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Search for missing hiker, Search and Rescue member injured
By Lee Arnson
Search...RECOVERY...RESCUE!
As of
Sunday, December 15, it had been almost two
months since RMRU had received a mission
call-out. When my pager went off that evening, I
excitedly called the rescue room and was told
that there was an overdue hiker who at last
report was somewhere in the Tahquitz Peak area. I
responded to Humber Park, where Henry Negrete was
setting up base as Operations Leader.
Henry
said that the reporting party had informed him
that her husband, Alex Toubia, had left earlier
in the day eager to try out his new in-step
crampons. He was expected home by 3:00pm. It was
now 9:00pm and he had not yet returned. Time was
considered a critical factor in light of the
weather, so the decision was made to call in
other rescue teams to assist us.
I was
paired up with Ralph Hoetger, a new member to the
team, and we were assigned to hike up
Devils Slide Trail, intersect the Pacific
Crest Trail, and proceed towards Tahquitz Peak.
We would eventually intercept a second RMRU team
(Bill Blaschko and Jim Taylor) coming up South
Ridge Trail towards the Peak from the opposite
direction. There was no snow at base, but within
half an hour hike up the trail, conditions became
somewhat dangerous with 20 inches of hard packed
snow and ice. Ralph and I proceeded, wearing
12-point crampons and with ice axes in hand.
Shortly
after passing through Saddle Junction, (2.4 miles
from base) we picked up a set of in-step crampon
tracks heading in the direction of the peak.
Ralph and I took turns following the tracks in
the light of our headlamps. We radioed Bill and
Jim who were investigating similar tracks they
had just come upon below the peak. The tracks
both our teams were following led us to each
other, and then abruptly disappeared.
It
was now about 2:00am. We were at 8,500
elevation, and were encountering high winds that
were pushing a dense fog up the mountain face
from the valley below. We were on a 50 degree
slope and knew that our next task would be to
search the main snow chute. We did not need four
people for this job, so Jim and Ralph headed back
to base via Devils Slide.
Bill
and I searched two separate fall lines that were
about 25 apart, until they merged together
some 300 below our current position.
Visibility had grown increasingly worse, but we
eventually spotted Mr. Toubias body. It
appeared that he had fallen about 250, his
body coming to rest against a large pine tree,
probably dying instantly.
Bill
and I needed to get back to base to discuss the
details of what had now become a body
recovery...there was nothing more we could there.
We arrived back at Humber Park at 5:00am. Henry
determined that recovery operations could best be
managed from the Keenwild Heliport, and base was
moved to that location. Bill, Jim, and Ralph had
to go to work, so I was teamed up with long time
member Bob Baker for the recovery. We were to be
assisted by four members of the San Gorgonio
Search and Rescue team who had arrived the
previous evening to help with the search. The
Riverside County Sheriffs helicopter flew
us to Chinquapin Flats, a good landing zone that
was just a short hike to the recovery site. In
the now clear light of day, Mr. Toubias
body could be seen from the trail. I anchored a
300 rope to a large pine tree on the uphill
side of the trail, and Bob and I rappelled down
to the site. We were followed by Tom Rutledge and
Phil Calvert of the San Gorgonio team.
|
Pictured above, "Star
80", the Hughes 500E turbine
powered helicopter owned and operated by
the
Riverside County Sheriff's Department
during a
recent training exercise. The helicopter
played
a major role in saving a life during the
rescue mission |
The
recovery itself was text-book. We congratulated
one another on a job well done, and began to
gather gear so that we could head back to the
landing zone. I was ready first and started to
make my way to the rope anchored above. The snow
conditions were perfect for ice axe and crampon
travel and I was happy to be on my way. An
unfortunate assignment seemed to be successfully
completed.
I
paused to catch my breath and check on the
progress of those behind me, when I heard someone
yell. As I looked back at the recovery site, Tom
Rutledge from the San Gorgonio team had fallen
and was sliding feet first on his stomach down
the steep snow chute we had just recovered Mr.
Toubia from. I yelled for him to self arrest with
his ice axe, but within a matter of seconds he
must have accelerated to 40 mph. Tom was heading
straight for a large Ponderosa Pine which I
thought might stop his fall. When he hit the
tree, it knocked him completely out of control.
Now, with or without his ice axe there was
nothing he could do. He continued to pin-ball off
of trees and rocks for about 1,000 until I
lost sight of him.
Bob
immediately began to descend the chute in pursuit
of Tom, while radioing base for an emergency
evacuation. It took me a moment to get over the
shock of seeing a fellow volunteer rescue member
fall like this, but I was soon descending the
chute to assist Bob in what had now become an
emergency rescue. Tom had come to rest face down
in some tree branches about three feet off the
ground. He was unconscious and bleeding from the
mouth. When we first arrived, Toms
respirations were as low as eight, but within a
few minutes rose to fifteen. His breathing was
labored and he was having a very difficult time.
Even though he was unconscious, we verbally
assured him that help was on the way, believing
that he could somehow hear what we were saying.
Within
minutes, Henry Negrete was flown in to this new
accident site with the Stokes Litter. The three
of us placed Tom into the litter, packaged him,
and lifted him into the hovering helicopter as
the pilot performed a very tricky one-skid
maneuver. He arrived at Desert Hospital four
minutes later! Henry, Bob, myself, and especially
Tom were very fortunate to have had the
Countys best pilot and observer flying for
us that day. We all owe a debt of gratitude to
Tony Bowen and Kurt Franklin of the Riverside
County Sheriffs Dept.
Tom
Rutledge spent the next two weeks in a coma with
several broken bones, including cracked ribs, a
ruptured spleen, and severe head and neck
injuries. We are very glad to be able to report
that Tom came out of his coma on New Years
Day 1998, and is currently in rehabilitation.
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