Injured German Visitor Rescued From Canyon - Subway

[shagdeuce]

http://home.nps.gov/morningreport/

On August 16th, Deterich Bolck, a 77-year-old German national, hiked into the
lower end of the Left Fork route, intending to visit a formation about
four-and-a-half miles from the trailhead. Late in the day, Bolck slipped on a
rock and injured his knee. To avoid cramps and stay warm, he slowly hiked in
circles through the night. On the morning of the 17th, Bolck encountered some
hikers who sent a text message to relatives requesting assistance from the park.
Ranger Nick Wood hiked to Bolck's location about two-and-a-half miles from the
trailhead and found that he was able to walk slowly. Bolck believed that he
could hike to the trailhead, so he and Wood slowly began making their way out of
the canyon. Over the next six hours, Bolck and Wood hiked one mile. An ascent
of a steep 500 foot slope is required about a half mile from the Left Fork
trailhead; although hikers travel up and down the slope on a well-used social
trail, a litter carry up the slope would be challenging and hazardous to
rescuers. As dark approached, Bolck still had not reached the bottom of the
ascent. A ranger spent that night in the canyon with him. After a good night's
sleep, Bolck's mobility had not improved. Rangers discussed options for carrying
him up the hill, including a direct carry up the difficult route, a 700 foot
guiding line, or a helicopter short haul operation. Based on available
resources, the non-critical nature of Bolck

[Bo_Beck]

If you might have an interest in the "Guiding Line" that was suggested for bringing the injured hiker up from the bottom of The Left Fork? In feburary of 2002, I was asked to come up with a scenario and location for the upcoming SAR training. I opted to use this location and designed a practical operation for extricating just such an incident. Here are a couple pictures showing the locale that I had scoped out and we use this location as it seems to work quite well. There is a Basalt Buttress just after arriving at the top of the Left Fork exit. Approximately 800' of rope is used as the adjustible tension "Guiding Line" that stretches from the top of the buttress to the far side of the creek. A Pulley is attached to the guiding line and also to a litter and the attendant, and the main and belay lines share the work for the raise. As the load is raised the guiding line is tensioned to keep the litter off the ground and de-weight the attendant slightly as he (she) walks alongside to maneuvre the load. If an obstacle gets in the way then the whole package can be raised to clear the "tree" then brought back down to reduce possibility of injury because of catastrophic failure of the guiding line. The guiding line is ideal to allow just one attendant full operation on low angle terrain while reducing risk to both the attendant and patient. The red line in the picture roughly shows the path of travel under the guiding line.

[ratagonia]

Wow, crazy stuff. A difficult problem for sure!

Tom