Zion - Das Boot SAR

[Iceaxe]

From today's NPS Morning Report.....

Zion National Park (UT)
Injured Woman Extricated From Park Canyon

On October 16th, a 28-year-old woman fell through a log jam while attempting the Das Boot/Subway Route in the Left Fork of North Creek, sustaining an unstable lower leg fracture. Two members of her party hiked through the Subway towards the Left Fork Trailhead until they were able to obtain cell phone service and reported the accident to the park at 6:30 p.m. The reporting party said that the injury had been splinted and that the woman and her companion had enough food, water and clothing to spend the night without NPS assistance. Zion’s SAR team coordinated with Grand Canyon National Park for a short-haul mission the following day. At first light on October 17th, rescue teams traveled through the Das Boot canyoneering route to reach the woman. A technical lowering operation and a short litter carry were required to move her to a short-haul extraction site, where she was picked up via helicopter short haul at 2:30 p.m., 23 hours after the accident, and transferred to Hurricane Fire and Rescue for ground transport to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George. This was the second short-haul mission completed at Zion utilizing a multi-park team consisting of a Zion short-haul rescuer already on scene working with Grand Canyon National Park spotters and aircraft. By removing the need to insert a short-haul rescuer, the risk and cost associated with short haul missions in Zion has been significantly reduced.

[Submitted by Ryan McDonald-O'Lear, IC]

http://www.nps.gov/applications/morningreport/

[Scott Card]

Fell through a log jam??? Hmmm that is one I haven't heard before. Hope she recovers quickly.

[Eric Holden]

Wow, was just there. Lots of places that a slip could definitely snap a bone or two. Good thing is they were prepared with gear and left someone with her.

[Eric Holden]

Fell through a log jam??? Hmmm that is one I haven't heard before. Hope she recovers quickly.

Hope that was Fell From,

There is one spot that is kind of tricky and I could see a fall causing some pain. And is a "log jammed" not really a "Log Jam"........

[ilipichicuma]

Good work to SAR. I think that my favorite part of that report is the use of the word "extricated."

[Iceaxe]

There was a pretty good sized logjam a month ago. It's at 2:30 in the video. It's certianly high enough to break a bone if you tumbled from the top.

[Scott Card]

Hope that was Fell From,

I thought the same thing. But the report clearly says fell "through" a log jam.

[mzamp]

There was a pretty good sized logjam a month ago. It's at 2:30 in the video. It's certianly high enough to break a bone if you tumbled from the top.

I love the two hands above water technique - I use that too even when going through a cold swimmer. And the flexing of the fingers to get the blood flowing again. Makes me want to load up my pack and go right now.

[Deathcricket]

See that's a legit accident. There is some scary logjams in there and super slippery. Hope she makes a full recovery.