Suddenly lightning flashed rescuers dropped to the ground

Volume 1 · Issue 6 · Summer 2007
More than One Hero
Part II
Dan Lack
down the slope and fatally injured. His death was not immelthough the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group is condiately known to the Colorado Search and Rescue Board,
tracted by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office to
which was asked by Custer County SAR to assemble teams of
provide search and rescue (SAR) in Boulder County, we
technical rescuers to
also provide “mutual
assist in the rescue of
aid” assistance to
this man. Remote
other mountain resaccess and communicue organizations
cation difficulties led
around the state.
Custer County to
In last winter’s
believe that there
issue of The
might be a chance that
Mountain Rescue
the man was still alive.
Page, I described an
At midnight on
exciting out-of-counJuly 2, a team of five
ty mission. This artiRMRG members
cle tells the story of
drove to Custer
another mutual-aid
County. By 5:00 am
mission that began on
RMRG and teams
July 2, 2006, when a
Kevin Wheeler and a team from RMRG head in to the rugged
60-year old man fell
Sangre de Cristo mountains on a mutual-aid rescue for a fallen climber. from El Paso
County, Alpine,
off a ridge in the
Western State, and
Sangre de Cristo
Douglas County had
mountains of southassembled and
ern Colorado. Sadly,
received a briefing
his climbing partner
(continued on page 3)
found him 300 feet
A
Suddenly lightning flashed
across the sky and fifteen
rescuers dropped to the ground
2 | The Mountain Rescue Page
RMRG Member Profile
Ted Krieger
Katie Johnson
County as well as around the world — he has trekked in
ed Krieger is a 22-year RMRG veteran, a dedicated
Nepal and Morocco, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and cirvolunteer who has helped to shape the organization
cumnavigated Mt. Kailash in western Tibet.
for more than a third of its 60-year history. His appreciaTed looks forward to seeing the group grow with time,
tion for the outdoors began when he was a young child,
both by adding new individhiking parts of the
uals as well as by encouragAppalachian Trail with his
ing current Support memfather. His hiking and
bers (the “footsoldiers” of
camping continued after
the group) to advance into
moving to Colorado with
leadership roles as Rescue
his family in 1971. In colSupport and Qualified
lege, he took up rock
members. For the former,
climbing. After college,
he suggests, “if you love the
joining RMRG seemed like
outdoors and enjoy hanging
a natural course of action.
out with others who enjoy
When asked what he
your passion, consider joinmost enjoys about being in
ing RMRG. We’re always
RMRG, Krieger responded,
looking for new, dedicated
“My favorite rescues are
volunteers, and you don’t
the ones where the patient
have to be a 5.13 climber
would probably have died
to help out!” „
if we weren’t there. These
‘hurry-up rescues’ are
where RMRG comes
together like a well-oiled
machine and we get the
patient to the ambulance in
record time. The feeling
you have at the end of one
of these rescues is like no
other in the world.” Ted
also enjoys the unusual
experiences only rescuers
Ted Krieger “playing archeologist”
get such as moonlight boat
while on safari in Tanzania’s
rides on Gross Reservoir
Ngorongoro Crater.
and sunrises after all-night
searches.
Long-time members
In whatever free time he
Rik Henrikson (left) and
Ted Krieger (right) put the
finds between work and
litter
and
a volunteer to the test.
rescues, Ted enjoys the
T
“Hurry-up rescues” are where
RMRG comes together
like a well-oiled machine
outdoors. He loves to hike
and ski around Boulder
Community Voice of the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group | 3
Sand Dunes — eight miles away and on the wrong side of
More Than One Hero (continued from page 1)
the divide. Most rescuers were prepared for bad condifrom the Group Leader of Custer County SAR: “It is
tions, but rain continued to fall and was quickly cooling
unlikely that the patient is alive, but we need to get to him
people down — several rescuers began to get very cold.
today to give him the chance he deserves. We believe he
With that, the decision was made to
is on the ridge between Pico Asilado
hike out to the Sand Dunes throughand Milwaukee Peak.”
out the night in order to keep everyWith this information, 35 rescuers
one active and warm.
headed into one of the most remote,
A long, cold, wet, tiring night was
rugged, and unpredictable areas of
about to start.
Colorado. At 9:00 am the teams were
As we started to hike, the heroic
assembling at the base of Milwaukee
crew of the Blackhawk popped up over
peak and received notification from an
a ridge line, dropped into our valley,
advance team that the patient’s death
and scooped up the coldest of the reshad been confirmed. Although the
cuers. Unbeknownst to us, the pilot had
advanced team had the necessary equipbeen hovering over the Sand Dunes
ment to evacuate his body, the difficult
waiting for a break in weather.
terrain was hampering their progress.
Upon return to the SAR base we
Mountain weather can move in
were met by locals cooking up a big,
quickly and turn even a moderate resRescuers hunker down during the
hot BBQ, and the local paramedics
cue into a challenge for survival, so
sudden lighting and hail storm.
checked us out to make sure we had all
fast progress is often critical for the
returned in good health.
safety of rescuers. We were still many hours of hiking and
The next day a fresh set of teams from Alpine, RMRG,
climbing from the accident site and needed to move
Douglas, and Custer returned to the peak to accompany
quickly in order to assist with the evacuation.
our mountain comrade on his final hike.
A US Army Blackhawk helicopter was requested and
RMRG does not rescue alone. „
Alpine and RMRG organized to have their gear and personnel shuttled close to the accident site. By 1:00 pm
RMRG Endowment Update
both the advanced team and the Alpine/RMRG team were
on scene. The teams gathered and discussed the best stratRMRG is pleased to announce that it has estabegy to navigate the difficult scree slope and the 300-foot
lished an endowment with Josie Heath’s Community
vertical section below. Within thirty minutes the evacuaFoundation, joining thirty other non-profits in
tion had begun.
Boulder in helping to secure our financial future.
By this time, light hail was falling and clouds were
RMRG thanks its members, many friends, and the
quickly building. Suddenly lightning flashed across the
families we have served over the decades, for helpsky and fifteen rescuers dropped to the ground. The evacing us reach the minimum of $25,000 in this, our
uation was called to a halt, evac systems were secured,
60th year of service to the Boulder community. We
and all rescuers scrambled to escape the barrage of lightespecially thank a retired member who put us over
ning. We descended into the relative safety of the alpine
the top, and in particular a benefactor who matched
valley, spreading ourselves out, and squatting down in the
us one-for-one, bringing us up to the rather grand
open to wait out the one-hour torrent of lightning, hail,
total of $57,000. These generous funds will help us
and heavy rain.
sustain mountain rescue and mountain safety educaAs the clouds closed in and locked us away in the
tion, and will help us attract further funding as
remote valley, we knew that the chopper wasn’t coming
demands for our all-volunteer services grow.
to get us. The safest and fastest exit was toward the Great
4 | The Mountain Rescue Page
2006 Operations Review
By Dave Christenson
an injured climber from the east
MRG members volunteered
RMRG Missions · 2006
face of the Boulder’s iconic Third
an estimated minimum
20,000 hours of service in 2006
Flatiron formation on August 12.
The Third Flatiron is one of the
— much higher than the
most popular rock climbs in the
2001–2005 rate of 10,000 to
15,000 hours. Numerous litter
Boulder area. Despite its popularity, recent accidents on the Third
evacuations, three large searches,
Flatiron have been rare. RMRG
and new federal training requirehasn’t done an evacuation from
ments all increased 2006 service
the east face since the 1970’s.
hours.
RMRG’s largest operation in 2006 was the search for
2006 began with a busy January. RMRG received 14
Lance Hering over a five-day period through Labor Day
emergency calls for assistance in January alone, including
weekend. RMRG members, along with volunteers and
the successful multi-day search for and subsequent evacuemployees from over 40 agencies and volunteer groups
ation of Shaun Green in the Johnny Park area northwest of
from across Colorado, searched for more than 7,000 perLyons. Also notable in January was the night evacuation
son-hours through the foothills west of Eldorado Springs
of of a climber killed in a rappelling accident on the
but found no sign of Mr. Hering. Ultimately, the Boulder
Rincon Wall formation in Eldorado Canyon State Park.
County Sheriff’s office determined that Mr. Hering had
Another memorable 2006 rescue was the evacuation of
staged his own disappearance.
Rescuers at Work on 2006 Missions
Nonetheless, the massive search provided
a unique opportunity for RMRG to
stretch our search management skills,
and to appreciate the dedication and
camaraderie of volunteer mountain rescuers from across the state. RMRG
extends our thanks to all agencies who
assisted in the Hering search, and especially to those volunteers who traveled
long distances to help out.
Most accidents requiring rescues
occurred in the summer. For more details
on RMRG annual rescue statistics, see
the Call Volume link on our web site,
www.rockymountainrescue.org. „
R
Top: Clint Dillard – Boulder Canyon
(left). Joe Santambrogio, Dan Mottinger,
Ben Wilson, Les Sikos – Crestone Needle
(right). Bottom: Stephen Price –
Eldorado Canyon State Park (left).
“Big John” Snyder – Rocky Mountain
National Park (right).
Community Voice of the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group | 5
What’s New
In Service
A new book about a rescuer’s
experience dealing with life and
death in the mountains has recently been released by the Colorado
Mountain Club Press. Playing for
Real: Stories from Rocky Mountain
Rescue, by long-time RMRG
member Mark Scott-Nash, illuminates the on-scene experience of a
mountain rescuer. It also includes
some historical highlights of the oldest rescue team in
Colorado. All proceeds from the sale of this book will be
donated to RMRG. Available at: CMC Press online store,
Boulder Bookstore, and Amazon.com „
f you would like more information about RMRG, please
visit our web site at www.rockymountainrescue.org.
Also, please consider that we are an all-volunteer organization with no paid positions. About 25% of our yearly budget comes from private donations. RMRG is an IRS 501(c)3
charitable organization, and all contributions to RMRG are
tax deductible. We accept donations at our web site or by
check (made out to Rocky Mountain Rescue Group).
Checks can be mailed to:
I
Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Inc.
P.O. Box Y · Boulder, CO 80306
Safety Education
Tim Gray
MRG is an active provider of safety education for the
Boulder community and beyond. This spring we continued this tradition in many venues. In March two of our
members (Tim Holden and Les Sikos) were interviewed
for an extensive article in The Campus Press, CU’s online
newspaper. Tim and Les provided tips and information for
outdoor safety specifically for the spring season.
Several members gave a presentation at the Colorado
Student Nurses’ Association spring convention. The talk
focused on common injuries encountered in the backcountry, and our members provided a demonstration of our
patient packaging system. A lively Q&A session followed.
The upcoming summer season is when we do the bulk
of our safety education. Our members will meet with Boy
Scout and Girl Scout troops, and visit many camps in the
region to talk with kids about outdoor safety. „
R
Special Thanks!
Thanks go out to some of our recent supporters:
Boulder Bins Self Storage • National Instruments
Recent Quotes
“It’s been a month since you responded
to our call for help after my wife fell on an
afternoon hike up Mt. Sanitas valley. We never
really had a chance to thank you properly.
We highly appreciate the work you do and know
how important it is to the community. Thanks
to all those who took such good care of my wife,
making sure she was comfortable and safe.
— From a 2007 patient
“Thanks so much for the amazing
presentation you gave at our 2007 Spring
Convention!! The students truly enjoyed it!!
You definitely helped our convention
end with a “wow”!!
Morrell Printing Solutions • NeTrack, Inc.
Petzl • Pridemark Paramedic Services
Middlemist Crouch & Company, CPA’s PC
— Colorado Student Nurses Association,
Board of Directors
The
Rocky Mountain Rescue Group
fter our longest and busiest winter in a decade, we’re now well into
yet another “busy season” — summer is here! Included in this
newsletter are stories about exciting rescues and outstanding rescuers, as
well as information about a newly published book about the group.
A
Celebrating Sixty Years of Community Service
Our 60th anniversary celebration will be held this fall, with multiple events
planned for the weekend of September 29-30.
The weekend will include a special dinner on Saturday, September 29, at
the Avalon Ballroom in Boulder for current members, past members, and
special guests. More details (and requests for help!) will
follow shortly to make sure that this special occasion is
fun, memorable, and a fitting tribute to sixty years of
service to Boulder County and beyond.
Contact Ellie or Lisa at
60th@RockyMountainRescue.org
for questions related to the event
Rescue Page Staff
Coordinator
April Christenson
Editor
Mark Scott-Nash
Co-Editor
Layout & Design
®
Distribution
Katie Johnson
Les Sikos
Lisa Sparhawk
Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Inc.
P.O. Box Y · Boulder, CO 80306
303·449·4141
www.rockymountainrescue.org
Seeing and serving Colorado
by headlamp for sixty years
PLACE
STAMP
HERE