Climber injured

June 16, 1979
Tahquitz Rock
1979-023

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By Rick Pohlers

It was late afternoon when the pager went off signaling the start of another epic rescue. A climber was stranded (again) on Tahquitz (Lily) rock. Less than an hour later, the trusty pager informed us the mission was over. Other climbers must have helped the poor, dumb guy off; so back to mowing the lawn.

A few grass clippings later, another call came in for the mission. This time the climber was injured. Well, at least, he'd stay put until we got there.

At the roadhead in Humber Park, we learned that our services might not be appreciated by the climbers. So we hung around much longer than is normal for us before sending up a team disguised as a Brownie troop to find out what was going on.

Not too long after that, the troop radioed back that the victim was, indeed, injured (broken ankle) and that he was extremely grateful and appreciative of our services. It was the usual communications SNAFU.

So off went Walt, Jim, John, and Rick with the wheeled litter to join the now identifiable rescuers in the field: Larry, Joe, Hal, and Bernie.

We made it up to the base of the rock in record time due to the superior age and strength of the veteran team members. We quickly but carefully tied in the poor victim. The victim was a person of some medical knowledge and praised our efforts in careful handling in a rough environment.

Back at the parking lot, the victim was carefully put in his friend's car and whisked back home to a hospital, while we whisked off to another sumptuous meal at Denny's.