Multiple Zion Technical Rescues

[Iceaxe]

From the NPS Morning Reported dated July 26, 2011

Zion National Park (UT)
Rangers Conduct Multiple Technical Rescues

The park's search and rescue team conducted four canyoneering rescues in three days, then took on a big wall rescue of two injured climbers:

July 16th - On the morning of July 16th, a 20-year-old man suffered a lower leg fracture after a short fall while descending into Mystery Canyon. When the injury occurred, he was over a quarter mile and 400 vertical feet below the canyon rim in a steep, heavily-vegetated gully. When rangers arrived on scene, he told them he'd be willing to assist with his evacuation, but that he could not bear any weight on the injured leg. Over the next six hours, he laboriously worked his way to the canyon rim with rangers' assistance while the park's contract helicopter staged at a nearby landing zone. His fortitude prevented the need for a complex technical rope rescue or a helicopter short haul. When he arrived on the East Mesa Trail, the helicopter evacuated him from the wilderness. While this incident was occurring, rangers were alerted to a 37-year-old male in the Narrows who was unable to stand or walk. The man, who was suffering from cumulative knee and lower leg injuries, had stopped hiking and sent others out to seek help. Though he had intended to complete the strenuous, 16-mile route as a day trip on July 15th, he spent an unplanned night in the Narrows. Members of the park SAR team conducted a six-hour litter carry of the patient via the park's SAR pack raft.

July 17th - A group of seven canyoneers in Imlay Canyon requested help for two people who had taken separate falls. Members of the group began their descent of Imlay on July 16th. This canyon has one of the park's more difficult canyoneering routes, with over 20 rappels, extremely cold water, and numerous potholes requiring specialized techniques for escape. As group members were completing a 10 foot rappel using a log jammed crosswise in the canyon as an anchor, the log anchor failed and the 20-year-old man who was on the rope suffered a possible lower leg fracture. The injured man was moved a short distance down canyon to a wide area and all spent the night there. In the morning, one party member stayed with the injured man while the remaining five canyoneers continued on the route, promising to send help once their trip was complete. Early in the evening of July 17th, they arrived at the last rappel 140 feet above the Zion Narrows. The first canyoneer to complete the free-hanging rappel then hurried to the Temple of Sinawava Trailhead two miles downstream to report the incident. Group members were using the carabineer block technique at the anchor, allowing party members to rappel on one strand of rope while using two strands of rope tied together to function as a pull cord. If used correctly, a carabineer and knot jam against the anchor prevents the rope from pulling through the anchor while the canyoneer is on rope. Connecting the rappel device to the correct side of the anchor is critical. The second-to-last party member to descend the last rappel attached her device on the wrong side of the anchor; when she put weight on it, she fell the entire distance into the shallow water below - a distance equivalent to 13 stories. Her life was likely saved by the friction or bunching of the rope whipping through the anchor, slowing her fall just enough at the last second. While a ranger at the trailhead was taking information concerning the initial lower leg fracture, a visitor rushed to the trailhead to report that a woman had fallen 140 feet. Rangers quickly organized a carryout via raft litter and evacuated the woman to the trailhead, arriving shortly after midnight. Her most serious injury was a shattered ankle. On the morning of July 18th, Grand Canyon National Park's contract helicopter and short-haul team evacuated the man with the initial lower leg fracture out of the center of Imlay Canyon. The use of short haul prevented the need for a long, difficult technical rope rescue. Charges concerning the group's wilderness permit violations are pending.

July 19th - Just after 11 p.m. on July 19th, flashing lights and shouts for help were seen and heard from halfway up the vertical cliff face below Angels Landing, prompting a shuttle bus driver to alert park rangers. Using a patrol vehicle PA system, spotlight and headlamp flashes, rangers were able to communicate with the climbers. They determined that there were two climbers on the Northeast Buttress and that at least one had fallen and suffered a head injury. Before calling for help, the climbers had attempted to retreat but did not have enough rope to clear a huge free hanging rappel. They'd also discovered that their single 70-meter rope had been badly damaged. Members of the park's technical rescue team rallied early the next morning at the top of Angels Landing for the rescue. The Zion helitack crew supported the team with recon flights and a sling load of ropes and equipment. Helicopter recon proved critical in establishing the appropriate fall line for the ensuing 1,300-foot lowering operation. The team used two high directionals to help keep the mainline free of obstacles. As ranger/paramedic Brandon Torres was lowered approximately 700 feet to the climbers, he carefully cleared debris to significantly reduce rock fall hazard. The climbers, brothers aged 34 and 31, were in stable condition and able to describe the events of the previous day. They'd gotten off route on the fifth or sixth pitch of the Northeast Buttress. Once off route, each had taken separate and substantial falls - one had sustained hand injuries and the other hit his head and lost consciousness for a short time. Torres connected the climbers to the rescue system and all three were lowered another 600 feet to the ground. The climbers were on the ground by 1:30 p.m. Ranger Therese Picard served as operations chief.

[Submitted by Andrew Fitzgerald and Ray O

[jman]

Man those SAR folks are incredible with the amount of rescues that week.

Didn't realize that the Imlay group was in permit violation...

Amazingly though, no fatalities given the MOI.

[Don]

Kudos to Zion SAR.
And I'm always interested in reading these reports. Thanks for posting Shane.

[Iceaxe]

Didn't realize that the Imlay group was in permit violation...

Just for giggles it would be interesting to know what the violation was for.....

Kudos to Zion SAR.

x2

[canyonguru]

As i was hiking up to mystery canyon on the 20th we saw the Heli flying in and out of the canyon. Pretty cool sight to see from observation point trail.

[oldno7]

Kudos to Zion SAR.
And I'm always interested in reading these reports. Thanks for posting Shane.

X3

[ilipichicuma]

I'll add another for Zion SAR. That's awesome.

[deathtointernet]

Just for giggles it would be interesting to know what the violation was for.....
x2

One would assume that a group of *seven* canyoneers descending a canyon with a group limit of *six* would be the issue. Man, still amazed she survived that fall. I guess if that much is going to go wrong on your trip you might as well have the extra people along to help.

Oh and Bo, feel free to chime in with how much fun it was to haul that guy out of Mystery! Way to go!

[jman]

One would assume that a group of *seven* canyoneers descending a canyon with a group limit of *six* would be the issue. Man, still amazed she survived that fall. I guess if that much is going to go wrong on your trip you might as well have the extra people along to help.

You're right, I didn't catch the extra person. Thanks for the enlightenment...

[tanya]

poor Bo was so tired after all that he spent his Birthday resting!


Great job Zion SAR!

[accadacca]

Holy busy! Is this a typical year?

[Scott Card]

Another "Well Done" Zion SAR. Glad they are there.

As for the permit thing, if they had an additional person on a legitimate 6 person permit I would hope the penalty would be minimal. If the whole group was poaching... well.... yikes for them. BTW, I sense that some may subconsciously think that having a permit may have prevented the accidents???? Ahh, no. Having a permit is irrelevant to the accidents or to the need for SAR unless the back country desk is now equipped with a crystal ball. Problem is they will use the lack of a permit (if that is the case) to justify charging for the costs of rescue, use them as an example to others, etc. We will see.

No question that this kind of thing is not helpful for us canyoneers in Zion Park.

[hike2kolob]

SAR

I didn't remember reading about another guy stuck up in Imlay in the other Imlay thread.

[deathtointernet]

The fact that the report said that there was an investigation of their wilderness permit violation seemed to suggest to me that they had one but exceeded the size limit, as opposed to simply skipping the permit system altogether, but I could be reading too much into it. Why someone would need to poach Imlay (to save a few bucks???) is beyond me. Not exactly the kind of thing that I could see people lining up for, though I suppose you could get unlucky and just happen to pick the same day everyone else did. Either way it's hard to see how a big fine is really any help in this situation... I know rules are rules, but I would imagine that this is a trip that will weigh on their minds for quite some time.

[CarpeyBiggs]

Another "Well Done" Zion SAR. Glad they are there.

As for the permit thing, if they had an additional person on a legitimate 6 person permit I would hope the penalty would be minimal. If the whole group was poaching... well.... yikes for them. BTW, I sense that some may subconsciously think that having a permit may have prevented the accidents???? Ahh, no. Having a permit is irrelevant to the accidents or to the need for SAR unless the back country desk is now equipped with a crystal ball. Problem is they will use the lack of a permit (if that is the case) to justify charging for the costs of rescue, use them as an example to others, etc. We will see.

No question that this kind of thing is not helpful for us canyoneers in Zion Park.

well said. some of the group sent me messages tonight, suggesting that i had misrepresented that they might not have had a permit. i apologize. they did have a 6 person permit, and they had 7 people on it. so they did have a permit, they just exceeded the group size.

[nonot]

I wonder if a group starts with 7 but finishes with 5, if the permit for 6 is just right, it all averages out in the end. Thanks to the SAR guys for working a busy week!

[Bo_Beck]

One would assume that a group of *seven* canyoneers descending a canyon with a group limit of *six* would be the issue. Man, still amazed she survived that fall. I guess if that much is going to go wrong on your trip you might as well have the extra people along to help.

Oh and Bo, feel free to chime in with how much fun it was to haul that guy out of Mystery! Way to go!

He did most of the work! I provided a 1/1 counterbalance, but I've probably gone up and down that hill more that anyone now though I'll be honest...hauling those 1300' + 300' ropes tied together back up to the top of Angels Landing was a good workout as well! I'm glad that that weekend/week is overwith. I did go back up and Hike Mystery with ropes last sunday and we had the whole canyon to ourselves! Could hear the birds chirping and the leaves rustling with the breeze. It was a nice day!

[bshwakr]

__

[canyonguru]

Fact is, each individual member was responsible for the group as a whole, which makes each one of them cheaters. Whether you agree or disagree with the permit system, actions like this are selfish and harmful to the entire community. k

i'm going to have to agree. Rules are Rules and if you play by the Rules it makes the rest of us look good. Since the dawn of time people have been trying to get out of doing whats right and playing ball, and whatever else you want to call it. I see it in my business all the time and it really sticks in my krawl. All it does when people don't follow rules is it makes the rest of us look bad and causes more rules to be made and to be more strickly inforced.

Now some rules like the one's our great and all mighty Husane Obama is creating can probably go without following but that is a different topic.