SPOT used by a group to summon help for another nearby party - interesting....

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Thursday, July 26, 2012


INCIDENTS

North Cascades National Park (WA)
Search and Rescue Team Evacuates Fallen Mountaineer

On Monday, July 16th, the park received notice of a SPOT beacon emergency alert from near the northern Picket Range. The beacon was registered to a man who had a week-long backcountry permit in the area for a party of two. Two rangers responded in the park's contracted search and rescue helicopter from HiLine Helicopters to investigate. The two climbers with the beacon were quickly found by the helicopter team, but at a location with no landing site nearby. The climbers clearly indicated over and over that they were okay, but seemed to gesture another message, at first difficult to understand. Gathering more information from the park's Wilderness Information Center, the SAR rangers eventually found that a party of six had a seriously injured climber in a nearby gully. This location also was not near a possible helicopter landing site. The two rangers and pilot found a staging site in the Access Creek basin and from there were able to insert a ranger into the accident site by helicopter. The ranger and patient were then short-hauled to the staging site. The patient was a 49-year-old man who had fallen an estimated 1200 feet across steep snow and rocks down a gully on Luna Peak's east flank. He suffered a head injury and extremity fractures. A medical helicopter from Airlift NW was brought in to fly him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he is expected to remain for another week.

Sorry to hear of this mans injuries, but it is good to hear that SPOT, SAR, & Park Authorities operated in such a professional and timely fashion.

Just when I was about to loose all faith in humanity, you reel me back in.

Another recent SPOT rescue.

A Forest Service volunteer who was injured while hiking in the Superstition Wilderness was quickly rescued thanks to a satellite tracking device and his own precautionary actions, officials said.

The unidentified man, who has hiked in the area for more than 10 years, was carrying a SPOT satellite tracking device while he was hiking Thursday, according to Amy Racki, a recreation/wilderness specialist and acting volunteer coordinator with the Mesa Ranger District.

“I hesitate to use the word ‘search’ in referring to this incident. Thanks to his personal SPOT satellite tracking device which identified his location … we were able to walk right up to him,” ranger Gary Hanna said.

I live and hike in this area all the time. I had not heard of this one. Wonder if it was because it was mostly an internal employee issue. hmmm.