Heli evac off north walls

[jefffski]

We saw a heli rescue on the north walls in the area of Angels Crest this afternoon (Saturday, June 15). Does anybody know what happened? I hope the rescued party is ok.

[gnarnaphobe]

Broken ankle on Angels Crest.

Squamish SAR Longlined the victim out.

[polishbob]

Talked to the party, that was behind the injured party. Why would someone in this situation refuse to let them go ahead (since there was nothing they could do) and expose them to a completely unnecessary danger (by forcing them to wait for almost 4 hours and forcing them to retreat from the top of pitch 6) is beyond me.

[jonny2vests]

Talked to the party, that was behind the injured party. Why would someone in this situation refuse to let them go ahead (since there was nothing they could do) and expose them to a completely unnecessary danger (by forcing them to wait for almost 4 hours and forcing them to retreat from the top of pitch 6) is beyond me.

It not really clear what you're trying to say.

[polishbob]

Talked to the party, that was behind the injured party. Why would someone in this situation refuse to let them go ahead (since there was nothing they could do) and expose them to a completely unnecessary danger (by forcing them to wait for almost 4 hours and forcing them to retreat from the top of pitch 6) is beyond me.

the injured party refused to let people pass?

That is correct.

[pbeckham]

For the record, I was one of the rescuers long lined in to help the injured climber.
He was one of about six climbers at the belay ledge and was located at the base of the pitch he fell off of. His injury was ghastly to behold, potentially limb threatening and moving him any more than necessary, a challenge we preferred to avoid.

I asked the other climbers if they would mind moving back to an area as protected as possible from the slinging operation and advised them we'd be as much as 45 minutes before we had the injured climber and his partner evacuated. They were very accommodating and seemed to appreciate that dealing with the injured climber was the priority.

I'm not aware of what sort of dialogue occurred before we arrived.
None of them asked us if they could keep climbing and in fact indicated, given the time of day (about 16:00) they planned to rap into the gully and call it a day.
Having people climb above the injured climber and rescue scene would have been awkward and given the circumstances, put everyone below at unnecessary and avoidable risk.

We would like to have gotten to the climber sooner and got him off quicker, but a lot goes into organizing the volunteers, the helicopter and planning and executing a potentially high risk operation.
I was one of approximately 10 Squamish SAR volunteers who responded to the injured climber's distress call and part of a team of about 45 members who train upwards of (and often more than) a 100 hours a year in the various disciplines to maintain the minimum skills to respond to Ground Search, Swiftwater, High Angle Rope, Helicopter, Mountain and Avalanche Rescue.
Many of us are (or were at one time) climbers and we try to provide the kind of help we'd hope for if we or someone dear to us was in trouble. It's never perfect, every rescue is a challenging "one of", we always take longer than we'd like and we do all we can to improve our response time.

We volunteer for the Province, are usually tasked by the RCMP and they have authority over the rescue response. In theory, if we have difficulty with bystanders impeding the rescue or posing a risk to our operation, we're to let the RCMP deal with such individuals.
I've never had to play that card and would think it most unfortunate to have to.

I appreciate the cooperation and patience of the both the injured climber and the other climbers at the scene as we had plenty on our plate effecting the rescue.
I hope the injured climber has a speedy and complete recovery from his injury.

The comments about delaying or barring the progress of other climbers during the rescue appear at best, ill informed and at worst, selfish.

Perry Beckham
Squamish SAR

[quantum7]

What pitch did the accident occur on?

[paulc]

Sounds like pitch 7. I guess if you fell towards the top of the pitch there would be several ledges and corners to fall onto/into. Could be made much more harrowing if you fell a ways for some reason or another.

Good rescue for SAR and best wishes for a swift recovery on the part of the injured climber. It's nice to hear that the other parties were understanding and supportive.

[polishbob]

The comments about delaying or barring the progress of other climbers during the rescue appear at best, ill informed and at worst, selfish.

Perry Beckham
Squamish SAR

Perry, the party below the injured climbers was held up on the ledge entire time, till you guys arrived. I talked the next day to the guys involved, as I happen to climb on the same route with them on Sunday. There was no real reason given to them, and this occurred long time before SAR (which is you) arrived on the scene. I am not ill informed nor selfish by providing this information about this specific account. My point is, since the following party could not assist the injured in any meaningful matter, would it be safer for everyone not to be around a flying helicopter? These were pretty young, but very competent climbers, but now they were also forced to do a shitty retreat with a single rope down the North Gully- not the best option imo.
And this whole issue has nothing to do with SAR conducting the rescue, but has everything to do with strange behavior of injured party and their insistence of not climbing past them.
My gratitude to SAR for sticking their neck out for us- climbers and speedy recovery to injured climber.
Robert Rogoz (aka Polishbob)

[relic]

People got delayed climbing on Angels Crest due to a horribly injured climber. Is this really something to whine about?

[polishbob]

People got delayed climbing on Angels Crest due to a horribly injured climber. Is this really something to whine about?

No, like I said, it's about making right calls and NOT making a bad situation potentially worst. Having fewer people on the ledge sounds like would be a better and safer scenario for conducting the rescue for everyone involved.

[jefffski]

if i was severely injured, i would not want the risk, however minimal, of people climbing above me. I think Perry nailed it. Perhaps they could have given the waiting party a second rope to help them descend the gully.

[pbeckham]

jeffski,

Actually, the party in trouble did lend their rope to the others.
I was also under the impression that the two in trouble were part of a larger party of at least four.

PB

[polishbob]

Btw- kudos to SAR for smooth running operation, looked like something from the Alps.

[jessejames]

Parties above should have definitely been allowed to pass. Rapping into the gully on p6 is actually quite dangerous. And I'm sure there was a significant danger of rockfall created by the helicopter itself, much more serious than potential climber-generated rockfall above. In my opinion, a bad call on PB's part.