Dramatic rescue of hiker found in slot canyon in S. Utah

[Scout Master]

WASHINGTON COUNTY - Search and rescue crews found a missing hiker Tuesday morning in the Red Mountain area near Ivins.

Jim Williamson, 49, an experienced hiker from Salt Lake City and missing since Sunday, was found in a slot canyon close to the Gunsight Trail on Red Mountain.

He was taken to the Dixie Regional Medical Center in critical condition and is now in stable condition.

On Sunday, Williamson planned on running in the Snow Canyon area, but changed his plans and instead ran the trails on Red Mountain. He called a friend informing her of his change in plans.



Courtesy Washington County Sheriff's Office Around noon, he called his friend again, telling her he was above Three Ponds and was en route back to his vehicle. He stated he was low on water, but thought that he had enough to make it back.

Williamson's friend called authorities around 4 p.m. when she hadn't heard from him again.

Washington County Sheriff's Search and Rescue initiated the search at that time, but didn't find Williamson until Tuesday morning, almost 48 hours after he went missing.

In a dramatic rescue, crews used a litter and ropes to remove Williamson from the slot canyon and was then flown to the hospital.

[bbennett]

I've always dreamed about landing on a pinnacle like that. Great picture!

[JP]

:2thumbs: to those rescue workers and especially to that pilot :nod:

[Scout Master]

Whitch one is BO

[trackrunner]

Whitch one is BO

Bo is on Zion SAR not Washington County SAR. He has helped with Washington County SAR in the recent past. Don't know if he was asked to help on this one.

Cool rescue. Looks like we've got a new slot canyon to explore.

[trackrunner]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHeCORxU_mI&feature=player_embedded

[Scott Card]

Cool rescue. Looks like we've got a new slot canyon to explore. Yes, but the pot hole escape technique looks a bit spendy.

[ratagonia]

Cool rescue. Looks like we've got a new slot canyon to explore. Yes, but the pot hole escape technique looks a bit spendy.

Consider it part of the 'stimulus package' - then it starts looking pretty good.

T :moses:

[theking648]

:2thumbs: that pilot :hail2thechief: WOW what a rescue

[Cirrus2000]

Amazing stuff! Cool as it is, I don't know that I'd want to be one of the guys crouched down below as the chopper was manoeuvring to touch down. Looks dodgy!

[Kent K25]

I wondered what that chopper was doing buzzing around all day. They occasionally fly around near our house for training, good to see that training has paid off.

[Bo_Beck]

Whitch one is BO

Bo is on Zion SAR not Washington County SAR. He has helped with Washington County SAR in the recent past. Don't know if he was asked to help on this one.

Cool rescue. Looks like we've got a new slot canyon to explore.

Yep....I was not involved, but know most of the folks on Wa. Cnty. SAR. I live just below Red Mountain and have hiked a LOT where the incident took place. I love doing Solo loops up on the Mountain. It is very rugged terrain and leaves me to question what the hiker was doing up there at the location he was found? The topography is quite complex, but at the same time very straight forward. I truly believe that folks at least need to pick up a map and study it a bit before embarking on a Red Mountain Adventure (or carry a map with). A few months back another woman was missing and I volunteered to help with the search and at this time I soloed the same route where this fellow was found (and several other locations) as a volunteer looking for the eventual discovery of her body at the base of a 600' cliff. If he had at least looked at a map, he would have known that exiting where he was is a band of vertical headwalls. There are 3 very accessible routes to descend very nearby? Common Sense???????????????????????????????????????? I'm so pleased that he was found alive and mostly intact!

[erial]

cbs evening news (east coast) did a short bit tonight on the rescue focusing in on the harrowing helipad.

[Bo_Beck]

cbs evening news (east coast) did a short bit tonight on the rescue focusing in on the harrowing helipad.

It is amazing what these pilots can and will do to save a life. Last year after we had hiked Royal Arch Creek to Elves Chasm looking for a couple of lost hikers, the GC Pilot maneuvered the MD900 onto a rock along the Colo. River to pick us up and I was amazed! The rock was the size of the skids dimensionally! Probably the most exciting insertion for me though was landing atop a small knife edge above the popular climb "Space Shot" in Zion. The skids hung over a 1000' cliff on the front and hung over a 500' cliff on the rear! I was glad to exit the chopper and get my feet on solid rock! We then rapelled down to the climber below.

[Iceaxe]

It is amazing what these pilots can and will do to save a life.

They also crash and burn with some regularity. 3 of the 4 members of the Life Flight crew noted in the story below were killed in a chopper crash not long after the story was written. I had spent some time talking with them about the Leprechaun rescue two days before they were killed.

Leprechaun Canyon
http://climb-utah.com/Powell/leprechaun2.htm

Seems like you hear about a rescue flight going down about once a year, which is a lot when you realize there numbers a low to begin with.

:popcorn:

[Bo_Beck]

It is amazing what these pilots can and will do to save a life.

They also crash and burn with some regularity. 3 of the 4 members of the Life Flight crew noted in the story below were killed in a chopper crash not long after the story was written. I had spent some time talking with them about the Leprechaun rescue two days before they were killed.

Leprechaun Canyon
http://climb-utah.com/Powell/leprechaun2.htm

Seems like you hear about a rescue flight going down about once a year, which is a lot when you realize there numbers a low to begin with.

:popcorn:

Great read! I certainly am glad that the outcome of this "Man Trip" was a good one.

Yes helicopters do crash periodically! On the search for the woman that was missing on Red Mountain several months back, the Sheriffs Dept. asked me if I wanted a flight to the top of the mountain. I declined. I much prefer to pound the ground unless necessary.

Just curious? The 3 LifeFlight crew members that perished. Were they involved in the collision over Flagstaff?

[erial]

Even routine medical transports can end tragically:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/medical-helicopters/fatal-crashes.html