14-year-old boy stranded
By Walt Walker
It was early
Saturday evening when we received word that a 14
year old boy was stranded in the foothills west
of Whitewater Canyon. When we arrived at the
roadhead we learned that Brian Reinert and a
friend were hiking downhill when Brian slipped
and fell. He was not injured, but he was stranded
in a very dangerous spot.
We drove up a
dirt road for about four miles, where we were met
by the informant David Wilshire. Having had
experience in this area in the past, we knew
there would be no natural anchors (large rocks or
trees). So out came the snow pickets along with
our normal pile of rope and hardware.
It was only a five minute hike
downhill to where we could look down on Brian,
who was astride a narrow dirt ridge, with long
drops off on both sides. While team members began
working at the task of trying to set up anchors
in the rock ground, Bernie McIlvoy got the no d
to descend to the stranded boy. Bernie tied into
one rope and snapped a second rope onto his
harness for Brian.
There were
hundreds of rocks sticking out of the 70-80° slope. The potential danger, due to
rock falls was extreme. Bernie started his rappel
and slowly tested some of the large rocks. When
Bernie had descended the 50 feet to Brian, he
quickly secured the rope around him.
Other team
members had set up a hauling system while Bernie
had descended. They were now ready to haul Brian
up while Bernie would Jumar up his rope. Brian
was about 10 feet up from his perch when a rock
broke loose and landed right in front of Bernie.
The rock was about the size of a basketball. Had
it struck Bernie? I don't even like to think of
the possibilities. The hauling continued and
Brian was shortly at the top.
The pickets
that we had been watching so closely, proved to
be very secure. We could not get them out. This
was one time when we were not saddened to leave
some equipment behind. It was worth it, another
life had been saved!
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