THANKS TO ROUTT cnty SAR & Flight for life

[OLD GOAT]

I want to give a special thanks to Routt county Search and Rescue and the flight crew of the Flight for life chopper that flew me off of rabbit ears on 11/26/2010. If any of you are on the forum, a very big THANK YOU !!! YOU WERE ALL AWSOME!!! EQUAL THANKS to the Dr Viola & staff at St Anthony/Frisco medical center. That is the best hospital I have ever been in!!
THE STORY:
I was up at the Ears the day after thanksgiving. it was 3pm, fading light, I was in the shadows banking a turn at the edge of a powder field & wham!! Next thing I know is I am laying next to the sled in pain. I broke my right femur in two places. The leg was going 2 different directions and I knew I was screwed!! We were 10 miles into the back country, out of cell range, it was getting dark, it was zero degrees. There were 7 of us. 4 of the group stayed with me & built a big fire next to me, 2 rode about 2 more miles towards the buff pass towers to get in cell range. 2 other guys showed up who we did not know & helped with the fire. Thanks to them also! I had triggered my "Spot" beacon. My 2 other friends were now talking to search & rescue the same time the Spot reponders were. Search & rescue came out of Steamboat and a Flight for life chopper came out of Frisco. SAR got there about 10 minutes before the chopper. I was loaded on the chopper, taken to ST Anthony/Frisco & had surgery that night. I now have about as much titainium in me as a VOHK mod sled but should be 100% in a couple months.
THE LESSONS learned:
Be prepared. Search and Rescue said my friends did everything "right" Without them doing what they did, things could have turned out a lot worse.
Ride in a big enough group, there is safety in numbers.
Carry a spot and pay the extra $12.95/year for the $100,000 in emergency rescue insurance. my flight for life cost $21,880.
If your going to get hurt, get hurt close to Steamboat or Frisco & get rescued by the best.
Bill DeLaCroix

 

[bdubs]

hell of a story! Sorry it happened to you.. breaking your femur is as serious as it gets... kudos to you and your crew for the evacuation!











now you get to look forward to some extra "special" treatment from TSA whenever you travel from now on!

 

[bushy]

Sorry to hear about your accident Bill. I wish you a speedy recovery! You hit a rock or something?

 

[tudizzle]

Great story....brings chills.

Great to know you can count on your riding group in this type of situation and that your equipment worked as well.

I too pay the extra insurance. And actually type in my 911 message that it will only be set off in need of flight for life...SEND HELICOPTER.

SkiBreeze broke his leg doing a carve thru a meadow a few years back.....We were luckily able to limp him out on our own. But you learn the mettle of your riding partners real quick in these types of situations.

Quick Recovery!

 

[dobie]

flight for life

Bill
i work for the company (Air Methods) that builds and maintains the majority of the flight for life helicopters in the world. we have some amazing pilots, i too have ridden in the exact helicopter you rode in. that crew is pretty awesome. i will pass this along to everyone at our company, this is good stuff to hear. glad everything turned out OK.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

Glad to know that when something bad happened, you had the support to do things right and you got out safe.

As for the cost of SAR and Flights, isn't that covered under the S&R fee that is included when we register our sleds. I have always thought so (this includes all hunting and fishing licenses too) so if this is not true, I'd like to know.

Again, gald to know that you are safe, healthy and healing fast.

 

[windsock]

As for the cost of SAR and Flights, isn't that covered under the S&R fee that is included when we register our sleds. I have always thought so (this includes all hunting and fishing licenses too) so if this is not true, I'd like to know.

Again, gald to know that you are safe, healthy and healing fast.


I'll second what he said above, doesn't our snowmobile registration pay for Search and Rescue ???

 

[tudizzle]

Search and Rescue would be covered but not flight for life...or at least that was my understanding?

 

[christopher]

Carry a spot and pay the extra $12.95/year for the $100,000 in emergency rescue insurance.
my flight for life cost $21,880.

You certainly got your money's worth out of that one!!

Speedy recovery man.

 

[Qreiff]

Hope you are getting well and feeling more comfortable by the day! Godspeed Bill, sure going to miss you on the hill.

Thanks for the details. Sure like stories where great people help great people!

Q

 

[HereKittyKitty]

THE LESSONS learned:
Be prepared. Search and Rescue said my friends did everything "right" Without them doing what they did, things could have turned out a lot worse.
Ride in a big enough group, there is safety in numbers.
Carry a spot and pay the extra $12.95/year for the $100,000 in emergency rescue insurance. my flight for life cost $21,880.
If your going to get hurt, get hurt close to Steamboat or Frisco & get rescued by the best.
Bill DeLaCroix

When I think of a lesson learned, I think of "That was stupid, I don't think I'll do that again." I see this is as more of a "Thankful I knew this." It looks like you were prepared, and had a group that could back up the situation with appropriate actions.

As a newer rider to this type of situation (not much of just a trail rider anymore) hopefully yours is a lesson I will not have to "learn" the hard way.

Best of luck with a speedy and easy recovery.

 

[backcountryislife]

Bill,

Do you happen to know who the crew was that day?

I'm friends with a couple of them.

 

[adrenaline junkey]

Search and Rescue would be covered but not flight for life...or at least that was my understanding?

That is absoultly correct

quite a story and im glad you had the resources to make it out ok. i wish you a speedy recovery

 

[OLD GOAT]

thanks for all the good wishes everybody. I really don't remember the crews' names, just know they were all great. Bushy, I just went over a wind drift at the edge of a field in the shadows & bang! In our group it seems that if anything bad happens, it always happens after 3 pm. It has pretty much become the joke of the group. I triggered my spot at 3:03 pm. Anyway, just got my stiches out & other than having to sit around for at least 4 more weeks things should be fine. Also, our state fees cover basic search & rescue, not flight for life. Finally, basic Colorado blue cross/blue shield only pays $5000 in a stituation like mine. ( at least thats how blue cross explained it to me)

 

[CANNONMAN]

Bill, glad to hear you are ok. Don't you know you should stay riding on the Grand Mesa, it's safer over here. I have a friend who bought a spot in TX this fall on the way to New Mexico for an elk hunt and paid for everything also. He fell and broke his leg in 4 places and also had to be air lifted out, he is waiting to see if they cover his costs. I will try and keep you posted on how his claim goes. Let me know what you learn also. I am glad I have a spot. Mark

 

[Eagleray]

Great Spot story.
Just wondering if you hit the button at 3pm what time did the chopper arrive. Having never hit the 911 myself I wonder what the response time would be.