Sad Day on Jefferson

[Tuck]

A hiker passed away yesterday about approx 4:00 pm on the Cap Ridge Trail right above the caps. He was 64 and hiking with his every friday hiking group. Apparently he had a heart attack and members of his group performed CPR for 2:30 hours. A park ranger based on Washington passed us on Gulf Side heading towards the scene. We were returning from Washington after doing Jefferson and Clay and were going to be heading down Cap Ridge. My wife and I, and two other hikers, waited at the scene after volunteering to help carry the litter down the trail after a first helicopter could not land. The ranger asked about 4 passing hikers to stay and help; they declined. After about 2 hours, and the arrival of several Fish and Game Officers, they were able to get a National Guard Black Hawk helicopter to hoist the litter into the Helicopter. It was a very moving and emotional scene. I can't say enough about the professionalism of the Ranger and Fish and Game officers. I will never forget the scene of the litter being hoisted into the hovering helicopter. It was a silent hike out with headlamps. Very sad.

 

[Chip]

The ranger asked about 4 passing hikers to stay and help; they declined.

Wow. That's some bad karma for them, unless they really believed they were too weak to be helpful.

Thanks to you and yours for staying.

 

[sierra]

Wow. That's some bad karma for them, unless they really believed they were too weak to be helpful.

Thanks to you and yours for staying.

Ive mentioned before that I once came upon a hurt hiker on Lions Head in winter conditions. I had just soloed out of HR when I found the guy and his 3 teammates. I wasn't sure at first what to do, it was winter conditions and cold. I calculated the time to send for help and the arrival of said help and determined it would be to long for him. At this time another solo climber came upon us and I asked if he had time to help me. He said he could not he was late and he turned and left. I was pissed to say the least. I ended up doing everything myself and believe me one other strong climber would have been extremely helpful. I'm old school, you come upon someone hurt in the mountains, you do whatever you can to help, period.

 

[Mike P.]

The hikers passing is sad news

Regarding those who declined, if they were late for dinner, yeah, that's a shame. On the other hand, we don't know if they had headlamps, warm enough clothing, additional food and water, etc., for late night time conditions up there or if they had little experience on rocky terrain like Caps Ridge. It's possible they could have been an additional liability. In the heat of the moment, if I had been there, I'd be quite P'oed, probably saying I'd regret later, not realizing they made the right decision in their case.

One of the issues with Caps Ridge also it does get it's share of beginners who just see a 3,009 starting point & think getting to Jefferson is almost as easy as Moosilauke from Ravine Lodge, a 2500 foot trailhead. As the WMG says (this choir probably knows it by heart) the higher trailhead & short distance to the Gulfside should not be taken as meaning this is the easy way to Washington.....

Sadly this wasn't a rescue but a recovery, had they stayed, it may have been both.

 

[TJsName]

Thanks for staying an helping. I like to think that if I needed help that I could first rely on fellow hikers while waiting for the professionals. I was involved in a rescue a few (7) years ago on the Greenleaf trail. A young woman had fallen and broken her back. When we came across the group, there were maybe 10-12 people already helping (I would guess this was .2 from the summit of Lafayette). By the time we made it to the hut, there were close to 40 people helping carry. People staying at the hut heard what was happening and came up to help. All in all it took about 3 hours to transport her that .8 down to the hut (granted the last 2 hours were in the dark and it started snowing). After having a hot meal at the hut (kudos to the crew) we made our way down in the snow (changing to rain). I ended up using a key chain led light to make the descent... now I carry a headlamp every time.

 

[DayTrip]

I'd like to think those people were the exception, not the rule, and it may well have been a function of inexperience as someone else already noted of the "typical" hiker on that trail. When I broke my ankle in Sphinx Col two summers ago just about everyone I passed offered to help me in some way (aspirin for pain, duct tape to stabilize, one woman even offered to give me her air cast). Probably not the right way to describe it but it was almost annoying how many people asked me to help. It got to the point where I stopped telling people what was wrong when they asked why I was walking funny, etc. Just let them think I was a beginner who was sore (which is what most people were assuming as they kidded me going by until I explained what happened). I think all and all most people would do what they could to help out.

 

[SherpaWill]

Very sad to hear, but it's good to know they're are hikers like you who are willing to help when others need it. Even if little could have been done to save him, I'm sure it was comforting for those who were with him that everything possible was being done.

 

[sardog1]

If you were one of the people who declined to help and you're reading this, please post your picture here. That way we'll know not to interfere in your adventure if we find you lying on the trail some day.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I've both helped and 'declined' to help, with assistance on the trails. It very much depends on what has happened, when, where, how many people are already there, etc., etc., etc.

 

[RollingRock]

CPR for 2 1/2 hours! That is highly commendable when you think they were not getting a pulse over that time.

Last year in the Dolomites someone seized up in front of me and I went into CPR mode. Not having done it in a while, it was better to do something than nothing at all. Among the dozen people around me, it seemed I was the only one who knew what to do...and I don't speak Italian.

I'll tell you after 15 minutes I was getting tired and the woman next to me assisted me with trying to get a pulse. When you can't get one, you start second guessing yourself as to whether you are placing your fingers in the right location. When his lips were turning blue, I just didn't feel like it was worth trying anymore. It's a tough call to quit CPR...perhaps so early...don't really know...and it's something my conscious still wrestles with to this day.

 

[Driver8]

Sad news from Mount Jefferson. I was both helped and able to help yesterday hiking the western loop of Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. Helped, because, underestimating the effect on my blood sugar of having hiked Osceola on Tuesday, my friend and I didn't pack enough food for me. Fortunately a very nice group of mostly young Indian hikers had plenty of food extra and were able to share it with me, getting me through the second half of the hike, when I was really bonking.

Helping because, a member of their party, right after they had kindly given me a baggie of nuts and two nature bars before the last mile, tripped on a rock as they departed the Diamond Notch-Devils Path junction. Hurt his shoulder pretty badly. I was able to help pick him up and evaluate him and help him generally in ways that the somewhat inexperienced group, though well-equipped, weren't quite able to do. He himself was also an EMT, which helped. Once we determined that with the assistance of his group of eight he could get the easy last three quarters of a mile to the trailhead, my friend and I went on. I was glad to be able to help him and return the favor of them who had been so kind and helpful to me.

 

[rocket21]

If you were one of the people who declined to help and you're reading this, please post your picture here. That way we'll know not to interfere in your adventure if we find you lying on the trail some day.

I respect SAR as much as anyone, but assuming the victim had passed at that point, I think that comment is a bit much.

My understanding of the account in the first post is that some hikers were asked if they'd stay to carry the dead body of a stranger off a mountain. Not everyone is equipped to be around a dead body.

 

[summitseeker]

The search results indicated that this article was posted in the last 3 hours.

Conway Daily Sun
http://www.conwaydailysun.com/newsx/local-news/116215-medical-death-on-mount-jefferson

Z

 

[Quietman]

I respect SAR as much as anyone, but assuming the victim had passed at that point, I think that comment is a bit much.

My understanding of the account in the first post is that some hikers were asked if they'd stay to carry the dead body of a stranger off a mountain. Not everyone is equipped to be around a dead body.

Thank you, I was trying to think of a nice way to say this. I would have helped, but I would understand if others felt differently. If it was a emergency rescue situation, I would expect that everyone would help to the best of their abilities.

 

[sardog1]

I respect SAR as much as anyone, but assuming the victim had passed at that point, I think that comment is a bit much.

My understanding of the account in the first post is that some hikers were asked if they'd stay to carry the dead body of a stranger off a mountain. Not everyone is equipped to be around a dead body.

It was my understanding (from news accounts I'd heard) at the time I posted that that he was still alive when they took him off the mountain. The newly posted article confirms that was the case.

It is extremely unlikely that a request to assist with a body recovery would have been made under the circumstances described. A "park ranger" lacks the authority to undertake such an operation on his or her own.

 

[Tuck]

Apologies if my original post was not clear. The man had already died and we were asked to help carry the body down.

Tuck

 

[sardog1]

There are some inconsistencies in the various accounts I've seen. I regret and apologize for having written what I did.

 

[John H Swanson]

End-of-life decisions are difficult and stressful. This would've been a difficult decision for a trained first aid person If they've been correctly doing CPR on the person he's already dead. My training says that the CPR should go on for 30 minutes in a remote location unless it's from a cold water drowning or lightning strike then continue for 60 minutes. if they've been doing CPR for more than 30 minutes my training would be to stop. So if they've been doing CPR at that time for two hours and they're asking me to help that it would be counter to my training.

I read in the scouting magazine how one of the scout leaders perform CPR on a young boy in cardiac arrest going down the rapids of the Snake River for a half a mile while calling out instructions to the others scout rafts how to handle the rapids and then at the take out a forest ranger was there with an AED they shocked the boy and saved his life.

Now on the other hand if they said an AED was on route and they wanted help until the AED arrived shortly of course I'm going to help.

The other issue that someone already mentioned is your preparedness to stay and continue providing first aid The number one rule of providing first aid is not to become a second victim if staying at the site would jeopardize your own personal safety then it's a difficult decision but you have to make sure that you do not become the second victim.

And part of my first aid training says that by starting first aid I commit myself to stay with that patient until that patient is turned over to a higher level of care or to someone trained equal to or greater than I am. Depending upon your training that could be a huge commitment including the responsibility to take that person all the way to the hospital (not my case).

 

[J.Dub]

End-of-life decisions are difficult and stressful. This would've been a difficult decision for a trained first aid person If they've been correctly doing CPR on the person he's already dead. My training says that the CPR should go on for 30 minutes in a remote location unless it's from a cold water drowning or lightning strike then continue for 60 minutes. if they've been doing CPR for more than 30 minutes my training would be to stop. So if they've been doing CPR at that time for two hours and they're asking me to help that it would be counter to my training.


The other issue that someone already mentioned is your preparedness to stay and continue providing first aid The number one rule of providing first aid is not to become a second victim if staying at the site would jeopardize your own personal safety then it's a difficult decision but you have to make sure that you do not become the second victim.

And part of my first aid training says that by starting first aid I commit myself to stay with that patient until that patient is turned over to a higher level of care or to someone trained equal to or greater than I am. Depending upon your training that could be a huge commitment including the responsibility to take that person all the way to the hospital (not my case).

Great post, John.

As a Wilderness EMT, I've highlighted several of the key concepts that people should keep in mind when reading rescue/recovery stories like this one.

Condolences to the victim's family, and props to both the volunteers and professionals who were involved.