Hunter tumbled 200 feet
By Bruce
Gahagan
At 9:30 the
phone rang, and at the other end was Walt Walker.
I was told of an injured man in the Anza Borrego
area. With that, I called fellow member Glenn
Henderson, to car pool to the road-head in Anza.
We met at the
CDF station and then drove to the gate where the
dirt road starts down Coyote Canyon. Information
was as follows, William Marsden and several
companions had been deer hunting up Horse Canyon
which is a tributary to Coyote Canyon. While
ascending a knife edge ridge, William slipped in
the loose gravel and tumbled down nearly 200feet.
In doing so fractured his leg.
To get to the
base of the ridge, a two hour drive in with four
wheel drives was required. Assisting RMRU was the
Hemet team with several of their people in jeeps.
Glenn had his Bronco, so with every one loaded we
started out. It was a long and rough trip in. And
not without casualties The Anza four wheel drive
ambulance had started in before we arrived, and
along the way had bent a rim which caused the
tire to go flat. The CDF gave us a spare to take
in to the ambulance. Also along the way one of
the Hemet jeeps lost a tire. Never the less we
made it to the hunters base camp. Talk about
being ready to hike. After such a difficult trip
in, it was good to get out.
With packs on
we headed up the steep ridge. It was about a half
hour hike/climb to where William had fallen.
Field leader Bernie McIlvoy descended to the side
of where William had tumbled earlier as the rock
fall danger was extreme. After surveying the
situation Bernie came to the conclusion that a
technical raise was out of the question because
of the danger to William and rescue members. We
radioed out the info to Walt at base. The plan
was to use a helicopter and sling load William
out in a litter. It was only a short time and the
word came back. Landells Aviation would be
enroute at first light. We went ahead and
sprinted Williams injury and made him more
comfortable in a sleeping bag.
After spending
a long night standing around a small fire to keep
warm, it was indeed a nice sight to see the
helicopter approach. On board was Walt, and late
comers John Muratet, Joe Erickson and Kevin
Walker who I think was late because he was afraid
to scratch his jeep or get it stuck.
At this point
things moved right along. Several of us loaded
William into the litter and secured him and
hooked up the horizontal rigging system. On the
top the helicopter sling was readied, and in no
time we were ready to go. Don lifted up and
lipped over and maneuvered down the chute and
above the litter to where we were waiting. Once
in position Bernie hooked the litter to the
sling. Don then slowly raised the helicopter up.
Carefully, Don then moved back up to the ridge,
and set the litter back down with a little help
from the ground personnel.
We then loaded
William into the back of the bird, and Don flew
him out to Anza and the waiting ambulance. Don
then returned and flew us and all the technical
equipment back to the vehicles below. As Don
headed for home we could not help but be envious
of him as his ride home would be faster and a lot
smoother than what lie ahead of us.
Editor's Note:
Words can not tell of the skill and expertise
needed to air lift a subject out, underneath the
helicopter. This was only the second time in the
teams history that this has been required.
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