just curious.

 

PUHA!

 

Sorry, Carl. The lead levels in my drinking water must be up again.

 

Let's just say that there were more "personalities" at work on Adams on Sunday then there were people.

[climberchica]

My husband and I were climbing up on Sunday and stopped just below the Lunch Counter for a break. At that point, I decided I was too tired to continue (I had raced in a triathlon the day before) and encouraged him to go ahead. I then sat down for the long wait. I saw at least 3 hours of the rescue and I would agree that there were more personalities on the mountain than people. However, it made for a good show.

 

Despite that, the rescue looked very safe and professional. The victim WAS glissading with crampons on, and seemed very alert and fairly comfortable, given the situation.

 

I hope I never break a leg in a wilderness area. Over 24 hours to get me down? That's a long freakin' time. I just hope I have lots of Percocet!

Edited July 13, 2004 by climberchica

[sobo]

My husband and I were climbing up on Sunday and stopped just below the Lunch Counter for a break. At that point, I decided I was too tired to continue (I had raced in a triathlon the day before) and encouraged him to go ahead. I then sat down for the long wait. I saw at least 3 hours of the rescue and I would agree that there were more personalities on the mountain than people. However, it made for a good show.

 

Despite that, the rescue looked very safe and professional. The victim WAS glissading with crampons on, and seemed very alert and fairly comfortable, given the situation.

 

I hope I never break a leg in a wilderness area. Over 24 hours to get me down? That's a long freakin' time. I just hope I have lots of Percocet!

 

I remember you. You had the snowboards and the cool Lab. Your hubbie used to be a TV reporter in Yakivegas. Let me clarify that it took from 0800 to about 1500 or so to get her down. That's 7 hours or so, not 24. The total mission time, from first alert to closure was 26 hours or so. That's very different.

 

Please reread this paragraph from the initial post (emphasis added):

 

The first teams reached the subject at approx 0600, and the subject was packaged for the lower, which was initiated by 0800. Subject reached bottom of Crescent Glacier by approx 1230, whereupon Yakima County and Klickitat County SAR "ground pounders" took over litter evac using litter wheel attachment. Subject reached trailhead a little after 1500 hrs, whereupon they departed for a Tacoma-area hospital in their POV for x-rays and treatment.

 

And not to nitpic, but you stopped at the top of the Crescent Glacier, not "just below the Lunch Counter." There's still another 1,000 vert or more to go from Crescent to LC. Still, I wouldn't have hauled my sorry ass up anything the day after a triathlon, so I'm not judging. You guys were cool, and fun to hang out with.