C
CoyoteGirl
Well-known member
This past Friday we were up at Mt. Baker. It was one of those incredible days with fresh snow and sunburn weather. My crew originally had intended to hit Baker one day then head on up to Whistler for Saturday and Sunday. As we are coming off the mountain we see a heli landing at a gathering spot called Hood Hill. Thought to myself, hope no one is hurt! As we get closer here comes a military heli, thought to myself.. hope it's no one I know as with the addition of this heli meant trouble.
We pull up to a scene of a sled beneath the waterfall, not looking quite right and some people huddled around a person laying in the snow. Shoot, I recognize the sled... heart sinks.
Military heli drops off medics and takes off, something seems to be wrong and then we see fluid dumping out of it and he comes back around for a very fast landing, not quite as graceful or patient as the one before. Something is NOT right here. Come to find out they were dumping fuel and may or may not now have enough to get back off the hill.
The pilot goes into a hover to check pressure levels and I guess sees he has just enough to get them back, but not enough to hover over the injured and winch him out. They take off leaving medics behind. Luckily the private heli owner had decided to hang out, see how things played out and now we still had him to get the injured off the hill.
I head over to where my buddy is laying and they've now got him on a backboard, off the snow, covered in heat blankets and getting an IV started. He doesn't even look like he's in pain and it's apparent that he's got atleast a broken femur, tough guy! lol Everyone is pitching in supplies, clothing, handwarmers, jokes to help out.
While they are getting him some drugs and checking vitals it becomes apparent that he has to be transported by hand (winching no longer an option) from where he was to about 400 yards away, up and down a few small hills. The call goes out to the crowd that is watching from afar on hood hill and they all come over and start stomping out a path.
Medic one ties a rope onto the backboard, digs in at the top of the hill, everyone forms 2 lines along the path and the process of handing the backboard from person to person down the first hill begins. It soon becomes apparent that it will be easier/better to just have those in line stablize the carriers. I didn't check the time, but it took quite a few to get him to the heli. They load the backboard in sideways, the only way it has a chance of fitting only to find out it is now to wide not allowing the doors to close. Medics had determined there was no spinal injuries present and the decision was made that the injured had to sit up so they could shut the doors. Painful maneauver for sure but at this time there was no other option. No other military heli was coming back, it was getting dark, it had now been 2 1/2 hours since the accident, time to get him OFF the hill. Away they take him and I understand he went into surgery Saturday morning and is doing well.
Medic two went with the heli to monitor leaving medic one on the ground, no gear, no helmet, really.. no ride! LOL One of our group grabs the backboard and straps it to his tunnel, another guy ties down medics stuff, another takes the medic and its to the parking lot we go.
It was decided to not deal with the sled (that was pretty much broken in two and was going to require alot of work to tow out via sled) until the next day and the Glacier Cruisers would use the groomer to pull the sled out.
Onto the rest of my story... my crew rolls into the parking lot. This is the Mt. Baker Shoot Out weekend and the lot is lined with trailers, campers, people here for the weekend. We realize that the backboard split my buddy's tunnel in two... we are no longer going to Whistler! Bummer. What to do? Well, this is a fun social event and we decide we want to stay! I set off finding peeps I know and begging food, beer and lodging off of anyone who will give it. Sledheads are giving, helpful, resourcefull. One friend calls her fiance who hasn't arrived yet and asks him to stop by the house to grab cots and sleeping bags, then offered up their heated trailer for the night. She also offered up food and drinks. Another sledhead offered up food and a microwave to heat up what was suppose to be our lunch food. Another guy knew I loved my wine and offered up his stash! With the effort of several we had a great night of telling lies around a campfire!
I know this is a long winded story. But the whole event just left me with such a cool feeling and a reminder that you won't find better people than sledheads!
These pictures were taken by Zack Kinnear
See the issue?
We pull up to a scene of a sled beneath the waterfall, not looking quite right and some people huddled around a person laying in the snow. Shoot, I recognize the sled... heart sinks.
Military heli drops off medics and takes off, something seems to be wrong and then we see fluid dumping out of it and he comes back around for a very fast landing, not quite as graceful or patient as the one before. Something is NOT right here. Come to find out they were dumping fuel and may or may not now have enough to get back off the hill.
The pilot goes into a hover to check pressure levels and I guess sees he has just enough to get them back, but not enough to hover over the injured and winch him out. They take off leaving medics behind. Luckily the private heli owner had decided to hang out, see how things played out and now we still had him to get the injured off the hill.
I head over to where my buddy is laying and they've now got him on a backboard, off the snow, covered in heat blankets and getting an IV started. He doesn't even look like he's in pain and it's apparent that he's got atleast a broken femur, tough guy! lol Everyone is pitching in supplies, clothing, handwarmers, jokes to help out.
While they are getting him some drugs and checking vitals it becomes apparent that he has to be transported by hand (winching no longer an option) from where he was to about 400 yards away, up and down a few small hills. The call goes out to the crowd that is watching from afar on hood hill and they all come over and start stomping out a path.
Medic one ties a rope onto the backboard, digs in at the top of the hill, everyone forms 2 lines along the path and the process of handing the backboard from person to person down the first hill begins. It soon becomes apparent that it will be easier/better to just have those in line stablize the carriers. I didn't check the time, but it took quite a few to get him to the heli. They load the backboard in sideways, the only way it has a chance of fitting only to find out it is now to wide not allowing the doors to close. Medics had determined there was no spinal injuries present and the decision was made that the injured had to sit up so they could shut the doors. Painful maneauver for sure but at this time there was no other option. No other military heli was coming back, it was getting dark, it had now been 2 1/2 hours since the accident, time to get him OFF the hill. Away they take him and I understand he went into surgery Saturday morning and is doing well.
Medic two went with the heli to monitor leaving medic one on the ground, no gear, no helmet, really.. no ride! LOL One of our group grabs the backboard and straps it to his tunnel, another guy ties down medics stuff, another takes the medic and its to the parking lot we go.
It was decided to not deal with the sled (that was pretty much broken in two and was going to require alot of work to tow out via sled) until the next day and the Glacier Cruisers would use the groomer to pull the sled out.
Onto the rest of my story... my crew rolls into the parking lot. This is the Mt. Baker Shoot Out weekend and the lot is lined with trailers, campers, people here for the weekend. We realize that the backboard split my buddy's tunnel in two... we are no longer going to Whistler! Bummer. What to do? Well, this is a fun social event and we decide we want to stay! I set off finding peeps I know and begging food, beer and lodging off of anyone who will give it. Sledheads are giving, helpful, resourcefull. One friend calls her fiance who hasn't arrived yet and asks him to stop by the house to grab cots and sleeping bags, then offered up their heated trailer for the night. She also offered up food and drinks. Another sledhead offered up food and a microwave to heat up what was suppose to be our lunch food. Another guy knew I loved my wine and offered up his stash! With the effort of several we had a great night of telling lies around a campfire!
I know this is a long winded story. But the whole event just left me with such a cool feeling and a reminder that you won't find better people than sledheads!
These pictures were taken by Zack Kinnear
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