Climber moderately injured

April 14, 1985
Joshua Tree
1985-018

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By Kevin Walker

The first thing I want to do is apologize to team members present and to Ranger Tom Patterson of Joshua Tree National Monument for any errors I might have in this article as I was not present. Due to an error on the editor's part (yours truly) no write up assignment was made for this mission.

To the best of my knowledge, Sunday late morning, a climber in the Joshua Tree National Monument took a fall and was moderately injured. It was a ground fall, and a technical rescue was not needed. What was needed was medical assistance. Knowing that RMRU had a doctor present, that being Ray Hussey, Ranger Tom Patterson came over to where RMRU was training and asked for assistance. Members present followed Tom back to where the climber was located. Dr. Ray attended to the patient while arrangements for helicopter transportation was made. At first a helicopter from the Highway Patrol was going to respond, but apparently they got tied up in something else. Ultimately, a chopper from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department responded and flew the injured subject to one of the desert hospitals.