Climber injured
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.
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