Summit County Rescue Group Newsroom

SCRG rescues man injured by beetle-kill tree

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:37:10 GMT

At 6:30 on Saturday, August 21st, the Summit County Rescue Group received an all call page to respond to the Meadow Creek trailhead for an injured hiker.

Three men, two from the Denver area and one from Frisco, were camping near Eccles Pass. They had set up hammocks in the trees in a triangular formation, with two of the hammocks anchored to the same tree. While two of the three men were in their hammocks, the shared tree fell over onto one man pinning him under the tree. The second man fell to the ground and was momentarily stunned. The third man was able to move the tree off of his pinned friend. They then contacted emergency dispatch and requested help for their injured friend.

The Summit County Rescue Group sent an initial response team of three, consisting of a wilderness paramedic and two rescuers. After evaluating the patient, Flight for Life was contacted and Life Guard 2 was launched to evacuate the injured man. The helicopter was able to land in a meadow about 100 yards from the campsite. The patient was airlifted to St. Anthony's Medical Center in Frisco.

SCRG advises backcountry travellers to be attentive to the beetle-kill tree hazard in the forests. According to Dan Moroz with Lake Dillon Fire Rescue, over 90,000 trees per day fall in Colorado due to the extensive damage caused to the forest by the pine beetle infestation. One should especially be cautious on windy days.

SCRG rescues 68-year-old man from Buffalo Mountain

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:11:39 GMT

A 68-year-old man from Boulder was rescued off Buffalo Mountain on Friday after he slipped and injured himself near the summit. Summit County Rescue Group was paged at 11:30 a.m.

26 members of SCRG responded and performed a technical scree evacuation.

The man was injured about 100 feet below the summit. Using a makeshift splint for his injury, he was able to hobble about a half mile to a scree field before rescuers arrived.

Team members hand-carried the patient to treeline and then used a titanium litter and ropes to bring him down the scree field to the trail. A Teton litter on a bicycle-style wheel was used to get the man to the bottom of the trail.

The mission wrapped up at approximately 7:30 pm. The subject declined medical care and transported himself to a hospital.

Photo by Becky Baylor of the Summit County Rescue Group.

SCGR pulls an all nighter in the Northern Gore Range

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:11:51 GMT

In a strenuous all-night effort, the Summit County Rescue Group evacuated an injured man from near Mirror Lake, in the Northern Gore Range, on July 29^th.

The call came in at approximately 6:30 pm on the 28th, as the Group was conducting its regular Wednesday night training meeting. Approximately 28 volunteer members responded directly from the meeting and staged at the Elliot Ridge trailhead.

The subject was a 78-year-old man from Alaska who was hiking with his 45-year-old son from Denver. The man had slipped on a log and cut himself on a branch, and his son was able to make a 911 call from his cell phone.

The rescue was complicated by thunderstorms and periodic rain, and rescuers had trouble finding the subject during the night. They finally camped for a few hours at about 2:00 am, and found him on the west side of Mirror Lake at 6:30 am.

Rescuers carried him as far as the wilderness border and then used an ATV and a wheeled litter carrier to bring him out, reaching the trailhead at about 1:30 pm. He declined ambulance transport and was driven to the hospital by his son.

The hike was an annual one for the two experienced hikers, who were well-prepared for the backcountry.

Photo by Katie Menaugh of the Summit County Rescue Group

SCRG rescues cliffed-out hiker on Mount Royal

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:29:34 GMT

April 23, 2010-- The Summit County Rescue Group rescued a 22-year-old Minnesota man from the rock bands on the north side of Mount Royal last night.

The hiker, who was visiting friends in the county, set out for an afternoon hike at about 2:00 pm. Rather than following the trail he bushwacked straight up the north side of the mountain from the Frisco bike path, and eventually reached a steep, rocky area from which he could neither ascend nor descend. He called a local friend for help, who in turn called SCRG mission coordinator Dan Burnett. 15 volunteer rescuers from SCRG responded to the call at about 4:00 pm, and climbed in teams to reach the stranded hiker. The first rescuer to reach the subject, Special Operations Technician Mark Watson from the Sheriff's Office, built a fire to warm him. Then teams set up four 200-foot fixed ropes, and SCRG mission coordinator Jim Koegel rappelled the hiker down the mountain. He reached the bottom just before 10:00 pm. The rescue was complicated by heavy snowfall and fog, which made the terrain slippery and made it difficult for a spotter with a scope to assist in locating the hiker from the bottom. Increasingly dangerous conditions forced SCRG to abandon four ropes on the mountain.

SCRG reminds hikers to stay on the trail when hiking in unfamiliar areas. What looks like a doable route from a distance may actually be a technical climb requiring specialized equipment and climbing experience. Over the past few years, cliffed-out hikers on Quandary Peak and Mount Royal have become more frequent.

Photos: Rescuers Jim Levi and Aaron Parmet rig fixed lines to safely evacuate the cliffed-out climber. Rescuer Jim Levi surveys the route from the bottom of Mount Royal. Photos by Aaron Parmet.

Why we love helicopters

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:26:58 GMT

We are very fortunate in Colorado to have Saint Anthony's Flight For Life as a resource, not only to pick up our more serious patients, but also to help us get to where we need to be quickly. The programs are called Avalanche Deployment and Lift Ticket, and they are unique; nowhere else in the US do such programs exist.

The Avalanche Deployment Program allows the helicopter to fly an avalanche dog, a dog handler and a snow technician to the scene of an avalanche within minutes of the 911 call. Those minutes are critical for the possible survival of a buried avalanche victim.

The Lift Ticket program allows rescuers, one at a time, to fly in the helicopter to remote areas for the search or rescue of a lost or injured backcountry recreationalist. Valuable time can be saved when the patient or lost subject is many hours into the wilderness by foot. This time can be critical to the subject's survival, for example when there are serious injuries, or when hypothermia is setting in. It's a one-way ride, however, so rescuers must be prepared to hike back out.

SCRG members, and members of other mountain rescue teams around Colorado, must go through regular training in order to use this resource. For the dog handlers and snow technicians that participate in Avalanche Deployment, they must train monthly. For Lift Ticket participants, we must train annually. Our 2010 training session was held just last week, and consisted of a presentation by Flight For Life staff about safe helicopter operations, and then individual practice getting in and out of the helicopter safely and using the helmets and intercom system.

Our thanks to the Flight For Life staff! We know that many of the subjects we've rescued would have had far less of a chance for survival without the time you saved us.

Photo by Aaron Parmet.

The reaccreditation season is upon us

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:03:53 GMT

One of the many things the Summit County Rescue Group is proud of is our status as a Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) accredited team. What that means, here in the Rocky Mountain Region of the MRA, is that we've gone through a rigorous testing process every five years in which our peers in the region assess the safety and effectiveness of our rescue procedures.

The test always takes place over a weekend, and consists of five scenarios: a search, a high angle rock rescue, a low-angle scree evacuation, an avalanche, and a winter evacuation. Evaluators from other teams all over Colorado and New Mexico set up the scenarios and act as observers; then they give the testing team feedback at the end. It's a great way for teams to learn more about what's working well for them and what could be improved. It's also a great teambuilding experience for testing teams, because of the intense training that takes place during the year before the reaccreditation.

The Summit County Rescue Group "recerted", as we call it, last May. Now it's time for our team to participate in the recerts of other teams, four of which are testing this spring: Grand County, Routt County, Douglas County and Alpine Rescue Team in Clear Creek/Jefferson Counties. Many members of those teams helped us both with our training scenarios and our recert last year, and we will be repaying the favor by setting up practice scenarios for them and sending evaluators to their recerts.

It's a great process for all of the Rocky Mountain Region teams, not just because it sharpens your game in a recert year, but also because we learn a lot attending the recerts of other teams. Every team does things a little differently. The MRA does not prescribe particular rescue techniques or procedures; it only asks that whatever we do, it is safe, efficient and effective. By sending evaluators to watch other teams perform, we pick up ideas and best practices.

Jim Koegel, a mission coordinator with our team, comments, "We changed the way we build snow anchors a few years ago because of feedback we got during a recert. We used to put four attendants on the litter, so we had to overbuild the anchor in order to hold them. It didn't make any sense to spend extra time doing this, since we really didn't need four people to attend the litter. Once we got this feedback, we changed what we were doing and it made us more efficient at winter evacuations."

We wish our fellow teams all the best during the 2010 recert season!

Photo: SCRG member Jim Levi tends a "patient" during the high angle rescue scenario of SCRG's 2009 recertification. Photo by Colin Dinsmore.

Swiftwater season approaches

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:39:23 GMT

If you're a whitewater kayaker or rafter, this is the time of year that you start to get excited; you get your gear ready, plan your trips, and wait for the runoff with anticipation. For the rest of us, it's just the approach of the dreary mud season, right?

Not so fast. As a few tragic events over the past couple of years have shown, we all would do well to keep the approaching swiftwater season in mind. Last year, a mother in Routt County fell into a rushing creek and drowned while trying to save her child, who had crawled out to a dangerous spot on a rock during a spring hike. The year before, a woman riding a horse fell into a rushing creek in Eagle County and she drowned too. Just because you didn't plan to be in the water doesn't mean you won't be. A few simple safety tips to follow:

Teach your children about the dangers of swiftwater; don't assume they will understand on their own that the harmless little trickle of water in July may become a raging force in May.
Avoid hikes with dangerous stream crossings, even where there are log bridges. Bridges may fail, or you may lose your balance.
Keep your pets away from rushing streams in springtime.
If you must be within ten feet of a dangerous creek or river for some reason, observe the swiftwater safety rules: wear footwear with good traction, a PFD (lifejacket) and a helmet. Have a buddy with you. Carry a hiking stick that you could hold out to someone, or better yet, know how to use a throwbag. Most swiftwater accidents begin on the shore.
Be aware that water levels can change very quickly, and strainers can suddenly appear. A strainer is an item in the water, usually a log, that is catching debris moving through the water. Strainers are very dangerous because if you get caught in one, you are likely to be sucked under the water and held there.
If the worst happens and you fall in, never try to stand up or put your foot down on the bottom; it may become trapped and pull you underwater. Get your feet downstream of you and keep your head up. Then try to swim towards shore, or grab a branch on shore.

Don't underestimate the power of a creek during spring runoff! Examples of Summit County spots that may become dangerous include Willow Creek, parts of Ten Mile Creek (especially around Officer's Gulch), the forks of the Swan, and the Columbine takeout on the lower Blue River. The swiftwater rescue team members of the Summit County Rescue Group and the Summit County Water Rescue Team are here for you in the event you need us, but the reality is, it takes us precious time to get to you after the call for help has gone out. Usually by the time we arrive, it's too late.

Photo: Members of SCRG and SCWRT assist Routt County Search & Rescue with the search for a missing woman who fell in Fish Creek in 2009. Photo by Shari Topping.

SCRG members attend AVPro course

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:36:18 GMT

Imagine this: on the first day of an avalanche class, you're given a pre-test that has questions like, "A storm starts out with rain falling at all elevations for a period of two hours; the storm cools over the next six hours and puts 10 cm of snow on top. As the storm clears, the air becomes very cold, -16C, with moderate wind speeds. Three days later another storm deposits 20 cm of 10% density snow over the span of 27 hours. Stability is rated ________ because of ________."

Fortunately, questions like this don't make Aaron Parmet and Hunter Mortensen break out into a cold sweat the way they would for some others.

The American Avalanche Association's nine-day AVPro class is designed for ski patrollers, forecasters and professional guides who already have significant avalanche experience, and a detailed application process is necessary to get in. In fact, Aaron was the only one of 18 participants in the Telluride February class who did not have a paying job in an avalanche-related field. "I wanted to bring my avalanche education to the next level and deepen my understanding, so I can make better decisions as a rescuer and as a recreational leader," Aaron says. "I also wanted to be able to pass on what I learned to others."

For Hunter, who works full-time as a ski patroller for Breckenridge, the decision to attend the class needs no explanation. "The best part of the course for me," he comments, "was the sharing of best practices between patrollers and dog handlers."

The three full-time instructors for the course were Andy Gleason, a PhD candidate in snow science and former CAIC forecaster; Sarah Carpenter, owner of American Avalanche Institute in Jackson; and Denny Hogan, a retired forecaster/snow ranger.

The course began with a field rescue exercise involving three buried beacons, two dummies, a live burial, and a Recco tab. Both Aaron and Hunter agreed that while it was a fairly advanced scenario for most, it was a review for the two of them, the only volunteer mountain rescuers in the group. That was the only part of the course they labeled "basic", however.

It had snowed heavily, so on the second day participants shadowed Telluride ski patrollers on control routes. The highlight for Aaron, one of the few in the group who does not routinely do control work, was observing a Howitzer control mission using a Forest Service gun.

On the third day of the course, the group skied out a Telluride backcountry gate and stayed for two nights in the Alta Lakes Observatory, a backcountry lodge that exceeds the name "hut". Featuring running water, electricity, a hot tub and a piano, it was an ideal place for the group to kick back in the evenings with a beer and talk shop. Hunter comments, "I really think the instructors plan an overnight trip on purpose, in order to make sure we spend time truly relaxing and sharing ideas with each other. I learned a lot from talking to other patrollers." During the days, the focus was on route finding and snow pits, but the avalanche danger was rated so high that the group had to stay in the trees and on very low-angled slopes.

Classroom topics in the days following the hut trip included decision-making, controlled releases, fracture mechanics, spatial variability, slab thickness and propagation, limitations of formal stability tests, sintering following fracture, and skier triggering. A frequent speaker, among others, was Craig Sterbenz, Snow Safety Director for Telluride. And one of the most interesting and highly debated topics, according to both Hunter and Aaron, was snowpack dynamics and the decreasing reliability of skier compaction theory; especially because skis are trending wider now and tend to pack the snow less.

Toward the end of the class there were two more field tours at Ophir and Red Mountain Pass, where CAIC forecaster Susan Hale talked about issues in working with government agencies such as CDOT, and how she makes the tough decisions that lead to road closure recommendations.

On the last day of the course, participants took a 58-question written exam, a timed full-data snow pit test, and a beacon test, which involved finding three beacons in less than seven minutes in a 100 meter by 100 meter field. Both Aaron and Hunter passed with flying colors.

Asked who else in our group might be interested in taking a future AVPro class, Aaron responds, "People who are absolutely passionate about avalanche science." Hunter adds, "The person who is ready and willing to make the decision whether to send us into the field on an avalanche call is really who should take it. That's the hardest and most important decision that gets made on our team."

Photo: The Alta Lakes Observatory hut, by Aaron Parmet.

SCRG puts on backcountry ski outing for winning store from Specialty Sports Venture fundraising competition

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:56:14 GMT

This year, the Specialty Sports Venture (SSV) store in Summit County that raised the most money for the Summit County Rescue Group during its annual promotion won a day outing with our group. The winning store was Breckenridge Sports Peak 8.

On Wednesday, March 10th, 14 employees of the store were treated to a day of backcountry skiing in the back basin of Mayflower Gulch. Mayflower Gulch is a beautiful backcountry amphitheater off route 91, a few miles south of Copper Mountain, and features a short cross-country ski trail leading up to the ruins of the old Boston Mine, situated in a cirque below Mount Fletcher.

After an avalanche awareness briefing and some practice with avalanche beacons, rescue members shuttled the group up to the Boston mining ruins site by snowmobile and divided them into smaller ski groups, each with its own guide. The groups hiked up the ridge to the south and skied/boarded in fresh powder for a few hours, and then came back down to "Boston" for a cookout lunch around a campfire.

Photos by Scott McLean and Shawn Gorea of the Summit County Rescue Group.

SCRG responds to avalanche fatality in backcountry area near Arapahoe Basin

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:54:36 GMT

Photos by Chris Sutton of the Summit County Rescue Group

At approximately 2:50 pm today, March 10th, three snowboarders triggered an avalanche in a backcountry area off Highway 6. One man was ahead of the other two and was carried an estimated 1000 feet by the avalanche. His body was almost completely buried and landed one mile west of Arapahoe Basin Ski Area on the south side. It took 20 to 25 minutes for his friends to descend to an area where they could make a 911 call.

All three of the men were from Spring Grove, Illinois and two of them, including the victim, have lived in the local area since November. The third was visiting Summit County and had just arrived two days ago. None of the three snowboarders were carrying avalanche probes, beacons or shovels.

The victim was a 20-year-old male. His name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and will be released by the Summit County Coroner, Joanne Richardson. Cause of death is being withheld pending further investigation.

Approximately 37 rescuers responded to the call including volunteer members of the Summit County Rescue Group, and members of Arapahoe Basin Ski Patrol, Keystone Ski Patrol and the Summit County Ambulance Service. A team of rescuers hiked up to the area of the avalanche to find and recover the body, and set up an uphaul rope system to bring the victim up to Highway 6.

The snowpack this season has been highly unstable and with the recent new snow this week, the Summit County Rescue Group reminds all backcountry recreationalists to take extra precautions. Check the forecast with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, choose safe routes, carry avalanche gear and know how to use it.

The Summit County Rescue Group will be holding a free public avalanche rescue clinic this Sunday, March 14th, at 1:00 pm in Frisco. To register, email summitavyrescue@gmail.com.

Media contact: Anna DeBattiste, Public Information Officer, 303-817-5663