This is a bit of a variation on the usual mountain rescue:


Yosemite National Park (CA)
Austrian Climber Rescued From El Capitan

Yosemite rangers made a complex, high-angle helicopter rescue of an Austrian climber on El Capitan on the afternoon of Monday, September 26th. The climber and his partner were ascending El Capitan on The Nose Route, a popular and difficult climbing route on the 7,569-foot-high granite monolith in Yosemite Valley. After two days of climbing, they were approximately 1,000 feet below the summit. In mid-afternoon, the lead climber fell, losing his thumb when a secondary rope wrapped around the appendage and severed it. The thumb fell about 80 feet and landed on a two-foot by one-foot ledge, where his partner was able to retrieve it. The climbers then called the park for assistance. Just before 4 p.m., the park's contract helicopter, piloted by Richard Shatto and carrying helitack crew members Jeff Pirog and Eric Small and rangers Jeff Webb and Dave Pope, flew from Yosemite Valley to assess the situation. Although the weather was favorable, impending darkness was an issue and Eric Gabriel, district ranger for Yosemite Valley and IC for the incident, made the decision to attempt to extract the climber via short haul. Gabriel, who had consulted with the park's medical clinic, knew of the short window of time in which the thumb could successfully be reattached and felt the complex mission was worth pursuing. The helicopter hovered near the climbers and Webb and Pope were successfully short-hauled to the injured climber, who was flown back to El Capitan Meadow. He was then transferred to another air medical helicopter to be flown out of the park. Webb remained with the partner overnight and was raised approximately 1,000 feet to the summit the following day using traditional rock-rescue techniques. Later that evening, the injured climber underwent surgery at the California Pacific Medical Center's Davies Campus in San Francisco, where his thumb was successfully reattached. "This was an incredibly technical and complex rescue mission with a lot of inherent risk," said Gabriel. "However, knowing that the thumb could be reattached, coupled with the confidence I have in my team, I made the decision to attempt this rescue. I was relieved and thrilled that this ended successfully and we were able to make a positive difference in this person's life."
[Submitted by Scott Gediman, Assistant Superintendent for Public & Legislative Affairs, and Kari Cobb, Public Affairs Officer]

No comments, please, about mountain rescue entering the digital age....

Seriously, this is quite a nice piece of work.

lol.

And now you've got a guy with his hand intact. Good work indeed.

HJ

Awesome story. Two thumbs up!

That's the stuff we love to hear about,damn good flyin'& Xlnt post,Thank You!

Wow, that's some impressive rescue work!