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Hiker injured and stranded in heavy storm
By Ed Hill
Toni and Jim
Garvey had been shopping in the Los Angeles area
and had stopped by my place for dinner. We had
just finished the main course, and were heating a
cherry pie for dessert, when Al Andrews called.
He reported that two hikers had left Desert
Center on Friday and were planning to climb Red
Tahquitz Peak and descend Andreas Canyon to Palm
Springs. They had hoped to be out Saturday
afternoon. They were carrying sleeping bags and a
little food and were unequipped for the stormy
weather that had moved in. All I could think of
is that we have the Thanksgiving dead Boy Scout
all over again.
The pie was
shoved into the refrigerator, and we drove out to
the Banning Sheriff's substation. We met the rest
of the team and learned that the missing hikers
had been hitch-hiking and could be anywhere. We
decided to secure the operation for the night and
restart in the morning after seeing if they had
obtained a wilderness permit.
At 7:30 the
phone went off. It was Jerry Muratet, one of our
coordinators. The missing hikers had gotten a
wilderness permit for Red Tahquitz Peak. I got my
gear together and drove out to Banning again. It
was raining lightly as I arrived. The girl at the
Sheriff's station told me that the rest of the
team was eating breakfast at Sambo's and deciding
what to do.
We decided to
put a team of four people high on the mountain in
case they were still up there and deploy the rest
in the desert canyons. Bernie McIlvoy, Brian
Hixson, Darryl Hand and I were to hike into
Little Tahquitz Valley and look around. John Dew
was to act as our control in Idyllwild.
We drove on up
into the storm. We encountered first rain and
then snow as we drove up to Idyllwild. We
reorganized our packs and talked the Fire
Department into driving us up to Humber Park in a
four wheel drive carry-all.
The weather
worsened as we hiked up to Saddle Junction. Snow
flurries and fog limited our visibility to about
50 feet. At the Saddle, we snowshoed over to
Tahquitz Valley by compass and instinct. We saw
no one. Even the squirrels had gone into hiding.
We crossed the valley, found Tahquitz Creek and
climbed up into Little Tahquitz Valley. It was
getting late, and we were getting cold, so we set
up camp in a big clump of trees at the lower end
of the valley.
About dark,
the wind started to come up and blew all night. I
estimated a steady wind of thirty miles per hour
with gusts up to sixty. The tent flapped and
dumped just enough frost on us to keep us from
really sleeping.
Seven thirty
the next morning, we dug ourselves out, reset up
our radio antenna that had fallen apart during
the night and learned that Don Landells was able
to fly in the lower canyons. He told us that we
were in the middle of a cloud cap. Jim Fairchild
asked us to try and hike over to Red Tahquitz
Peak and check out that portion of the PCT trail.
We figured that we could do it on a compass
course if we were careful. Bernie and I would
hike, while Darryl and Brian would straighten out
camp and dry out the wet bags.
Bernie and I
had just left camp when we got the word that the
victims had been located; one had walked out to
Palm Springs; the other was in lower Tahquitz
Canyon. We were told to hike back out to Humber.
We broke camp and started back still in thick fog
and snow. It had snowed about a foot and a half
while we were there. After wandering around a
bit, we found the Saddle and dropped down to
Humber Park.
The Sheriff
fed us a good lunch at the Alpine Pantry, and we
were off to the lowlands to dry out all of our
gear and get ready for the next one.
Mission No. 1978-054 (continued)
From the bottom UP!
By Kevin
Walker
After
returning to the Banning substation Monday
morning, and then catching a quick breakfast, the
mountain team headed by Ed Hill (see Mission No.
7854M, Tahquitz Drainage), started for Idyllwild.
The remaining team members then started for Palm
Springs. Upon reaching the Fiesta grounds of the
Agua Caliente Indian Reservation, we set up base
camp for the canyon part of the search. Don
Landells had been previously notified about the
search mission, so all we had to do was call Don
over the radio. It was still raining quite
heavily, but Don said he would give it a try.
While waiting
for the chopper to arrive, Walt went over the
search plan with Jim Fairchild. While the
mountain team would try to catch up to the two
missing men on the Red Tahquitz Ridge, and
Tahquitz Drainage area, our team, using the
helicopter, would try to cover the desert
canyons, weather permitting of course.
With the
arrival of Don, with his Bell Jet Ranger, Jim
Garvey, Don Chambers and myself climbed in and
off we went, well needless to say, the cloud
level lowered and we were unable to get near the
mouth of Andreas, so we flew back around to Palm
Springs. The cloud level was somewhat higher at
the mouth of Tahquitz Canyon, but there was quite
a bit of convection fog forming, so we did not
try Tahquitz Canyon either. As we were
approaching base, Don pointed out that the clouds
seemed to be a little bit higher at the moment.
We decided to give it a try. It was a very eerie
feeling as we flew very, very slowly up the
canyon. We were forced to stay quite close to the
canyon floor because of the heavy storm clouds.
All the while it was raining, we still forced our
way up canyon. At about the 3,000 foot level we
had to turn back because the cloud formation was
beginning to drop into the canyon. Don carefully
turned the bird around and started back to base.
Just as we landed it started raining big drops.
As soon as Don had the ship shut down, we
retreated to the not so warm, but very dry rescue
van. The radio group was very gracious and
brought us lunch, consisting of hamburgers,
French fries, and nice hot coffee. For two hours
we sat in the van hoping for a break in the
weather. While waiting, Don told us of his flying
adventures, and how he got into the helicopter
business. I could have listened to that for hours
but with a break in the rain, it was back into
the bird and flying. It seemed as if we might get
lucky this time. As the cloud lifted, Don flew up
the ridge where there was quite a bit of upward
moving air. It was extremely rough as we got
closer to the top. When we reached the 5,000 foot
level it started snowing. Icing on the windshield
started to become a problem so we started
searching back down the canyon. Avery Powers
replaced Jim Garvey in the back seat. Avery was
recovering from a bout with the flu, and the
rough air took its toll on his Stomach, so we
quickly returned to base. Jim replaced Avery, and
Walt took my place up front with Don. They were
gone only 30 minutes. After landing, Walt told me
that the air was just becoming too turbulent to
fly in. It was now 4:30 in the afternoon.
Darkness would soon set in, so we decided to stop
for the night.
Don Chambers
had to be back for work on Tuesday morning and
Jim Fairchild was going to take the rescue van
around to Idyllwild where the search was to be
intensified. That left Avery, Jim G., Walt and
myself on the desert side. Don offered a place
for us to stay at his home in Desert Hot Springs.
After considering the offer for about, two
seconds, we accepted. Upon arriving at Don's home
we were happily surprised to find that Don had
already prepared his Air Stream trailer for the
four of us to stay in, and very pleasantly
surprised to have Mrs. Landells invite us in for
a hot drink and a warm fire.
After having
the best nights sleep I have ever had on a
mission, we were awakened by Don with a 'come and
get it' cry for breakfast, (by the way, Don is
also a great fry cook). Since Avery was still a
little bit under the weather, he stayed at the
hanger (to operate a base radio and relay via the
telephone to the Idyllwild base). With Walt up
front, Jim G. and I climbed in the back, and at
6:00 a.m. we were off towards the, still, cloud
covered mountain.
Today we were
going to concentrate on Tahquitz Canyon. As we
entered the canyon it started to rain, and as we
reached the 3,000 foot level, it started to snow.
The clouds would not let us go past about 6,000
feet, so we flew around the middle portion of the
canyon hoping for a break in the clouds. The
waiting paid off, the clouds lifted and we could
see Caramba. As we neared the ridge line above
Caramba, we experienced very heavy turbulence, so
Don lipped over into the Andreas drainage to get
out of the rough air. We decided to go ahead and
check out the upper portion of Andreas. All we
saw as we worked our way down, were a few deer
and a whole lot of snow.
It was time
for fuel, we landed in front of Ann Dolleys
home in Palm Springs. After Bill Landells
finished filling up the Ranger, we lifted off
again on what was to be a very long flight.
Again, we worked our way towards Caramba. All was
going well as we approached Caramba, there was
not even much turbulence as we lipped over. Walt
and Don decided that we would work our way
towards Laws Camp while we had the chance. We
were probably about half a mile from the camp
when the softly falling snow changed to a very
heavy storm. Quickly Don turned the ship around
and started back for Caramba. To our dismay, as
we lipped over, the clouds closed in around us,
and on top of that the windshield was now,
totally, covered with snow. Carefully, very
carefully, Don flew sideways at times keeping the
side of the ridge in sight, all the time hoping
that we would not fly into a stag tree or
formation of rocks. With a little of luck and a
whole lot of great flying, Don got us down and
out of the clouds. We decided that no more could
be accomplished, so we headed back to Don's
heliport.
We had been at
the heliport for about 20 minutes when I heard
the mountain team say something to the effect,
"OK, we're heading back to base, since they
have been found." The question was, who
found them? Well, shortly after that the phone
rang with news that one of the subjects had made
his way out to Palm Springs with the help of a
day hiker who heard him calling for help. The
other missing subject was somewhere above the
third falls with an injured knee and possibly
fractured ribs. Quickly we took the rear doors
off of the bird, and put on the side racks that
assist in getting in and out during one runner
landings. Also, we prepared a pack with first aid
gear and climbing equipment. As soon as that was
done, Don, Walt, Jim G. and I lifted off for
Tahquitz Canyon.
As we neared
the third falls, Don slowed the chopper down to a
crawl, so that we could hopefully find the
injured man quickly. Since the doors were off,
and at the moment, it was not raining, Jim and I
were able to lean our heads out of the bird and
look straight down. It was a lucky thing that Don
was flying so slow, because we had just passed
the third falls when I saw the subjects
pack laying on top of some grape vines. I yelled
up to the front that I had spotted a pack, so Don
started circling over the little clearing. We had
circled over the clearing about four times when
something moved under the edge of a large
boulder. Sure enough, it was the injured man, he
finally crawled out and started waving. So with
that Don found a one runner helispot just across,
the now swollen, stream from the young man. The
three of us climbed out and worked our way over,
while Don flew back to Ann Dolleys to wait.
Upon examination, Walt found that the young man
might have some fractured ribs, and that his knee
was only bruised. Walt then wrapped an Ace
bandage around his chest, and then we roped him
up with a call-out rope and helped him back to
the helispot. With Don's return, I climbed in
first, followed by the subject. Don then flew us
out and then returned for Jim and Walt.
With all out
and safe, and no major injuries to anyone,
Mission No. 7854 was termed: Successful. I would
also like to take the opportunity to thank Don
for some of the most fantastic flying I have ever
seen. Don Landells, in my book you are the best.
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