Rescue/help me.

[Dynotrick]

When I guided my dad up Mt. Marcy we camped at a leanto near Avalanche Camp (came in from the Loj) and hiked up Marcy the next day. We came down the other side of Marcy through the four corners and down torward Lake Colden. Right around Uphill Leanto we found a falther and son (about 9 I think) who were about 100 yards off the trail and disoriented. They actually heard us coming by and came torward us calling out, otherwise we may not have noticed them. They had done Marcy earlier that day and got lost on the way out. So we guided them back to our camp through Avalanche Pass figuring they could continue on to the Loj from there as the trails are easy enough to follow at that point. We shared some food and water with them also. Wouldn't you know it when we got back to our camp our bear bag was torn apart and on the ground. I think some chipmonks got at it first so we packed our things up and rested a bit and took them all the way out to the Loj. Me and my dad ended up going to a nice restaurant for dinner (we were suprised they let us in with how we must have looked) and stayed at a motel that night and went home the next day.

 

[RoySwkr]

I don't belong to any S&R groups so all my help is happenstance

I often answer questions about "what peak is that" or "how far is it" or "where does this trail go"

Occasionally give out water & food but most people don't want any

Have led various mixed-up people in the right direction

Used to frequently pull people & canoes out of rivers

Spent from about 11 pm till dawn helping to haul a hiker with internal injuries down from Eagle Cascade in the rain

Helped carry an injured snowmobiler out Zealand Road

 

[sierra]

Ive seen some bad injury's. One day I was soloing Mt.Washington in the winter and when on my descent ran into a dude that had just snapped his ankle. He was with three people that where mixed at what to do. As I stood there I suddenly began to help. Without much thought I analized the weather and his condition and quickly deduced that he would proboly die of hypothermia long before rescue could get him out. I grabbed some rope off a dude that was there and tied a 30 ft section from him to me. I lowered him all the way down Lions head short rope style. I can still remember him scream when I lowered him into rocks and such . Considering it was full winter conditions I was amazed at how easy it was to get him down. We snagged a litter at the Tucks trail and littered him down the Shelburne trail to an awaiting ambulance. I simply collected my gear at the bottom and left. As I drove home I fely really cool at how I had helped then just vanished without a word. All my years climbing technical stuff and just being out in the winter, helped me help someone. The whole scene made me feel really good for some time.

 

[Mark]

I've given out water, food, insect repellent etc. No big rescues, but one time I was hiking the circuit around the reservoir in the Fells Reservation when I came across a pair of women probably in their 60s. They asked for directions back to the road so they could get to their car which was parked near the south tower. They were trying to do a loop and were about as far away from their car as they could get. I explained this to them and told them the fastest way back to their car would be to turn around and retrace their steps. One of the women (who apparently planned the route) said they would continue on and finish their loop. The other was trying to convince her friend to turn around and kept looking at me with that "please talk some sense into her!" look on her face.

I gave them some PowerBars and water and got them pointed in the right direction before heading off. As I departed, I thought about it some more. They mentioned when they had started their hike. I calculated in my head how long it would take them to get back to their car at their current pace and realized they were in for a very long day. The Fells is not exactly barren wilderness, but people do get stranded or lost here occasionally, requiring rescue. I decided to turn around and offer them another option.

They hadn't even moved from where I left them. I explained that my car was at a trail head only about 10 minutes from where we were and offered them a ride back to their car. I don't normally offer or accept rides from strangers, but I thought an exception was in order in this situation. They were understandably apprehensive about accepting a ride from me. I told them I would understand if they were not comfortable getting a ride from a stranger, but after showing them my driver's license, pictures of my family, my library card, church membership, etc. they decided to accept my offer. It still took us about 15-20 minutes to walk back to the lot where I was parked. The drive back to their car was 2-3 miles and the whole way, they both kept remarking on how long it would have taken them to walk back. I think I would have felt really bad if I hadn’t tried again to offer them assistance and they got hurt.

 

[KayakDan]

We have done the usual,lending of gloves,sharing food etc.
Fortunately,our most serious encounter was first aid for a broken finger,on the trail at Log Cabin.
After that incident we immediately signed up for a WFA course.
As for giving advise,Pete Hickey is right-it's all in how you do it. Rather than tell someone they are not prepared for conditions ahead,we may mention what it was like where we were,and then just let them make the call.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Some of the more memorable ones.

A litter carry across the river with a woman with a shattered foot. Very large and very drunk. River was pretty swift and deep.

We were camping when two “experienced hikers, mother and son” came upon my nephew and me. They had gotten lost and missed their trail. It was dark and they had no lights with them. I told them that my nephew and I could double up in his tent and they could share my tent and go out in the daylight. They decided instead to go down the Flume slide trail in the dark against my suggestion. I gave them a flashlight and asked that they drop it off at my truck when they got out. To my pleasant surprise when I got to my truck it was there. It let me know that they got out OK and it was nice to have my faith in human nature renewed.

Assisted with litter carry of woman with strained knee off of flume or silver cascade. I forget which one now. That rescue was initiated by Amateur radio. No one had a cell phone that worked in that area. Another amateur called me from the scene by radio and I called the police then proceeded to the scene to help.

Girl who passed out (unknown if breathing) on the trail to Arethusa falls. Bartlett was tied up with several other calls and required mutual aid from North Conway. I just happened to be driving by the trailhead and stopped. Went running up the trail with a full med bag and O2 cylinder with my wife waiting patiently in the truck. One half mile and 500 foot elevation change. Yeah, well it seemed a lot harder running with that med bag. Found her sitting on a rock alert and oriented with normal vitals. Had her eat and drink and then walked her out with support.

Another search were the person left the area and made it too a freinds house and didn’t tell anyone for couple days that he was out and apparently didn’t watch the TV coverage either. (&#$**( *@&hole

Another search were the couple (a pair of student from a local college) was found and they apparently were not lost. Just looking for some away time so they decided to spend the night in the woods without telling anyone.

A search for a 12 year old Hassidic Jewish girl from NYC lost for 5 days in CT. Bad conditions, 50’s with rain on and off for several nights. Really worried about hypothermia. Girl walked all the way into Massachusetts before being found by a trooper in MA. She had heard people calling for her at least once but was in the middle of prayers so she didn’t answer.

Keith

 

[slamdog]

The usual for me as well. Giving out some food, insect repellent, gatorade, fruit..... I was coming off Basin one day and ran into a guy who seemed very angry, I said hello but got only a nod. A quarter mile later, I see two unattended packs on the ground? Another half mile and I see another guy, no pack, and he's got two liter botttles and a filter. Any place to get water he asked? Apparently, he and his partner were in climbing for a 4 dayer. Each had ONE liter to hold water. It was 80 degrees. I looked at the map, saw anothe 1/4 mile down it appeared as though there was water, so we descended. I gave him two other liter bottles, and kept my hydration bladder.

This past July on my first climb with Teejay and Bubba (yeah what an intro to VFTT....) and we were doing the Sanatas, and we ran into a guy (group of three) that blew his knee out. It was the size of a cantalope. They said they would be ok, so we left them alone. Well, I was heading back out to upper works and teejay and bubba were staying the night. Right after the turn off to head to UW i ran into them all again. I wound up switching packs with him (my daypack to his 3 day/ w cannister) and then I took out some heavy stuff out of my pack and we rocked the last 4 miles out. Better than that, about a week later, I get an e mail from somebody I didn't recognize. It was the guy whose pack I carried out. He knew I worked for Cerebral Palsy Assoc. in Syracuse, looked it up and sent me an e mail with thanks.

 

[Ed Poyer]

Have been able to help out in the following:

Took over lead for group I was backpacking with in Rockies: 7 out of 10 (including leader and co-leader) had come down with various combinations of altitude sickness, dehydration and a bit of hypothermia at 12,000’ at dusk: complaints ranged from headache, lethargy (unable to handle camp chores), and irritability, to chills, weakness, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, disorientation and poor judgment. Fortunately, one healthy member was an MD, so that helped hugely with triage and treatment, but the management task was a big issue with such a high percentage of affected people. We set up reasonably safe camp in a not very good area, hydrated the group, fed them, hydrated them some more and monitored them.

Evacuated 2 separate cases of fractured tib / fib, one of injured knee in NH, one altitude sickness in WY. No litter carries, thank heavens.

Treated a number of de-hydration and hypothermia cases in Presi’s.

Usual assortment of confused, overtired or ill-prepared hikers.