3 hikers (2 are kids) missing in Zion NP on Fat Man's Misery

[izzy]

They are physically unharmed and have been provided food/water while working to get them off the cliff. I suspect they heard the helicopter and were trying to get to higher ground to be seen, but we'll see.

[Suz_AZ]

More good news. Thanks for the update!! I'm sure the family is very thankful for all the folks working on this rescue.

Looks like there might be some noteworthy wind issues in the area http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/get...id=KSGU&num=72 which could be complicating the helicopter crew's work. I'm sure it seems like it is taking an eternity to get them off that ledge and it might take another night....but in the grand scheme of things they will get them home.

[moab mark]

They are physically unharmed and have been provided food/water while working to get them off the cliff. I suspect they heard the helicopter and were trying to get to higher ground to be seen, but we'll see.

Izzy,

Thanks for all the info, do you work for Zion National Park?

[Suz_AZ]

izzy is a family member of the missing folks and 1500 miles away....per PM.

[izzy]

No, not a park employee, just a family member who felt kind of helpless half a continent away. Anyway, I just got word that they're out! I'll see if I can find what the problem was.

[Suz_AZ]

Woohoo! Great news!

[jhillock]

Very interesting. 2 of us did rock canyon today and heard a helicopter flying around in the vicinity of what we thought would be fat man's and one of us said, "hope that's not search and rescue." Glad everyone made it out safely.

[izzy]

From what I understand, they simply took a wrong turn on the way in and rappelled down something that was larger than anything on the intended route (notice I didn't say trail ). At that point, it made more sense to proceed towards the river and look for another way out than to try scaling the cliff. Unfortunately, after another rappel, they found themselves on a 300' ledge with only 240' of rope (somewhere near the Parunuweap...maybe actually overlooking the river) and were forced to sleep there two nights. Eventually, thanks to the SAR (not sure if it was Zion guys or not, but they are some of the best there are from what I hear), they were spotted and plucked out.

[jman]

From what I understand, they simply took a wrong turn on the way in and rappelled down something that was larger than anything on the intended route (notice I didn't say trail ). At that point, it made more sense to proceed towards the river and look for another way out than to try scaling the cliff. Unfortunately, after another rappel, they found themselves on a 300' ledge with only 240' of rope (somewhere near the Parunuweap...maybe actually overlooking the river) and were forced to sleep there two nights. Eventually, thanks to the SAR (not sure if it was Zion guys or not, but they are some of the best there are from what I hear), they were spotted and plucked out.

Glad everything turned out good!
As it is easy to get lost if you are not paying attention, or read a topo wrong, etc...at least they DIDN'T break rule#1 of hiking/canyoneering which is to tell someone where you are going (at the very least).

[accadacca]

Glad to hear that they have been found and are okay. Thanks for the updates. And please keep them coming...

BTW...is one of them a member of Bogley?

[izzy]

Glad to hear that they have been found and are okay. Thanks for the updates. And please keep them coming...

No problem.

BTW...is one of them a member of Bogley?

Nope.

[oldno7]

Glad to hear they were rescued.

[Alex]

Glad everything worked out good. May I suggest you tell them to get SPOT for the next adventure. It would have cut down their wait time in half if they had it and the family would have known what's going on right away.

[Bo_Beck]

One of my friends is on this search team.
Last night in an email while prepping for a 5am start he wrote:
--Hastily packing, not sure if it will be one day or more. I think the plan is for 3 of us to start in through the bottom of another canyon then rap down somewhere to look for footprints if none found jumar out. If we find some we follow.--

I believe there was rain yesterday, even hail in the valley. Spoke briefly to some other friends that had just exited Heaps and they said the weather got "bad" right at the hardest part of Heaps for them...I'm guessing mid afternoon.

Sending lots of positive energy to the missing folks, the family and friends, as well as the search team.

Suz, that was Paul and it was Paul, Dan and Myself that went down the exit to Fat Mans, then proceeded to Labyrinth Falls, then rapped Labyrinth and hiked Parunuweap. About 1.5 miles below Labyrinth we heard screaming and pinpointed the 3 hikers about 500' up in a small slot. It was a sheer 500' cliff and apparently they had rapped down 150' or so and then realized that they were stuck We called in the chopper. A team was flown on top and extricated the 3 all in good health I left EOC at 7:30PM after a 16 hour day so I don't know the particulars? We got back from Parunuweap before the rest arrived back to EOC. A good thing the folks were keeping an eye out below, because we'd have never seen them if they hadn't yelled. They were at least 900' away from us and the sound of the river almost muffled their yells. There was little chance they'd have been spotted from the Air?

[oldno7]

Great effort Bo....
WOW, these guys were way off the fatmans route.

[Bo_Beck]

From what I understand, they simply took a wrong turn on the way in and rappelled down something that was larger than anything on the intended route (notice I didn't say trail ). At that point, it made more sense to proceed towards the river and look for another way out than to try scaling the cliff. Unfortunately, after another rappel, they found themselves on a 300' ledge with only 240' of rope (somewhere near the Parunuweap...maybe actually overlooking the river) and were forced to sleep there two nights. Eventually, thanks to the SAR (not sure if it was Zion guys or not, but they are some of the best there are from what I hear), they were spotted and plucked out.

They were pretty far off course! They were at least 500' up, maybe 600' ? They certainly did the right thing by staying put, but I must commend them for having the wits to watch below. They spotted us and screamed with all their might. Secondly, they had accumulated firewood and started a fire/smoke to insure that we would spot them. I really don't know how long they would have sat up there if we hadn't hiked Parunuweap? Give them my thanks for spotting us and for screaming at us below, we'd have never seen them. I'm extremely happy they are all OK.

[Bo_Beck]

Great effort Bo....
WOW, these guys were way off the fatmans route.

Thanks Curt,
It was an interesting day to say the least. We got to Labyrinth and sat for probably 2 hours or more. We hadn't seen any evidence that they might have passed through, but made the decision (along with the decision and blessing of Andrew, SAR Ops.) to continue down Parunuweap. Dan, Paul and I thought there would be fat-chance that we might locate them, but under WINCASIE we could at least deem the area as part of the search and plug it in so that it would become a small percentage, P.O.A. (probability of area), and let us focus more resources in other areas. I guess someone was looking down and over us yesterday (literally) as we spotted the hikers not much more than an hour after rapping Labyrinth. I'm just really thankful, as this could have turned out differently had the hikers not been keeping an eagle eye out at the river below.

[Bo_Beck]

Eventually, thanks to the SAR (not sure if it was Zion guys or not, but they are some of the best there are from what I hear), they were spotted and plucked out.

Thanks Izzy,
There were a lot of people involved on the search, and yes....highly trained and skilled. Yesterday there were 2 ground teams (one team sweeping "Misery" and another reversing and continuing after the exit), and a highly trained and skilled "Air Team". After the hikers were located, a very skilled high angle team was formed and flown in to affect the rescue. Glad your relatives were found unharmed.

[erial]

So were they at the Crawford Wash pouroff or further east?

Did you all have to retrace your steps or were you able to continue on thru Pweap?

[seb42]

A canyon story with a happy ending !

Way to go Bo and everyone else involved with the rescue!

Planning to do Fat Man's on June 29th