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Man stranded on cliff that gave way
By Kevin
Walker
At 8:30 the pager went off and
interrupted an exciting episode of CHiPs. The
voice at the other end requested that RMRU
members contact Jim Fairchild at home, for a
rescue in the Rubidoux area.
Normally us
folks out in the San Jacinto area are the first
to arrive at missions in the San Jacinto's, but
not this time. I gathered my gear and had my
wife, Patrice, drop me off at the rescue garage
to pick up the No. 1 van. Then after picking up
Walt Walker at home, we headed in the opposite
direction (from the mountain) to Riverside. Jim
had the No. 2 van, and directed us into Hawley
Quarry.
Jim had been
there for about 20 minutes and had already
gathered information. James Black and Jon Chaney
had decided to go hiking in the quarry in the
early evening. James was walking along a narrow
ledge approximately 200 feet above the bottom of
the quarry when the ledge gave out behind him and
collapsed. James found himself in a tough spot.
He could not go on any further, nor could he go
back. His friend Jon then went back and contacted
the Riverside Sheriff, who then contacted RMRU.
Jim said that
he thought that we could lower someone down from
above James, and then traverse over to him. So,
we gathered up the necessary technical gear and
hiked over (appr. 1/4 mile) to where the operation would take
place. After deciding where the best spot was,
John Dew and Walt started setting up the main
anchors (with snow pickets), and Jim and Bob
Attride set up the belay anchor. That left yours
truly to be assigned to go over the side.
Once
everything was set up and then re-checked
(safety), I clipped into the rope. I was lowered
about 75 feet to where I could traverse over to a
very relieved James Black. While I put a sit
harness and helmet on James (the rock fall hazard
was extreme), the crew on top changed the system
over to 3 to 1 mechanical advantage. With the
system ready after a short wait, and James now
tied into the rope just below me, we started
across and then up the near vertical slope.
Everything went smoothly except for a couple of
near misses from hard ball size rocks that we
dislodged as the rope slid along the slope.
Shortly though, we reached the top. After getting
James untied from the system, Bob walked James
back to the road and his friends. The rest of us
coiled rope and dug out some very stubborn
pickets from the hard hillside.
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