Greenwater, one bad thing leads to another

[coug66]

Just a brief story of my brother and I's 27 hour sledding adventure.

Brother and I do the loop, starting at the Pyramid side, Christmas tree hill,

Then after climbing the hills took a right on 793. climbed the long trail up to 789 then dropped in for the hill climbs to the right. My reverse motor went out at the top of the hill climb and the sled hit nuetral on the diamond drive and i flew back down the hill.

My sled down, I told my brother to go below and find a good way out to tow my sled. I wanted to avoid trying to tow up the hills.

He followed another set of tracks which led to a small creek which was impassable. In his search for a way through he dug the rear down about 4 to 5 feet.

This picture is when I first climbed down I wanted to see if there was a way to ride the stream trough out to the road. The back of the seat is about 3 feet below the snow line. the stream is to my right and the 793 road 100 yards directly behind me.

I eventually hiked down to help him, we got his sled unstuck and he tried twice to get up the hill and couldn't make it. having 3 dig outs in a row he was done.

I hiked down to 793 seeing if there was a possible route besides the creek.

Realizing there was a good deal of hiking left to do he came down to 793 and we headed West to hike to the Cabin.

It was an tough hike the road was much farther and steeper hill climb than I thought and we took 6 hours to make it to the cabin. 25 steps then take a break. break's were free and as long as we kept moving we were making progress to the cabin. The air was thin and with our extra weight we were not suited to be mountainiers. ( I am about 100lbs heavier than my playing weight)

Spent the night exhausted, in the cabin, ( a real life saver) tossing and turning trying to find the least painfull position. The mice got our bag of almonds.

We didn't want to leave the cabin but feared that it might be our only solution to get back to the truck. It was a work day for me and I had a number of things I needed to do.

Behind the scenes my wife and brothers wife started calling friends the next morning. She had a sleepless night and was really upset, She did not have my snowmobile buddies numbers ( i am making a list). They called Peirce county and my WSP buddy and he helped alert the proper authorities.

It was a little worrysome in the morning when no one showed up at the cabin, I figured my wife thought we had voluntarily decided to stay at the cabin? She would not alert anyone till after work? I told my brother if we didn't see anyone by 11:00 AM then we should start hiking the six miles
With the walk looming over us we decided to leave our warm safe shelter approaching 9:00 AM.

So exhausted from the night before we began the slow journey up the hill. It was tough going, even down hill the fresh 10 to 11" of fresh powder made things difficult.




My cell battery was really low and I tried everything to get it to just get out one distress text to my wife and friends. we hiked to the intersecton of 70 and 7080. I took the battery out of my glove for warmth but then the phone had to reboot. it rebooted said it was empty and shut down.

This morning we hiked out 3 miles before friends Mike and Jim arrived to take us to our vehicle in pyramid creek. My wife had managed to get a hold of a couple of good riding buddies and they dropped everything and came to our rescue.

2 hours later the sound of sleds that morning was music to our ears, I started flagging my arms when I saw two riders in the distance.
It was such a great surprise to see it was my buddies! What a way to show a friend you care by rescuing them! They told us that there were a number of authorities setting up to conduct a search for us and that we should head down and let them know we were OK. It was a quick 3 mile ride ( best ride on a trail yet) but it seemed just impossible if we had to hike it.

We got to the parking lot just in time to see a Pierce county sheriff and down below the gate a number of agencies getting ready to search for us. forest service, Pierce county rescue and national parks.

I was told Clem, Enumclaw Powersports was assembling a search party, and they had started to plow the road and get the groomer going to aid in the search.


I really appreciate all the people willing to drop what they are doing when a person is in distress. I usually don't like to request help but in this case we really needed it.

I used to joke that my weight was a preventative defense against my severe fear of expose.
I can now say that expose is on my list of things to avoid.

Sleds are coming out tommorrow, just didn't have any energy left to start the process today.


Ian

 

[Troy Magrum]

What a night. I'm going to lay down and take a nap just from reading this.
Glad you made it out ok.

 

[94fordguy]

Very glad to hear you made it out ok!

 

[Chris the sled guy]

Sledders are the best type of people...

 

[Pure powder]

rescue

wow! we were up there sunday and noticed your truck still there after dark. i have spent the night my self up there. i know about trying to find a comfortable position and the little friends that might run accross your face! hopefully the fire was still going for you.

 

[blk9038]

glad you made it out allright, thanks for feeding the mice, just kidding, ya even with 6 to 7 of us 1 sat with 2 sleds pulling out 1 wounded sled up a big hill and powder was too deep, we were lucky though and rigged up small vise grips on lower half of throttle cable and got it to top of hill barely otherwise it would still be there as until the snow set up last week.
always good to see other sledders looking out for lost ones out there, take care and maybe see you up there this year. ps we always have extra gear for towouts and such and can usually be spotted sat's in this area blue 1 ton dodge dually with older skidoo on flatbed white 24ft enclosed next time we get a chance to say hello.

 

[Ezeekel]

Glad everything turned out ok

Could you tell me where the 789 rd is
I'm still learning my way around
Did not see it on the snopark map

Thanks Troy

 

[coug66]

Love it!

I'm going to lay down and take a nap just from reading this.
.

I love this! We share the same sense of humor!

 

[coug66]

The outline shows our route

Glad everything turned out ok

Could you tell me where the 789 rd is
I'm still learning my way around
Did not see it on the snopark map

Thanks Troy

http://www.parks.wa.gov/winter/trails/mapdownloads/motorized/Greenwater.pdf


Find the cabin icon, then go right to the picture icon then directly right to 793. we started walking West to the right of the 3 in 793 on the map. probably only 1.5 to 2 miles up to the top, but all up hill. it felt like 5 miles to me.

Ian

 

[catzr]

Good story, could happen to anybody. Way to keep your cool.
Yakima County S&R was also called to assist, and then cancelled shortly afterwards. Would have been glad to assist.

 

[coug66]

its deep up there!

brother and friends went up today to fetch the sleds and it has snowed 3 feet. I am sure glad the timing worked out the way it did. no way that we could have handled snow that deep, we would never have made it to the cabin.

For those looking for a good time there is plenty of powder, they turned around the end of the second meadow on the right side there was a snow drift 6 feet tall and at that point it was turned into a play day.

Mike was able to carve through the powder like a slalom skier.

have to wait for the rite opportunity to fetch the sleds.

Ian

 

[blk9038]

brother and friends went up today to fetch the sleds and it has snowed 3 feet. I am sure glad the timing worked out the way it did. no way that we could have handled snow that deep, we would never have made it to the cabin.

For those looking for a good time there is plenty of powder, they turned around the end of the second meadow on the right side there was a snow drift 6 feet tall and at that point it was turned into a play day.

Mike was able to carve through the powder like a slalom skier.

have to wait for the rite opportunity to fetch the sleds.

Ian

we looked at our photos from sat and we also were in same area but did not venture down to hillclimb, those were our tracks on Christmas tree hill where we turned around (if there were any left) after rereading your post and viewing picts of post your brothers sled is seriously stuck, we looked over that area but with 1 new rider chose not to attempt it (good desision even in better snow) hope the snow sets up enough for you to find them and retrieve them soon.

 

[JETJOHNSO]

spot satelite device

Here's a great reason to carry a spot, You could have hit the , "send help" button to alert 4 or 5 or your friends. I've carried on for years, luckly never had to use it but I have hit the "check ok " button many times to tell the wife and friends we are ok but running late, will call when we get cell service. ,Very glad everything went ok, way to keep your cool and not panic ect.

 

[Geezer]

Yes sledders will do anything to help a guy out. Weeks back Clem and his crew of friend helped me out when my girlfriend drove my sled off the road and into a tree totaling the sled. The girlfriend thank god was not hurt but there was no way me and her were getting this sled back on the road so I could tow it back to the truck. I road up to the cabin in search of help and ran into Clem and his possy. I asked if a couple guys would ride back and help me get this sled up on the road. Without hesitation six guys were following me back to help. When we got back to the crash site my girlfrind had two other guys already working on getting this sled back on the road. These guys were riding up to meet up with Clem and his crew. With many hands we made light work on muscling this sled back on the road. One of the guys even loaned me is sno bungie tow straps which worked slick. In tow we ripped one the tow straps on the sharp edges of the new polaris pro rear bumper brackets so I left a note on his truck and a message on his cell phone that a new set was waiting for him at Clems' shop.

A big public thank you Clem and the guys that helped. Some day if need I will play this forward. Terry G

 

[Troy Magrum]

I am sure that this is the same area that my son and I went down into about 4 weeks ago. I may have been able to side hill out but not with his sled. The creek seemed impassable. We spent 3 hours trying to retrace our tracks with him riding a boworred sled with a shorter track. Sunny day helped alot and we made it out just as it was getting dark. We went staight to the cabin, warmed up, and were done.

 

[sled.man]

Bivvy bags, 100 foot rope, firestarters, saws, knifes and many other items help spend the night out if needed. 10 years ago I had a severe broken leg in the outback 15 miles from the truck after totaling a sled.
6 buddies got me out on tobaggan borrowed from a local ski area in 10 hours. This was not a pleasant or easy task for me, but I had a prepared group around me that built trails, secured tobagans, started fires, and in general were ready to spend the night out if needed. We had search and rescue coming to the scene to help, we had a helicopter(little bird) in the sky from King county that couldnt fly into the clouds(we finally had radio contact). Our group had good radios, names and addresses of all involved, intermitent cell phone connections. In the end, search and rescue takes time to set up, they were my groups backup.

It takes 4 to 5 guys to make a safe ride/rescue.
If injured person is down, leave one to assist the injury and two to summon help.
Always know/check where there is cell service or carry a spot type locating beacon.

Never ride alone
groups of 2 is not enough to handle emergencys
4 riding partners can handle most emergency situations but more riders helps ease problems
Mick

 

[coug66]

Here's a great reason to carry a spot, You could have hit the , "send help" button to alert 4 or 5 or your friends. I've carried on for years, luckly never had to use it but I have hit the "check ok " button many times to tell the wife and friends we are ok but running late, will call when we get cell service. ,Very glad everything went ok, way to keep your cool and not panic ect.

I am going to get a Spot. After this weekend my wife deserves to have piece of mind. If it does that I will be happy. There are mixed reviews but I think I will try the Spot Connect bluetooth. I can use it all year round.( motorcycles)

hopefully it will be able to prevent situations like this in the future.

If either of us had been injured it would have been a very different situation, one we were not prepared for.

I am going to step up and take responsability for the requirements of the sport. like avalanche rescue gear if not for me then for my fellow riders.

Ian

 

[03summit700]

I keep a pair of snowshoes on my sled. Just in case.

 

[Matte Murder]

I have a pair of brand new Spot Connects I will sell you for $75 each. I went with the In Reach as it works better with the Iphones we use. Glad you guys are all right. I always say "we can ride in 45 minutes to a place we can't walk out of in 3 days". The hardest thing to do when you are in a spot like that is stay put. That cabin would have been the spot to be. One of the first places your guys would have checked but the desire to self rescue is really hard to fight off.

 

[blk9038]

I keep a pair of snowshoes on my sled. Just in case.

I also carry a pair of snowshoes and only have had to use them once in 2 years but well worth hauling them around and after this story i will contine to haul them, and yes i agree with the others here in an emergancy 2 riders is not enough and we have another rule we use also use we do not head downhill to hillclimb unless there are enough of us to get sled/people out but we also had some close calls on hills just your story needs to be read by more people that venture out over their heads as this can happen in a hurry, real glad you shared this Ian.