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thegreytradster
Nov 13, 2005, 3:31 AM
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The aluminum buzzard showed up abot 2:00 pm.
Anybody know what happened?
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tombombadil112
Nov 13, 2005, 6:53 AM
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hey i was there right around that time also. i was going to ask the same question. oh well i want to know also.
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climbs4fun
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Nov 13, 2005, 9:43 PM
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We were there as well. Seemed to take the helicopter a long time in the area. I sincerely hope that it wasn't so serious and that everybody involved will be ok.
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climbingeek
Nov 13, 2005, 11:10 PM
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A climber took a lead fall on "the Swift." While falling, the climber's right foot made contact with a knob. The resulting impact caused a sever fracture to the right ankle.
The victim was lifted from the wall by helicopter and eventually flown to Palm Springs for treatment.
I spoke with the victim's son who reported that that this was a straightforward lead fall with unfortunate consequences. Had it not been for the knob that protruded from the wall, the lead fall would have been uneventful.
I was extremely impressed by the professionalism of Joshua Tree Search & Rescue--their performance was reassuring as this accident is the very kind that any of us could experience.
Best wishes to the victim for a speedy recovery.
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blitzkrieg_climber13
Nov 13, 2005, 11:35 PM
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the swift huh. thats my favorite route in jtree. very unfortunate.
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climbs4fun
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Nov 14, 2005, 2:34 AM
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Thankfully it was nothing more serious than that!
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roseraie
Nov 14, 2005, 8:59 AM
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Glad to hear it wasn't more serious than that. That chopper had us all spooked.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery, to whoever it was that fell.
Meg
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cortezmachine
Nov 15, 2005, 12:33 AM
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climbed the swift yesterday, theres so much blood on the route. like A LOT. good thing it wasnt a head hit. by the way ive got the escape sling and biners if the guys wants em back let me know.
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halepierce
Nov 15, 2005, 12:59 AM
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I saw that the helicopter landed twice. Any ideas why?
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vegastradguy
Nov 15, 2005, 1:06 AM
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lol, seems everyone was watching the SAR folks do their thing. i did notice that they took the time to wet the landing area after the second landing to reduce the dust cloud.
glad to hear no one was seriously wounded....
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gretchino
Nov 15, 2005, 1:35 AM
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In reply to: Glad to hear it wasn't more serious than that. That chopper had us all spooked.
I'll second that. Glad to hear it wasn't more serious.
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ksolem
Nov 15, 2005, 1:45 AM
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I just did Bird on a Wire, and was sitting at the base with my lovely partner when the leader on the swift fell up on the top pitch. It sounded bad, followed by lots of yelling etc. JOSAR happened to be in the area doing a practice, and as they were arriving it was decided that I should get up there fast to set the fixed ropes etc that they would use. The injured climber had a badly compounded ankle, foot upside down etc. In the end they plucked him right off the wall with the chopper. At times the rescue moved with frustrating slowness, for example the JOSAR EMT had to inch his way up the fixed line on prussiks (no Jumars?)
I also ended up going back up to retrieve the gear, JOSAR just left everything up there and since a bunch of it was mine (anchors for fixed ropes) I ran up and cleaned it. It was getting late so instead of topping out I just went up to the guys high point and climbed back down with his gear.
The escape sling and carabiners I left belong to the injured climber who is an SCMA member. I suppose you could return it to them but I doubt it matters. I got him back all his expensive stuff from up there.
The piece which caught his fall was a small alien which had pulled and relocated itself in a lower crack, wedged in by the trigger bar. A very lucky break and the next piece down was another 8 feet.
I will let someone from his organization post his name if they want. He was super tough dealing with his injury and kept his head screwed on straight through the whole thing. And it had to hurt.
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jdouble
Nov 15, 2005, 2:36 AM
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Good on ya, Kris. They were lucky to have you around.
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jdouble
Nov 15, 2005, 2:38 AM
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In reply to: The piece which caught his fall was a small alien which had pulled and relocated itself in a lower crack, wedged in by the trigger bar. A very lucky break and the next piece down was another 8 feet. |
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chanceboarder
Nov 15, 2005, 4:06 AM
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glad to hear the injuries weren't anymore serious and that everyone will be around to climb another day.
speedy recovery to the injured person.
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murf
Nov 15, 2005, 4:09 PM
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In reply to: lol, seems everyone was watching the SAR folks do their thing.
What do you mean "lol"? Are you intimating that perhaps the climbers on scene should have done more? Aside from Kris, of course, who seems to have invested most of his day.
Murf
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socalclimber
Nov 20, 2005, 2:11 PM
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The chopper used was a sheriff's dept. They have to land first to rig the bird for a hoist, then they land again and unrig the chopper and do final patient packaging.
Robert
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crackrn
Nov 22, 2005, 2:24 AM
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In reply to: In reply to: lol, seems everyone was watching the SAR folks do their thing. What do you mean "lol"? Are you intimating that perhaps the climbers on scene should have done more? Aside from Kris, of course, who seems to have invested most of his day. Murf
I didn't read it as that. I read it as laughing at everyone's comments on the various details of the chopper (landing 2x, wetting area with h2o to avoid dust etc. ).
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vivalargo
Nov 23, 2005, 8:28 PM
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If, in 2005, a rescue person was actually prussiking a rope--well, yes, actual climbers should have at least sugessted that the EMT be lowered down on a top rope. You're talking about technology -- and a technique -- that hasn't been used since the early 60s.
JL
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socalclimber
Nov 24, 2005, 4:05 AM
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In reply to: If, in 2005, a rescue person was actually prussiking a rope--well, yes, actual climbers should have at least sugessted that the EMT be lowered down on a top rope. You're talking about technology -- and a technique -- that hasn't been used since the early 60s. JL
Well, I am not sure I entirely agree with this. The system that was in use is refered to as Purcells (sp?). While I do not agree with the system, it is still an effective way to "safely" ascend a rope. I do agree that ascenders are the ticket, but allot of SAR teams still teach/use the Purcell system. They are light, and stash into a small package. They also have a number of other uses.
I've been on SAR for 4 years our here and I personaly have my jugs pre-rigged and ready to go.
I'm not out to dispute anyone, I just want the record set straight.
Even if I can't speeeell.
Robert
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superbum
Nov 24, 2005, 5:22 AM
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In reply to: In reply to: lol, seems everyone was watching the SAR folks do their thing. What do you mean "lol"? Are you intimating that perhaps the climbers on scene should have done more? Aside from Kris, of course, who seems to have invested most of his day. Murf
I think he/she means that it is kinda crazy that so many climbers were out there at that particular time...I find it even more bizzare that they all seem to be members of this site. Last time I was on that wall we had the place all to ourselves...
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ksolem
Nov 24, 2005, 6:34 AM
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John, lowering on a toprope to this location is out of the question. What would have been nice was a SAR team that could ascend the fixed rope I arranged speedily. I don't mean to be mean here as far as JOSAR is concerned. These are dedicated people willing to voluntarily place themselves in situations most of us would prefer to walk away from. But, like you say, using ancient methods to take forever to ascend a fixed line just doesn't pass muster.
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roseraie
Nov 24, 2005, 9:32 AM
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In reply to: I find it even more bizzare that they all seem to be members of this site. Last time I was on that wall we had the place all to ourselves...
You obviously weren't there on a holiday weekend in prime season.
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superbum
Nov 24, 2005, 5:44 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: I find it even more bizzare that they all seem to be members of this site. Last time I was on that wall we had the place all to ourselves... You obviously weren't there on a holiday weekend in prime season.
Nope...I try to stay away from anything resembling Disneyland or a half sunken Titanic. I wish more climbers were iceskaters or bowlers or something...sigh
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thegreytradster
Nov 24, 2005, 8:44 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: I find it even more bizzare that they all seem to be members of this site. Last time I was on that wall we had the place all to ourselves... You obviously weren't there on a holiday weekend in prime season.
We had forgotten it was a three day weekend and went to Real Hidden Valley. Fredbob and Ganes were there also. A lot of us who should have known better on where the crowds would be were there also. We could only see from there, that there was some sort of serious incident on Lost Horse.
Must have been a collective mind fart on crowd avoidance that weekend.
Should have gone to Queen Mountain.
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