Skeezix Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Department of Interior Convocation Anthony Reece and Kevorck Arackellian (National Park Service) conducted one of the most challenging rescues in the history of the North Cascades National Park Search and Rescue program. In July 2009, a party of four mountaineers were halfway up Mount Terror’s North Buttress route when the lead climber fell and was left dangling upside down on the rope, semi-conscious with a femur fracture and head injury. During the rescue, Park Ranger Kevork Arackellian hung from a helicopter on a 100 foot short-haul line as Pilot Anthony Reece transported to the accident site. Ranger Arackellian rescued one climber before poor weather moved in and prevented the evacuation of the second stranded climber. After that climber had endured four days of rain and snow, trapped on Mount Terror’s cliff, Pilot Anthony Reece and Ranger Kevork Arackellian returned and performed the same risky maneuver. Given the technical site of this rescue, a cliff with sheer rock walls above and below, there was no margin for error by either pilot or rescuer on this mission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 hell mother-fuckin' yeah. Awesome, amazing story. These guys deserve a round... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin27 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Well earned by the rescuers. For anyone that hasn't already read the full story, it is a great read. http://www.mountaineers.org/nwmj/10/101_Terror.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeezix Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Anthony Reece received the Citizen's Award for Bravery and Kevork Arackellian received the NPS Award for Valor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScaredSilly Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Yeah, great outcome and story. I liked this statement: “In our review of this whole incident,” says Kelly Bush, “among the points recorded was that when deploying an emergency rations pack to a stranded person, we should consider inclusion of a fully charged iPod and a good book!” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Well Deserved!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banos Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Steph's Report Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trent Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Having participated in this rescue and a few others, both military and civilian, these guys are the best. Professional and competent, they ensured that the outcome would be positive. Much thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montypiton Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Having been on both ends of helicopter short-hauls,I have repeatedly witnessed the value of this resource. The Chelan County Sheriff's department, assisted by the Chelan County Mountain Rescue Association, established the first VOLUNTEER short-haul program in the U.S. in the early nineties. It saved lives, but was too expensive for the county to maintain (not enough taxpayers in the sparsely populated county), and was discontinued by a newly elected sheriff in 2001. The new sheriff elected in 2010 has stated his willingness to reestablish the program (the county owns the helicopter - leased it to other agencies after program was discontinued)if the CCMRA can fund it. When the program was operating, we flew training operations once a month, year-round. The cost of training operations, missions, insurance, etc. is estimated around $50,000.00 per year. The CCMRA is currently engaged in a fundraising campaign to meet this challenge. The Chelan County Mountain Rescue Associaton is an independant 501c3 non-profit corporation which assists the Chelan County Sheriff's Department with technical mountain rescue by recruiting, training, and equipping skilled volunteer alpinists. CCMRA's operations are funded entirely by generous donors. Our volunteers pay no dues, donating their time, skills, and their use of their personal equipment. Your cash donation is tax deductible. When Chelan County flew its own short-haul missions, these missions usually took about three hours from the phone call, to the ambulance. Ground missions since the short-haul program was discontinued take that many days. Military helicopters may be used if the county can demonstrate that no civilian resource is available. Just inventorying civilian resources by telephone often takes a full day before a military helicopter can be authorized. The fastest military response I've seen was about six hours last July for the woman who slid into a moat on Asgaard Pass. Stuart... Dragontail... Colchuck... Prusik Peak... Snow Creek Wall... think about it... Donations may be sent to Curt Haire, Boardmember, Chelan County Mountain Rescue Association, 1380 Commercial Street, Leavenworth, Washington, 98826. Make checks payable to Chelan County Mountain Rescue Association. When we finish overhauling our website, you'll be able to donate via Paypal. Let's get Rescue Pete Peterson (best damn pilot!!!) back in the air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeezix Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 $50k/year?! Wow... Do you have data on how many missions occurred per year when the program was running? And I can appreciate your loyalty to your pilot, but I can attest from personal experience that Tony Reece (Hi Line Helicopters, Darrington, WA) is no slouch. Read Bio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 RSQ Pete hauled us out of the Luahna area after we found TJ in 2009 . A great pilot for sure, but you must mean get him back doing short hauls? He seems to still be flying rescue missions, post 2001. I did watch an ER doc get drug through the trees on a rescue mission on Yellowjacket Tower in 1999 so I can imagine that Chelan county might not want the cost or liability of short hauls. I'm not sure if it was Pete or not flying, but it was a bit scary to watch. I have also flown with Tony and agree that he is first rate! Too bad he is going to have to retire one of these days pretty soon.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montypiton Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 the doc was Tom Ettinger, of Cashmere - "retired" guide who taught mountain medicine for the AMGA in the '80's & 90's. I've heard great things about Tony, never worked with him. Snohomish county's short-haul program was modeled after Chelan County's. That $50k annually pays for the helicopter time to train monthly - three-to-four flying hours/month in the neighborhood of $1000.00/hour, plus the higher insurance cost. number of missions varied from year to year, but the maximum was no more than a half-dozen in one year lotta aerial searches, and yes, Pete is flying again and is authorized to perform rescues where he can land. CCMRA has helispots on Stuart, Aasgard Pass, & Colchuck Lake. The real advantage of short-haul is that the entire mission can typically be accomplished with a pilot, spotter, and the "dope-on-a-rope" three people for a few hours, as opposed to the two-dozen or so for days that are typically necessary to transport an immobile individual from technical terrain to the nearest helispot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyj Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 (edited) Geez . . . speaking from my own experience, $50k/year is a lot of cash for a volunteer SAR team. Serious question - in WA, are air resources really that hard to come by? In CA, all the CHP helicopters have a paramedic onboard and are winch / short-haul capable. Getting them via mutual aid is real quick; there are a also a handful of counties with their own helicopter programs and I think the state fire agency has winch-capable helos as well. Air guard gets called out for larger searches, but I've never seen them used as a first-line response when an injured party calls 911. You'd certainly never see a volunteer on the bottom end of a short-haul; too many paid resources available already. Edit to add: credit to your sheriff for giving you the green light if you can raise the funds. A lot of people would look at the risks involved and just say no. Edited March 11, 2012 by mattyj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alasdair Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I was part of a different rescue at Cascade Pass several years ago, and the same crew picked the guy. It was a pretty quick and efficient rescue. Here are the photos of those guys in action... North Cascades rescue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Great story Alasdair! I'm a little confused though, did his partners just continue on and never check back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alasdair Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Great story Alasdair! I'm a little confused though, did his partners just continue on and never check back? yea, pretty much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 WOW! You guys were camped there the whole next day and the party never returned. That is something you typically only hear about on 8000m peaks when things have really hit the fan, never heard of that in the Cascades. Incredible, if you guys hadn't of been there, the story could have had an entirely different ending. Well done, I'm sure Craig was grateful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montypiton Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 $50k is the cost of running the helicopter for that many hours - it costs the same to keep the bird in the air whether its carrying volunteers or paid rescuers... yes - it IS that hard to access air resources in Washington, unless you are climbing in a National Park, where the NPS has easy access to air support. when I rode a lightning-triggered rock/ice avalanche down the Northeast Couloir on Colchuck Peak three years ago, I waited 13 hours while the sherriff made phone calls. I was not expected to live. others have had to wait more than 24 hours,and not lived. if you expect timely air support, restrict your climbing to national parks or Snohomish county. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 It seems like a lot of the air support for rescues on the west side is handled by the Navy or JBLM (of course, Hi Line and King Co helos shoulder a lot of the load also). Are the Enchantments too far for military to operate? Or is it a jurisdictional issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alasdair Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 If you know for a fact that you will need a chopper rescue and it is life threatening I suggest telling the 911 operator that you need a chopper from Whidbey or the coast guard. Thats what I said to them several years ago on a Mt. Baker rescue and the Navy guys were above us 45 mins later. Life threatening head injury? Skip the sherrif. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I recall effecting a rescue of two hikers on Mt Baker who had glissaded into a deep moat. A runner had been sent out to alert the Ranger station (this was before cell phones, and I doubt we would have had reception on the North side anyway). We began setting up tents to spend the night with the patients, but just before dusk a Naval helo dropped two parajumpers with litters who pulled both patients out in like 20 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyj Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 $50k is the cost of running the helicopter for that many hours - it costs the same to keep the bird in the air whether its carrying volunteers or paid rescuers... In case this was directed at me, I understand completely . . . merely meant to say that you guys, as a 501c3 with a very small geographic target, have your work cut out for you when it comes to fundraising. Even though that sounds like an absolute bargain for a helicopter program, it's not bake sale cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparverius Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Congratulations to Tony and Kevork. Steve and I owe them much for their efforts to rescue us on Terror. They deserve it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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