SAR, 3 incidents, 1 day, 1 peak

[Mtnman200]

NATIVE?]

That's not a native, just a descendent of early immigrants from Asia.

[Coxie2210]

Native doesn't mean you are special folks. I am native and I left because some of the other natives were assholes. Doesn't mean the peaks aren't still beautiful and a challenge. I guess if your parents choosing to give birth to you in Colorado is the only accomplishment you have to speak of then time to move out of their basement. Idiots come in all sizes and from all states. That is the beautiful part about America...anyone has the right to go out and kill themselves at any point.

[Doug Shaw]

Not to ruin the conversation by being topical, but if one were to have an omniscient view of everything that occurs on the 14ers over a summer weekend, we would probably be aghast at the number of "potentially rescueable situations".

I gave this some thought years ago after almost every single recreational trip I took to the Crestones over the period of YEARS ended up with some sort of injury, incident, or "near-miss." I thought, "It's pretty unlikely that this sort of thing only happens when I come to the Crestones" - which means "something" probably happens pretty much every weekend.

And to clarify, when I say "something" I am referring to everything from "can walk out, but not normally" to "got dangerously off-route", all the way up to body recoveries or full technical rescues.

In probably less than 10 recreational trips to the Crestones, I've been involved in a body recovery, a technical rescue, helping an off-route and stuck family get back to the route/safety, a friend's tweaked ankle, and my own incident of popping something in my knee before the traverse that hours later precipitated a 6-7 hour slow hobble from high in the Red Gully all the way back out to the SCL 4WD trailhead. I've also missed the evac of a climber with a broken leg by an hour or two, and on another trip I spoke with several groups heading in to do the Arete - and the next day there was a party stranded on the Arete.

(A couple of my climbing partners who had each been there with me during some of these experiences went down there together on another trip - and got involved in a body recovery.)

I'm one guy, and this is my recreational experience on just two 14ers. Either I'm just damned unlucky when I go to that area, or - as I suspect - "things" happen all over the place all the time; sometimes they develop into actual rescues, but in a lot of cases the people are able to self-recover or extract themselves on their own or with fellow climber's help and without requesting formal assistance from a rescue organization.

[TakeMeToYourSummit]

I agree with a lot of stuff you've said Doug...
...but just to be safe I'll pm you before I go for the Crestones...
...to make sure you won't be there!

[alsrun]

[quote][b][i]I agree with a lot of stuff you've said Doug...
...but just to be safe I'll pm you before I go for the Crestones...
...to make sure you won't be there! [/i][/b][/quote]


I was thinking the same thing when I read Doug's note. Happy to have the Crestones and Hunboldt behind me.

[CORed]

A Canadian would've figured out how to get down safely... eventually.

Hey, I've hiked out injured a couple times! And I can't even speak French! (Except to order a beer!)

Learn to ask where the bathroom is, and you'll have all the French you will ever need.

[Doug Shaw]

MRA called for 2 on Pyramid on Friday:

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2 ... /13192861/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mtn Mama]

I summited Quandary on 7/22/14. When I arrived at the trailhead at 0600, cars were already filling the overflow lot. I didn't think this was a good sign. I took my time going up (2:19) and passed 67 people on the ascent. Sadly, I recognized several I had passed on my descent and some had barely made or above treelike yet. "The Road House" restaurant was having some kind of "convention" hike and had large numbers of groups. on the descent I passed hordes of people including a couple who had their 3 children (ages 4 and under) and their 2 large dogs- yep, not surprised by the rescue calls given the volume.

[cheeseburglar]

I was on an airplane full of people on Thursday and a woman in the row in front of us had a medical emergency.
A doctor who just happened to be on board helped her. Even gave her an IV. It was better than reading skymall or watching commercials on a device, so I enjoyed it.
Fortunately, the plane did not divert so it was not a big inconvenience, although I never did get beverage service on account of all the activity.
I guess my point is s**t happens and people deal with it. We aren't about to tell people not to fly if they are old and we won't tell people not to hike Quandary.
The upcoming trail construction will allow strollers and wheelchairs to make it up the mountain, which will be nice for a lot of people.

[Alby426]

One big Kudos to the SAR teams! We love you guys and, thank you very much for all your hard work!

[tlongpine]

I took my time going up (2:19) and passed 67 people on the ascent. Sadly, I recognized several I had passed on my descent and some had barely made or above treelike yet. ... on the descent I passed hordes of people including a couple who had their 3 children (ages 4 and under) and their 2 large dogs

Exquisite humblebrag!

[cpb145]

I was on the mountain that day and saw bits and pieces of all these events. The man who had fallen and hit his head was descending while I was still going up. He was being helped by probably 7-8 strangers and I spoke to one who had helped administer first aid. He seemed to be in good hands, but I checked to see if he required any first aid equipment that I had on me that they may have needed before continuing my ascent. SAR had already been contacted at this point.
On my descent, I ran into a SAR member who told me that this was the 3rd rescue in progress that day, and another was suffering severe AMS, and another had a broken ankle. I passed all 3 groups on the way down. I also ran into the hiker who I spoke to earlier, who was suffering from dehydration and AMS himself. I gave him the last of my water. He was from Georgia, been in town for less than a day, and summited without ANY water. (It was ungodly hot that day). I also saw another girl being helped off who blew out her knee.
I had been hoping a Tuesday would be quiet, but I was very wrong. There were at least a 100 folks on the mountain, people had there boom boxes going, girls taking selfies with goats, injuries everywhere.... Which is such a shame because it is a really beautiful peak.
I know I'm just a noob, but I say change it to class 2 and maybe it'll keep some people on Bierstadt instead....
Either way, hats off to both SAR who had to do all of this without the help of a helicopter due to the heat, and to all the good Samaritans who hike our mountains. Like almost everyone I encountered on the hike, they may not know a damn thing about trail etiquette, but that's clearly not a prerequisite for being able to help save a life....or 3 in this case.