Sometimes even having a Sat Phone won't save you. NTSB has released a preliminary report on the 2018 crash of a flightseeing Beaver near Denali.
‘We’ve run into the side of a mountai...all aboard

In August 2018 a Beaver crashed during a flightseeing trip near Denali. The plane came to rest perched on the edge of a precipice at about 11,000 ft. The pilot was pinned in the wreckage, but was able to make a couple of brief sat phone calls. Then the weather closed in. About 36 hours later, a National Park Service climbing ranger was able to "short haul" to the wreck site, and determine there was no sign of life.

For those not aware, a "short haul" rescue is a very dangerous technique where a rescuer is flown dangling on a rope below the helo. I recall that after this mission the ranger was interviewed on TV. He indicated that the wreckage was perched in such a precarious spot that he was unable to unhook from the rope. He remained attached to the helo while he looked inside the wreckage. Remember this is at 11,000 ft, in very extremely poor weather. The ranger and helo were only able to remain onsite for a few minutes before the weather closed in again.

The NTSB report is here.


Past info on this mission:

Some info from the time of the first short haul mission.

Ranger is interviewed after the 2nd short haul mission. He talks a bit about short haul.

Aside from rope length, what is the technical differences between a short haul rescue system as opposed to a long (line) rope rescue system that seems to be more common here?

My understanding is that the terms "short haul" and "long line" in helicopter rescues really refer to more or less the same thing.

The term "short haul" came about because the usual method is to keep the time and distance traveled while dangling below the helicopter as short as possible. From the Helicopter Rescue Techniques: National SAR Academy Training Manual:

I should add that I have no personal experience with these methods. I getting way to old for that sort of thing!

Personal experience speaking. Some years ago, I was the victim in a training exercise rapping out of the chopper and subsequently being hauled up through the "hellhole" into the bird. let's just say it was an "interesting" experience.

I am also way too old for that sort of stuff, but bravo to those who can.