This Week's Local Mountain Rescue Update

[Dan_Miller]

By KOMO Staff GRANITE FALLS - A break in the weather allowed rescue crews to pluck an injured hiker off Three Fingers Mountain via helicopter Monday afternoon, but a second injured hiker near Buck Creek Pass is still working on getting out.

 

Lt. R.C. Rochon with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department says crews were able to get a Snohawk helicopter to the injured hiker near Three Fingers around 2:10 p.m. and flew the victim to Providence's Colby Campus hospital in Everett. Workers who assisted in the rescue were making their way off the mountain on foot.

 

A second hiker who suffered a broken leg in a separate incident near Buck Creek Pass was still in the process of making his way off the mountain with rescuers to get medical treatment.

 

The first hiker was injured Sunday while hiking on 6,870-foot Three Fingers Mountain about 11 miles east of Granite Falls.

 

Officials said the man was with a group when he fell about 100 feet onto boulders Sunday morning at about 8:50 a.m. The victim said his legs were injured in the fall, but he didn't believe anything was broken, just severely sprained.

 

One of the teams had reached the hiker by 5 p.m. Sunday and by late Monday morning they had made their way back to the main trail. But rescuers were initially hindered by extremely bad weather in their efforts to get the hiker out, said a spokesman for the Snohomish Search and Rescue.

 

Meanwhile, another team with Snohomish Search and Rescue reached a stranded hiker who suffered a broken leg near Buck Creek Pass, north of Trinity in Glacier Peak Wilderness of Wenatchee National Forest in the Cascades.

 

At about 1:11 p.m. Sunday, the man used a ham radio to signal for help. His signal reached someone in Bozeman, Mont., who then contacted Snohomish Search and Rescue. Communication between the rescuers and the victim was being conducted via Morse code.

 

He was reached by rescuers Monday morning and was being loaded on horseback for the ride out, which was expected to take several hours and he was not expected to be off the mountain until late Monday.

 

The National Weather Service warned that anyone camping or hiking in the Cascade Mountains should be prepared for cold weather overnight and prepare accordingly.

 

Up to an inch of snow is possible in the higher mountain passes by Monday morning, according to a special weather statement issued by the Weather Service.

 

 

Perhaps we should all be carrying Ham Radio Units and learning Morse Code. What Say?

[godskid5]

one of my climbing buddies is an amateur radio operator and carries one with him every time we go out. not too bad to have, better just not to get hurt though eh? now that i said that, its probably my turn next!

[northvanclimber]

i've been looking into this same topic myself and have been getting both positive and negative responses. seems like rescue using a HAM radio is dependent on:

1) being able to access nearby repeaters - my impression is that many are not open to the public

 

and 2) having someone to actually call.

 

looks like if you've done your homework before you head out, the radio may have a chance at rescuing your butt.

[TRbetaFlash]

HAM is pretty amazing though. At least if they guy you reach in Skokie Illinois doesn't feel like calling search-n-rescue, you can have someone to talk to while you freeze your ass off and hurt.

 

morse code! heck yeah. You know, that might come in handy some other times. Like - when you have something reflective or shining that you can signal with.

 

northvanclimber....hmm that sounds familiar. Were you the guy that bailed off the WR of stuart that one day after the lightning started the forest fire on jack ridge? just wonderin..

[northvanclimber]

northvanclimber....hmm that sounds familiar. Were you the guy that bailed off the WR of stuart that one day after the lightning started the forest fire on jack ridge? just wonderin..

 

nope. but my friend busted up his foot in the bugaboos this august and a nearby team with a HAM radio called us an air ambulance so we could get him out of there.

[PaulB]

Perhaps we should all be carrying Ham Radio Units and learning Morse Code. What Say?

The Morse code angle is a bit unusual. With the handheld VHF/UHF radios that most people would carry in the backcountry, you'd just talk instead of using code as the devices are designed for FM voice communications. The hiker must have had a radio capable of operating in continuous wave (CW) mode, which would explain the long distant contact to Bozeman. A CW transmission can travel much further than a FM voice transmission.

 

Proficiency in Morse hasn't been a requirement for a basic amateur radio license in the US for almost 20 years. I'd say that the injured hiker was likely an experienced amateur radio operator who was very lucky to make contact with someone equally experienced who could help him.

 

On the other hand, there are hundreds of old timer ham operators who spend hours every day monitoring various frequency bands and transmission modes just waiting for something like this to happen.

[G-spotter]

... --- ...

[Hugh Conway]

Perhaps we should all be carrying Ham Radio Units and learning Morse Code. What Say?

 

This isn't Argentina

[jhamaker]

I've been considering options.

 

SPOT - though its not even close to world wide, or even all of AK

 

Satelite Phone - seems to be the best sure thing. Coverage spotty at the poles. $30/mo/30free min?

 

Cell - (Verizon) but now w/ analogue going away, chances of reaching a tower will be even more remote.

 

Ham radio - probably the best best w/ lowest cost. No monthly fees. Outward Bound uses cell phones in the San Juans, NOLS uses the emergency aircraft frequency. Amature radio is highly regulated, but in an emergency anything goes. You can use any repteter you can hit. The NPS, FS, and BLM have plenty in areas where they count.

Edited October 5, 2008 by jhamaker

[mike1]

Hey Dan, I don’t what you’re using now, but couldn't you get some UHF/VHF radios and work with your county Sheriff to get licenced? In areas you can't hit repeaters you can have a vehicle radio set up to operate as a repeater. We were able to cover most of our area of response fairly well. Maybe you could work out a deal with the County Sheriff's Dept. where they own and maintain the radios under their existing licence but you get to keep and use them as long as you’re on the rescue team. The team I was on was fortunate enough to work closely with a county EMS district and we were able to use their old radios. We had all the SAR, Fire, EMS, and Sheriff channels under their licence. When we had a call where the subject was using FRS or 9 we had a group of small radios we could grab and carry - or someone at the MCP would relay. Hope this helps... or maybe you're already on this kind of comm. system and I'm just blowing air...

[snoboy]

I would assume SPOT and satphone would have same coverage since SPOT uses the satphone network. It may be slightly better, since it can operate with marginal coverage.

[G-spotter]

I would assume SPOT and satphone would have same coverage since SPOT uses the satphone network.

 

^^ Doesn't it use the GPS network?

[Dannible]

Spot worked 1 out of 10 times for me in Peru in completely open country (no trees) when I assume sat phones would work there.

[rob]

I would assume SPOT and satphone would have same coverage since SPOT uses the satphone network.

 

^^ Doesn't it use the GPS network?

 

SPOT uses the globalstar simplex system to send messages

Edited October 5, 2008 by rob

[snoboy]

G-Spotter:

 

SPOT uses GPS to determine position, and then uses the satphone network to transmit the message (OK or distress) to the call center/contact list. Because it is only transmitting very small data 'packets' it can often utilize brief windows of opportunity that a voice call over satphone wouldn't function with. This means that coverage may be slightly better than the average satphone...

[PaulB]

Amature radio is highly regulated, but in an emergency anything goes. You can use any repteter you can hit. The NPS, FS, and BLM have plenty in areas where they count.

You'd want to find out whether they are "open" repeaters or if you need an access code to use them. Just because you're transmitting on a repeater's frequency (even if it is within range) doesn't mean that anyone can hear you. Federal agencies may be reluctant to share their codes.

 

In a life or limb situation, the sure bet for getting help is a PLB. A one time cost and no fees, but they're an all or nothing call for help. No "I'm OK, just running late" messages like with SPOT or a satphone.