|
  |
Hiker fell through ice covered water
By Kevin Walker
It seems that
every time there is a weekday mission, the call
comes just before lunch. Today was no different.
At 11:45 the pagers went off with news of a
search in the San Jacinto Mountains. After
checking with the team coordinator I was told
that we were to meet at Camp Maranatha, and that
a helicopter had been ordered. Even though it was
a warm day down in the low lands, it was quite
cold up on the mountain. While enroute to
Idyllwild we came across two auto accidents
apparently related to icy road conditions, since
the highway patrol and the ambulance were on the
scene we were able to continue on.
Upon reaching
Camp Maranatha, Walt and I were met by Don
Landells and his Jet Ranger, CPA. Canova and Sgt.
Weakly from the Banning Station of the Riverside
County Sheriff's Department. CPA. Canova informed
us that a second call for a missing hiker had
just been phoned in. It was decided that Wait and
I would fly with Don and see what we could see
while the rest of the team was enroute.
After loading
our packs and snow shoes into the bird, we lifted
off for the big mountain (the high country in the
San Jacintos'.) Both hikers (hiking separately)
told their wives that they were going to snow
shoe cross-country to Mt. San Jacinto via Marion
Mountain. Sure enough, there were two sets of
tracks heading towards Mt. San Jacinto. Only one
set made it to the peak though. Don let Walt and
I off on the peak with our snow shoes. We then
snow-shoe-skied in knee deep powder snow down to
the summit shelter. After checking the shelter
register Walt found that one of the hikers spent
the night at the cabin and had stated that he was
fine and having a fantastic time. Just after that
Don flew by and radioed to us that the one hiker
who had spent the night in the cabin had just
hiked out to Humber Park.
One down and
one to go. After making our way back to the
summit, Don picked us up and we were off to
Marion Mountain where the tracks seemed to split.
After checking closer we found that the tracks
were heading down the Wellman Ridge. As we moved
further down the ridge the tracks started
drifting towards the Tahquitz drainage. Making an
educated guess Walt and Don decided to fly over
Caramba and just see if the hiker had made it
that far. Just as we flew over the narrows at
Caramba, I Spotted a lone set of tracks going
through the ice covered rocks. With that we flew
back towards Saddle Junction so that we could
notify base that we were going to search our way
down Tahquitz Canyon, and that we would be out of
radio contact. Once back at Caramba, we started
to fly slowly down the canyon. We were
approximately 1000 feet below Caramba when Walt
spotted the hiker waving at us from the canyon
bottom. It now seemed that finding him was the
easy part, the hard part would be to find
somewhere to let us out. After looking for a few
minutes Don found a spot where he said he was
willing to try. That wasn't encouraging, but it
did seem to be the best. Don carefully maneuvered
the bird into position over a very small clearing
on the side of the canyon. Once in position, I
dropped the packs out into the snow. Now came the
exciting part. Since I was on the pilots side in
the back I was to make the first jump. Speaking
of first jumps, this would be my first jump on an
actual mission, instead of Don's soft grass at
his heliport where the team practices. Oh well,
with Don's nod it was out on the runner, and one
more nod jump ... luckily instead of rock
underneath the snow it was only a scrub oak.
After Walt joined me on the ground, Don left for
Palm Springs and jet fuel. We slowly made our way
down to the canyon floor. Soon we were in voice
contact, and soon after that we had visual
contact. Our missing hiker was quite wet and very
cold. I took his pack and Walt assisted him back
up the side of the canyon with the use of a call
out rope. It was slow going working our way back
up through the snow covered brush. Normally there
would be no problem about time, but darkness was
beginning to set in, needless to say we moved
just as fast as possible. Once back at the
helispot the hiker told us how he could see Palm
Springs, and how close it seemed to be. He
thought that it would be a quick way off the
mountain when he became lost. After asking how he
got wet, he explained that he was trying to make
it past an ice covered water fall when he slipped
and fell into a pool of water covered by ice.
With his pack still on and under the ice, he
poked a hole in the ice and was able to get his
head out to breath. He had just climbed out when
we flew over. Lucky man!
After a short
wait, Don returned. Since daylight was a factor,
there was no time to have Don go back for brush
cutting tools. So ... Don rested his right runner
in the crotch of an old scrub oak tree. I climbed
up onto the runner, and then Walt handed me all
the gear, and then I climbed into the bird and
Don flew me down to the old Doggy helispot. While
I waited there, Don flew back up the canyon and
picked up the hiker and Walt. It took a little
time to help the hiker into the chopper, but Walt
finally got him in and then a quick flight back
to get me, and then back over the mountain to
Idyllwild.
|
  |