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DEM #98-1065 June 11, 1998 |
Gus Bush was contacted by the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management at 2:38 p.m. on Thursday June 11th. "Avalanche on Mt. Rainier nine climbers hit, need technically trained personnel for rescue." Mt Rainier had called for 12 high altitude trained members to assisted in the rescue of 9 Climbers (twelve as it turned out), with at least five of them being injured.
Two rope teams of novice climbers being guided by Rainier Mountaineering Inc. had been hit by an avalanche on the Disappointment Cleaver route, just below the nose of the cleaver. The rope teams had been swept over the nose of the cleaver and some were still dangling from ropes.
A page was put out and fifteen members responded. They were Mike Mixon, Fran McFarland, Jim Lewis, Jim Creamer, John Kirkman, Ken Capron, Roger Ternes, Maria Level, Phil Pletcher, Bill Weber, Lee Tegner, Dave Treber, John Miner, and Scott Nicholson. They were told to meet at the Cache at 3:30 p.m. or at the Longmire rangers station as soon as possible. Fifteen members from the Seattle Mountain Rescue council and ski patrol avalanche rescue team and two rescue dog teams responded as well.
Once at the mountain the plan was that they would be flown to the accident scene by an Army Chinook helicopter, but fog had drifted in by the time the crew reached Paradise. It was getting close to sunset which would also ground the helicopter. The Park Rangers decided to have our team climb up to the accident scene from paradise in case the injured had to be carried off the mountain. A team consisting of Jim Lewis, Ken Capron, Roger Ternes, John Kirkman, Jim Creamer, and Fran McFarland started the climb the rest waited at Paradise. They had reached the Pebble Creek area around the 7,200 foot level on the mountain, and just broke out into sunny weather, when the helicopter was able to reach the injured climbers and take them off the mountain. Sadly as it turned out one of the climbers died of hypothermia before he could be rescued. And one female climber was suffering from severe hypothermia after dangling in a waterfall for almost two hours. The rest of the injured climbers received non-life threatening injuries. Our team turned back to Paradise and returned home around 1:00 A.M. Friday.
A little side story to this mission. As most team members know, but some readers may not, besides being the editor of the rucksack I am also the Operations Chairman for the unit. As fates would have it, just as this rescue was starting Mt. Rainier experienced a power outage which took its phone system off line. I found out what it was like to be at the center of a media frenzy. My name and number are on the unit hotline so for two solid hours I was answering calls from the media not only local but national media too. I stuck to only the information that I knew at the time and provided background information as best I could. As a result my name has appeared all over the country, and the Tacoma News Tribune did a whole article on me starting the call-out for this mission.
The Rucksack is also received by a number of rangers at Mt. Rainier, including from what the news and our own team members say is the real hero of the day, Mike (Gator) Gauthier. To Mike and all the Rangers I want to give my congratulations and that of the unit for a job well done.
Tacoma Mountain Rescue |
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