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DEM #99-0891 May 6, 1999 |
The following mission report was submitted by Fran McFarland the Operations Leader for this mission. Editor
On Thursday evening, May 6th, TMR was paged for a search on Mt. Rainier for a party of 4 missing on the challenging Liberty Ridge route. Those responding were Fran McFarland, Jeff Sharp, Rick Wire, Scott Nicholson, Ken Capron, Bill Weber, Stan Kartes and John Miner. We met at Longmire at 8:30 am on Friday morning for a briefing with the National Park rangers.
There were two separate parties planning to climb Liberty Ridge. They joined together to make a party of four. Mike "Gator", head climbing ranger for the Park, had talked to both parties. One party was from Wyoming, the other from this area. Both were very experienced and strong teams. These were accomplished climbers who were guides and NOLS instructors. They had gone in on the previous Thursday. After encountering poor conditions they laid low for a day. On Monday, they used their cell phone to call one of the climbers' fathers. At that time, the situation was not desperate. They still had food and fuel. Unfortunately, the cell phone batteries died after that call.
On Wednesday, a Chinook helicopter located and flew over the teams. They were about 2 hours from the summit. The aircrew received a casual wave but continued to drop a food/supply cache at the summit marked by wands. The cache was left in very visible area on the edge of Liberty Cap.
On Thursday, when they had still not seen or heard from the climbers (the climbers were aware of the emergency radios at Camp Schurman and Camp Muir) the Park called DEM.
After a short but thorough briefing, we separated our team into two. John Miner and Stan Kartes were to climb with Park Ranger Nick (sorry, I don't know his last name) to Camp Muir in hopes they might be able to see higher up on the mountain or possibly intercept the climbers.
Jeff Sharp, Rick Wire and Scott Nicholson were to fly in a Chinook as
searchers and if the teams were found, possibly to be inserted to their location.
Fran was OL, Bill drove the truck and Ken (who had a work conflict) stayed
with the helo team. By the time we got to Kautz Creek, it was only a few
minutes before the aircraft arrived.
First the helo part:
Weather was really bad. The Chinook was trying to find a hole to break through and get above 6K'. They flew 25 miles out from the mountain looking for a way up and over the clouds.. The decision was made to return to Gray Field, change aircraft to one with the ability to "fly/navigate in the clouds". After a couple hours, they again tried to get above the clouds. They managed to get to 16K' well above the mountain. Unfortunately, the mountain was completely obscured in clouds. A note on this flight: a window fell out of the aircraft and the heater broke. The cabin was -30°, and when coffee exploded from a cup due to the altitude, it immediately froze on the floor! The Chinook could not land at Kautz Creek (heavy snow and ceilings at treetop level) so it returned to Gray Field. The park supplied a van and driver to pick up our team. At that time, Fran sent Ken, Bill, Scott and Rick home. Jeff and Fran stayed at Paradise to await our team members.
Meanwhile… Stan, John and Nick were forging up to Muir in terrible conditions. They encounted a ground blizzard, 50 knot winds and really cold temps. When they were about an hour from Muir, Gator in the other helo (jet ranger) spotted a team of 4 at Cathedral Rocks. Our team continued to Muir and met the climbers. The climbers had called Search Base on the emergency radio - they were really appreciative of the efforts. Usually, it would just be an escort down from Muir. But, as usual, the mountain had more in mind. Our team had to descend in a whiteout and very cold temperatures while helping the climbers. They had been out for more than 9 days and were weak and really tired. Nick, John and Stan gave them all their food and water. The descent was long and tough as our team had to find their way in visibility of less than 25' while taking care of the climbers. Around 10 pm., they arrived at Paradise, covered in frozen snow, to the news media, friends and family. It was a great reunion.
This was a great mission for TMR. I was so pleased with our team. Everyone put in a great amount of effort and really played like a TEAM. Each member, no matter what their assignment, did what they had to do to make this mission a success. The Park was also great to work with. Halfway to Muir in those conditions, it would have been very easy for John, Nick and Stan to turnaround. So many times, we start up the mountain as a ground team and get turned around when a helo "plucks" the victims off the mountain. John and Stan hung in there and never gave up. Along the same line of teamwork, Ken was disappointed he was not able to participate in the climbing or flying but was a real help at base. Great job to all involved!!
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