August - Seattle Mountain Rescue

Number 216
SEATTLE MOUNTAIN RESCUE RESCUE
BERGTRAGE - AUGUST 2011
Bergtrage
1948
August August August August 2011 2011 2011 2011
2011 ULY 3, 2011: AASGARD A
JULY
ASGARD PASS ASS CLIMBER LIMBER RECOVERY ECOVERY IN CHELAN HELAN COUNTY OUNTY
According to the Wenatchee World, the 21-year-old Eatonville woman most likely died from hypothermia
Sunday after she fell down a snow face and into running water near Aasgard Pass earlier in the day. The body
of the woman was found sometime before 10 pm Sunday and flown out of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness by a
Whidbey Island Naval Airbase helicopter, deputies said. The woman was glissading — using a controlled slide
— on the snow and ice with her boyfriend and two other companions when she disappeared over the edge into
an opening about 5 feet wide. The woman “screamed and her boyfriend went to her aid when he saw a 45degree
cut under the snow pack that led into a crevasse with a large volume of water running under the snow
pack.” By late Sunday afternoon, at least 30 people had taken part in the search. Teams came from Chelan,
King and Snohomish counties and the U.S. Forest Service, as well as the helicopter crew from Whidbey. The
woman was found about 40 to 50 feet inside the cravasse, deputies said. She was deceased when a rescuer
from the naval helicopter was winched down to her. The call for help was made to the RiverCom dispatch
center in Wenatchee about 11 am. The call was made by someone, not associated with the hiking party, who
climbed Dragontail Peak to get cell service. This was considered a highly technical rescue due to the extreme
hiking conditions and geographical location, according to a press release. Aasgard Pass, above Colchuck Lake,
is one of two main routes into the Enchantment Lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Deputies said the
woman was not hiking on the trail up Aasgard Pass and she was quite a distance from the trail when she fell
into the crevasse.
The assistance of King County SAR was requested by Chelan County and SMR was paged out at 1:07 pm.
Scott Staton took In Town Operations Leader and Bree, Russ, Doug McCall and Aaron took the Expedition at
3:34 pm but were turned around at 6:36 pm when advised that no more resources were needed.
The rest of the story comes from SMR member Keith Schulz who just happened to be in the vicinity of the
accident and responded to the scene immediately. Keith was credited by Chelan County as being very
instrumental in coordinating the initial rescue effort by directing other bystanders in the proper techniques to
search for the missing woman under the hazardous conditions.
Keith has posted a report of his actions at the accident scene on the “Members Only” pages on the SMR
Website for members who log in to read but briefly Keith had been up and down Aasgard pass several times in
summer and remembered the configuration of the rock under the snow in this particular spot. There was a ten
foot drop, a twelve or fifteen foot slab at about 45 degrees and another ten-plus foot drop into a steep rocky
gulley. With that memory he tried to approximate a spot that they could dig into the snow at a 90 degree
angle from the slope and intersect the lip of the drop at the bottom of the slab. This also made sense in that it
would allow them to see up to where the previous rescuer was stopped to make sure the subject was not
lodged above. The down side was, there could be about 20 feet of hard snow to tunnel through. Keith started
digging and made it clear that everyone who entered the hole would have to be on belay as they could fall
through at any time. One of the Mountaineers set up three “deadmen” so the digger could be belayed. After
digging awhile Keith stayed at the mouth of the hole from then on and acted as safety manager.
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SEATTLE MOUNTAIN RESCUE RESCUE
BERGTRAGE - AUGUST 2011
PICTURE ICTURE OF THE ACCIDENT SITE. SITE.
THE
DESCENT LINE IS THE PATH THE SUBJECT TOOK INTO THE HOLE. HOLE.
#1 IS THE FIRST HOLE THE FEMALE
RESCUER WAS LOWERED INTO. INTO.
#2 IS A SHALLOW HOLE DUG BY THE RESCUEERS BUT THEY GAVE UP ON IT. IT.
#3 IS THE HOLE WE DUG
THROUGH TO THE WATER AND INSERTED THE NAVY AVY RESCUE RANGER AND EXTRACTED THE SUBJECT. SUBJECT.
The Whidbey Island Navy helicopter arrived around 2:00 pm and flew in and checked the situation three times
and then hovered in close and dropped two navy rescue rangers about 50 yards away on the slope. As the
helicopter flew away toward Leavenworth, the Navy rescuers came over to the group and started speaking
with the woman who had gone in the hole. They then came over to and Keith identified himself as being with
SMR and explained his plan to dig a tunnel to intersect the water tunnel and send another person into the hole
to look around. The helicopter was radioed to bring a list of items that Keith requested, including two more
shovels, two snow saws, and a long bladed chainsaw. The Mountaineer woman who set up the anchors also
requested avalanche probes. The helicopter departed for Leavenworth and we lost radio contact. At about the
same time the helicopter left, the digger in the hole broke through. We had intersected right at the beginning
of the second drop as planned.
At this time the helicopter returned and Keith instructed everyone to secure all light gear that could get blown
around in the prop-wash. They dropped one Chelan county Rescue volunteer and started lowering the
chainsaw. We radioed back that we did not need any of the gear. They informed us that they would need to
head out to refuel in about 20 minutes. They dropped the second Chelan County rescue volunteer and we
informed them that we would be ready for evacuation of the subject and Navy personnel in about ten minutes.
Keith showed the Navy rescuer how to girth-hitch the subject around the waist from behind and he descended
into the hole again. It took him about five minutes from the time he yelled “STOP” to the time he yelled to
have the subject hauled up. The subject was brought up quickly and the rescuer was pulled up right after.
ULY 23, 2011: HIKER H
JULY
IKER INJURED NJURED AT KEEKWULE EEKWULE FALLS ALLS (DENNY (DENNY
CREEK REEK) ) RESCUED RESCUED
NORTH BEND, Wash. - A man was hurt Saturday when he fell at least 20 feet near the Denny Creek Trail in
North Bend. Witnesses said the man fell down two waterfalls after losing his footing. They said they jumped in
the water to help and brought him out They said the man was not breathing at first, and when he came to he
was disoriented. He had a big gash on his head and some bruising.
http://www.king5.com/home/Hiker-hurt-in-fall-near-North-Bend-126068619.html
King County paged out SAR at 2:18 pm for a “semiconscious hiker at the bottom of Keekwoole Falls” on Denny
Creek. Doug Hutton assumed In Town and there was a quick response by Art with the truck and Bree and
Russ and Doug Caley on the trail with Timmy Williams following. Eastside Fire & Rescue was first on the scene
(Continued on page 3)
2

SEATTLE MOUNTAIN RESCUE RESCUE
BERGTRAGE - AUGUST 2011
(Continued from page 2)
and a team of firefighters went directly up to the accident scene. At around 3:45 pm the SAR rescuers were
with the Subject who was placed in a litter for a carryout. A highline was used to safely cross the Denny Creek
“waterslide” and had the litter across the creek by 6:30 pm and at the trailhead around 7:15 pm.
RESCUERS ESCUERS AT KEEKWULE
EEKWULE FALLS ALLS
For more photos of this mission please visit the Bergtrage Picasa Web Album at this URL:
https://picasaweb.google.com/bergtrage/KeekwooleFalls72311?authuser=0&feat=directlink
A more detailed report on this mission from the perspective of the field team is not available at this time.
SMR PERSONNEL
PERSONNEL:
: 6 SMR HOURS HOURS:
: 33.75 SMR MILES MILES:
: 300
ULY 24, 2011: MISSING M
JULY
King County paged out dogs and trackers at 4:01 pm Sunday afternoon for a 57 year old female camper
reported to be missing somewhere in the North Fork Snoqualmie area. The woman was wearing sweats and
wooden sandals. No direct request was actually made for other searchers and 4:37 pm the search was
cancelled without further explanation. There was no SMR response.
ULY 24, 2011: SICK S
JULY
King County paged SAR at 11:28 pm for a sick hiker at the “bottom of the boulder field” on the Annette Lake
trail. No further pages were issued and no details are known of whatever happened. There was no SMR
response.
ULY 31, 2011: SEARCH S
JULY
The page from King County came on Sunday afternoon around 5:00 pm for a possible hiker injured by a
rockslide on the north side of Mt Si based on a call from a reporting party who heard but could not see the
hiker in the fog but heard what sounded like a large rockslide and then nothing from the hiker. Searchers
worked until dark on all sides of the Haystack without finding anything and the search was terminated with no
results or clues found. There were five SMR members involved. (See Page 5 for rest of story please)
Steve Allen spent his birthday last month with Rich Evans on the North
Ridge of Mt Baker shown here.
Can anyone guess which SMR member just sewed
herself these hot pink sport climber pants? She
may be adding real neon lights with batteries on her
tool belt according to some rumors. If this isn’t a
fashion statement that what is?
3
HIGHLINE IGHLINE AT DENNY ENNY CREEK REEK CROSSING ROSSING
ISSING CAMPER AMPER NORTH ORTH FORK ORK SNOQUALMIE
NOQUALMIE AREA REA
ICK HIKER IKER ON ANNETTE NNETTE LKE KE TRAIL RAIL
EARCH FOR INJURED NJURED HIKER IKER ON MT SI
HEARD OR SEEN AROUND THE MOUNTAINS
RICH ICH AND STEVE TEVE ON MT BAKER AKER

SEATTLE MOUNTAIN RESCUE RESCUE
BERGTRAGE - AUGUST 2011
CLIMBING LIMBING WITH ITH JESSICA ESSICA TODD ODD LAST AST MONTH IN THE ENCHANTMENTS
NCHANTMENTS….. …..Our route up the
South face.. Pitch 2 we got off route, and
ended up doing a harder variation than
the standard pitch. We also changed the
pitches around from the standard topo.
Pitch 1-J: 5.8+ (~200 feet), Pitch 2var-G:
5.9 (~120 Feet), Pitch 3-J: 5.8 (~180
feet), Pitch 4-G: 5.9+
(~110 feet), Pitch 5-J:
5.10- (~150 feet)
EARLIER ARLIER IN JULY ULY JESSICA ESSICA AND BREE REE DID SOME CLIMBING ON INDEX NDEX TOWN OWN WALL ALL…..T …..TOWN OWN CRIER RIER, ,
GRADE RADE IV 5.9 A2
BREE REE
WITH ITH DOUG OUG MCCALL ALL AND BRIAN RIAN
WOPPSHAL
OPPSHAL ON MT BAKER AKER - JULY ULY 12TH 12TH
CAN AN YOU OU FIND IND
THE HE SMR
MEMBER EMBER IN
THIS HIS PHOTO HOTO
WHO HO RODE ODE THE
SEATTLE EATTLE TO
PORTLAND ORTLAND LAST
MONTH? MONTH
4
JESSICA ESSICA
Rumors have it that there was a one bicycle vs one rescue truck accident on the road to
the Denny Creek mission on Sunday, seems like the big blue truck’s front bumper go in the
way of a speeding road biker coming fast down hill and crossing the centerline. After some
“good samaritan” first aid and an aid crew doing nothing the biker slowly got painfully on
his feet and continued down the road with his buddy. His excuse was he was turning around to check on his
partner and not paying attention to the curves in the road. The U/I rescue truck driver was pretty shaken
up when he got to Base.

SEATTLE MOUNTAIN RESCUE RESCUE
BERGTRAGE - AUGUST 2011
MISSIONS ISSIONS IN JULY ULY 2011 - JULY ULY 31, 2011: SEARCH S
EARCH FOR INJURED NJURED HIKER IKER ON MT SI (CONTINUATION
(CONTINUATION)
A hiker on Mt. Si reported having voice contact with another hiker near the haystack. The RP said the other
hiker was, “off trail” and scrambling in a gully and said he then heard a large rock fall that continued for “some
time.” The RP said he tried to call to the other hiker but no longer got a response from the person. Fearing the
other hiker had fallen in the rock slide, the RP called 911.
Davis drove the Tenneriffe road to the connector trail and hiked towards the north side of the Haystack. Caley
and McCall started up the Mt. Si main trail around 5:30pm taking a climbing rope, rigging kit, helmets and
harnesses as well as spare harness for a possible subject harness. Caley and McCall arrived at the base of the
Haystack shortly after the RAD team. The RAD team had been doing voice checks but had not heard any
responses. Caley and McCall dropped over the north side of the trail near the “bench” close to the haystack.
The terrain was very loose which was evidenced by the visible damage to trees on the uphill side of the trees.
Caley and McCall made voice contact with a “hiker” who said he was off trail, but he was OK and did not need
assistance. The team waited for the hiker to make it back to the trail before continuing their search along the
North side of Si concerned about rock fall. At one point the hiker dislodged a significant rock slide which
caused Caley and McCall to expect to see a falling hiker, but fortunately was only rocks. Once the hiker was on
the trail and no teams were moving above, Caley and McCall continued the search of the gully and slope below
the haystack. Reaching a point where it was determined to be most likely for a fall and not locating any
subjects, the search was concluded. Caley and McCall made their way back to the Si trail and then began
hiking down. Along the way Base requested teams to do voice checks having reports of a hiker moving slowly
with a possible knee injury. No injured hiker appeared and the mission was concluded around 10:00pm.
(The Editor apologizes for adding this last report to the July Missions rather that re-editing and re-arranging the content)
5
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SEATTLE MOUNTAIN RESCUE IS A FULLY-ACCREDITED MEMBER OF
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ERGTRAGE IS SEATTLE EATTLE MOUNTAIN OUNTAIN RESCUE ESCUE’S MONTHLY ONTHLY ELECTRONIC
LECTRONIC
NEWSLETTER
EWSLETTER AND HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN ONE FORM OR THE OTHER
SINCE THE FIRST MOUNTAIN RESCUE COUNCIL NEWSLETTER WAS
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AND TO A LARGE NUMBER OF DONORS, DONORS,
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OTHER RESCUE UNITS
AND PUBLIC AGENCIES INVOLVED IN SEARCH AND RESCUE AND IS ALSO
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ORGANIZATIONS. ORGANIZATIONS.
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STORIES AND PHOTOS AND CAN BE CONTACTED AT
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