| Editors Note | As this report indicates, climbing is an inherently dangerous activity. I debated about making this report available on my site, but I want to make sure that all the "casual climbers" out there know that even "easy mountains" can be lethal... |
From: Mark Scott-Nash Newsgroups: rec.backcountry Subject: Re: Accident on Quandry Peak - CO Date: 10 Sep 1998 15:33:05 GMT
In article <905353292.860632@wagasa.cts.com>, "Bill Foote" says:
> >Anybody know about the accident on Quandry Peak last Sunday?
Shelly Scott-Nash was leading a CMC trip up the west ridge of Quandary on Sunday (Sept. 6). Participants were to arrive from several directions, so we decided to meet at the blue lakes road turnoff from highway 9 at 7 am. Two of the 6 participants showed up and we waited for the other three. After waiting an hour, we figured they had car trouble or something similar, so we decided to leave. There were 4 of us, so we had a "legal" CMC trip.
The west ridge of Quandary is basically a walkup climb until you get above 14,000 feet. From there, an exposed 4th class ridge traverse takes you to the summit. The ridge is fairly loose, but not technically difficult. The trip went without incident up to the 4th class section. Shelly and I had climbed this ridge last year in October when there was a dusting of snow on it. We knew what the difficulties were, and thus Shelly screened her participants very well, actually discouraging people if they weren't totally confident climbing in this situation. The result was a very competent group.
As we climbed up to just below the 4th class section, we ran into two groups descending the route. They had turned around when they saw the difficult section of the ridge. They were using Dawsons guide book and had no clue that the route would be that difficult. I read the description in Dawsons guide after I got back home. He calls it an "advanced" route but really does not say much about the actual climbing. It surprised me that two different groups made the same mistake using the same guide book.
Our group had gotten over most of the 4th class section without difficulty, when we noticed several people grouped together 300 feet down a steep, rotten gully that descended from the ridge line. Someone was shouting from the top of the gully, saying that they had called for a rescue on a cell phone. We were in a good position to help, so I gathered all the equipment from our group that I thought would be helpful for an overnight bivvy. I descended the gully and it was *very* difficult not to knock down rocks on the people below.
There were four people in the group: the injured woman, her boyfriend and two people giving assistance. The two people giving assistance were Mary Walker and Tom Jensen. They were the CMC members who were supposed to meet us at the trailhead! There was a miscommunication about the meeting place. They had gone ahead with the climb and were about 15 minutes ahead of us all the way up. The injured party and her boyfriend were not with our group. Mary and Tom had gone down to assist, sending Willy Gully, the other CMC member in the first group, to summon a rescue. They had actually witnessed the fall.
The woman fell on the last section of the ridge. Her boyfriend told me that he thought she was going too fast and was not being careful. Given that the climbing is really not that difficult, I speculate that she wasn't testing holds and one broke out on her. Neither she nor her boyfriend had any technical climbing experience, but they did climb 14'ers every weekend. She had come to rest laying on her back with her head uphill in the rotten scree. She had an obvious serious head wound as well as a possible broken hand. Her boyfriend was not injured and was first to reach her and yell for help.
Mary is a nurse anesthetist. When she arrived, the woman was not breathing well. Mary cleared her airway and got her breathing normally. She and Tom got her wrapped up and dressed her head wound. When I arrived, she was stable and Mary was monitoring her breathing and other signs. The injured woman was unconscious the entire time and her pupils were dilated and unreactive. For the next few hours, Mary sat next to the injured woman and kept her alive.
We waited for 5 hours before we saw any sign of a rescue. The Summit County Search and Rescue group showed up at about the same time a military helicopter arrived from Fort Carson. The helicopter slowly flew in close and observed our position. It then left and landed on a flat ridge a few miles away. They unloaded a bunch of equipment and flew back to our position.
The gully we were in had vertical walls on both sides that were about 40 feet high. The gully itself was about 100 feet wide at our position. The helicopter flew to within about 30 vertical feet of our position. It was with *amazing* skill that they hovered there and lowered an army medic on a cable. The wind from the helicopter was kicking up dust and anything else that wasn't secured, and it was *loud*!
The medic carried with him a dissassembled litter that the helicopter could carry out on the lowering cable. We assembled the litter. It took all three of us who weren't attending to the injured woman to do this on the 30 degree scree slope, which was actually quite dangerous. We then secured the woman to it, trying to hold it as level as possible. By this time a paramedic from the rescue team had arrived and helped treat the woman. Unfortunately, though she had been stable and breathing well on her own for the previous 5 hours, her breathing became erratic as they worked on her.
I asked the army medic how often he had done this. He said that he had been in that unit for 2 years and it was only his second mission. His first mission had been the day before when they pulled an injured skier off of Tyndall glacier in RMNP. Well, it was definitely an exciting job when the missions came in!
The helicopter came in for the pick up. It approached and retreated several times, testing the wind patterns. It finally hovered over us as we attached the haul line to the litter. I was in the best position to attach the cable so I worked on that. I had clipped the cable and was inserting a safety pin when suddenly, the litter was ripped out of my hands! The helicopter had to back out abruptly, probably because of some shifting wind current. This knocked the army paramedic about 20 feet down the hill. Luckily, the only injury from this maneuver was a bruised thumbnail that I got when the litter pulled away unexpectedly. The army medic shook his head and apologized, saying that it's not supposed to happen that way. I thought that it was better that than to have a helicopter crash a few feet away from us..
The army helicopter carried the victim down to another waiting ambulance helicopter. The army helicopter then came up for the third time, picked up the medic and flew off. We were very happy to get her out that day. Sadly, she did end up dying at the hospital in Denver. The rescue paramedic had said that she looked very bad and didn't think she had much of a chance. Personally, I hadn't ever seen a climbing injury that serious in 20 years of mountaineering.
We were able to hike down the east side route during a beautiful sunset. I got a moonlight ride to the blue lakes trailhead on an ATV belonging to the rescue group. At the blue lakes trailhead they had a bunch of food and drinks for us and the rescue personnel. Shelly was waiting for me there. We left and arrived home about midnight.
When I analyze this accident, I feel that the only thing they did wrong was to climb above their ability and experience level. An accident like this could probably happen to anyone, but it would be much less likely if one has a minor amount of technical climbing skill. Also, technical mountaineering routes have much more loose rock and every hold needs to be tested. A helmet probably would have helped a lot, but they aren't normally worn on routes like this.
This accident reinforces the notion that if you get injured in a remote area, you will be waiting a long, long time for help. The victim on Crestone Needle this weekend waited much longer than we did for a helicopter rescue. Having some emergency equipment in your group, such as a bivvy bag and a cell phone, helps immensely. I feel that the cell phone call-in was the only reason she got down the mountain that day. A very good first aid kit (and knowing how to use it) also helps quite a bit.
Mark Scott-Nash September 8, 1998