Eighteen year old male falls
By Phil Thompson
At about 21:30 the page went out for
RMRU to respond to Humber Park to rescue a fallen
hiker. Ten members responded to the call. After a
short briefing at Humber Park a two person hasty
team was sent to the site with medical gear.
David Carrick, an 18 year old from a private high
school in Fresno, had tripped while hiking on the
north side of Tahquitz rock, this area is known
to be very hazardous with it being very steep
with loose rocks everywhere. David was part of
group of other seniors taking part in a senior
weekend party. They had come to Humber Park to do
a little hiking around, however when they got to
Humber Parl they went off in all directions from
the school vans that brought them. Some had gone
as groups others apparently gone by themselves.
David had been one of the ones that went by
himself. While hiking up at the base of Tahquitz
he slipped and fell an unknown distance landing
face down in some rocks. While falling he both
heard and felt his neck crack. He was very smart
at this point and thought that he should not move
his body until help arrived. Very fortunately for
him one of the counselors with the group just
happened upon him by chance. He then sent some of
the other boys down to get help while he stayed
with David.
When the RMRU hasty team arrived on
site they did an in-depth medical exam while a
second team was in route with a special litter
that has a big wheel under it. Even before the
second team arrived on scene, a third team was
sent up from base to assist. David was stabilized
into the litter and began the hard slow decent
back down to base camp. He would have to be
belayed with ropes all the way back down to base
camp. After 2 ½ hours the seven person RMRU team
had David back to base camp and in to the waiting
Idyllwild ambulance. After a debriefing the RMRU
members hurried home at 4 am to try to get a
couple of hours sleep before starting their
normal jobs in the morning as if nothing had
happened.
David was transported to Loma Linda
hospital where it was later found that he had a
broken upper jaw and had fractured C-1 and C-2 of
his spine.
The lesson to be learned here is
always hike with at least one other person. Had
the counselor not come across him by chance, RMRU
would have had several square miles to search for
him once he did not show up at the vans. We would
not even been able to track him due to the
terrain. This could have been a very long and
difficult search for the very injured missing
person.
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