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the_crawler
Sep 9, 2003, 5:56 PM
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A friend and I were climbing in the beartoothes Aug 12-15 or something like that. When I got back I recieved a call asking if I was OK. Apparently A man and a women were climbing up one of the many canyons there just after we left and while leading she pulled off a 60 lb block that fell hit the belayer pushing him to a lower ledge crushing his neck and back. She stabalized him and started to walk out when she came across a packer (horse) who took her out and called for help. after two nights on the ledge he was rescued by chopper. This is news from a reliable source but i'm sure its 3rd or 4th party and light on details. Does anyone know anything about this? Where they were climbing, who it was, if the guys gonna live/ his condition. Any info would be nice. Thanks!
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vertx
Sep 9, 2003, 6:20 PM
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Here is the story ...
http://www.billingsgazette.com/...local/46-injured.inc
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Injured climber rescued
By GREG TUTTLE
Of The Gazette Staff
A Bozeman man spent Sunday night stranded 300 feet up a sheer rock face in the Beartooth Mountains when he was injured while climbing.
Erin Taylor eventually was rescued by a helicopter that flew to the area west of Red Lodge from Grand Teton National Park in what one Carbon County official described as a dangerous and costly rescue operation.
Taylor was flown to a Billings hospital Monday morning and has been released. He could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Race against time
For rescue crews, the operation was a race against time in rugged country as night fell Sunday. Two helicopters, two ground teams of experienced climbers and a support crew of a dozen people took part in the operation, said Tom Vines, coordinator of search and rescue operations for the Carbon County Sheriff's Office.
"It was, potentially, a really dangerous situation," Vines said.
Taylor, 34, and Rebecca Hodkins, 32, were climbing Sunday afternoon on a rock face known as "Piro de la Calico," a towering crag below Silver Run Peak in the upper drainage of the West Fork of Rock Creek. The couple had camped in the area and started climbing Sunday afternoon, Vines said.
The climbers had gone about 300 feet up the rock when a 60-pound boulder broke free and struck Taylor in the back. Hodkins, who was above Taylor, descended to a ledge where she found Taylor conscious but in extreme pain, she later told rescue personnel. Hodkins secured Taylor to the ledge, gave him food and water and descended to the base of the rock.
Hodkins ran down a trail for several miles before she encountered a man who offered to drive her to Red Lodge. Hodkins arrived at the Carbon County Sheriff's office at 3:40 p.m.
Vines said the search and rescue operation began immediately. Officials first tried to coordinate a search from the air. A helicopter crew from Yellowstone National Park agreed to help, but arrived at dusk when long shadows fell across the high peaks and valleys. The helicopter crew had no luck spotting the injured climber, Vines said.
Air, ground search
While the air search was continuing, Vines said, rescue officials gathered experienced climbers from Bozeman and the Red Lodge area to begin a ground search. Vines said officials acted with urgency because Hodkins reported that Taylor may have been going into shock when she left him.
Two teams of volunteers with a total of 11 people, including Hodkins, headed into the wilderness area at about 10 p.m., Vines said. At 3 a.m., the teams met up at the base of the rock face where Hodkins said she left Taylor about 12 hours earlier. A light shone from the face of the rock.
Vines said several climbers went up to Taylor and found him conscious on the ledge.
Back in Red Lodge, Vines said, the search and rescue support crew had arranged overnight for a helicopter to fly in from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The Grand Teton air crew is experienced in climbing rescues, Vines said, and arrived in Red Lodge shortly before 9 a.m.
After staging in a meadow near the rock face, the rescue helicopter plucked Taylor from the rock face using a basket. The helicopter made a quick landing in the meadow to perform a medical check on Taylor, then flew the injured man to the airport at Red Lodge. There Taylor was transferred to a HelpFlight helicopter and was flown to Billings.
Vines said Taylor appeared in good condition.
"He was conscious, alert and in good spirits," he said.
Vines said that while such rescue operations in Carbon County are rare, he worries that they may become more common as more people head into the backcountry. A large rescue operation in June was necessary when a medical emergency occurred in a remote area. An outfitter with a mule team had to be hired in order to reach the victim, he said.
Vines said officials have not yet tallied the cost of the most recent rescue operation, but the expense of the helicopters alone could be about $1,000 an hour. Some of the expense could be billed to Taylor, Vines said.
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the_crawler
Sep 9, 2003, 6:34 PM
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Wow It sounds like he'll be OK that's good. Thanks for the info vertex. We were going to go up and do something on grass mountain which is in the same drainage but across the creek from Silver Run Peak. Is anyone fimilar with the area? Were they on the huge face below Silver Run Plateau. Big wall style? FA or doing a route?
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jefffski
Sep 10, 2003, 2:30 AM
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Registered: Dec 10, 2002
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always sad to hear about these sorts of accidents, both for the victims and the thought that 'it could've been me'.
but what pisses me off is the attitude that they have to be charged for the rescue. first, boaters and sailors are never charged and their rescues are also dangerous and expensive. second motorists are not charged either for their rescues in mva's.
so why are climbers and backcountry recreationalists treated differently.
this issue comes up where i live every so often. we ignore it and it goes away. so far so good. Except for yosemite i have never heard of a good system to charge climbers for the cost of their rescue.
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