Video of Whitney Rescue

[Kevin Rooney]

Interesting video of the recent rescue of 3 Omaha hikers from the summit of Mt Whitney.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsW050TIsv8&feature=player_embedded

 

[sardog1]

"I love the sound of a Pavehawk in the morning."

Thanks for stimulating some memories.

 

[erugs]

Wow. Thanks for posting the video. The flight medic seemed to have a little trouble understanding why the remaining men ("they're park service employees") didn't want to go with them.

 

[DougPaul]

If you would like a video of a somewhat more dramatic rescue...

Michelle Smith fell while traversing the Valhalla Traverse in the Tetons sustaining a tib-fib fracture. She filmed her own rescue: http://vimeo.com/14894703

Doug

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

If you would like a video of a somewhat more dramatic rescue...

Michelle Smith fell while traversing the Valhalla Traverse in the Tetons sustaining a tib-fib fracture. She filmed her own rescue: http://vimeo.com/14894703

Doug

Ok, perhaps I am missing something, although I did watch the first part twice. If that is real video footage (assuming that Michelle was shooting and not belaying Stephen, who has snowboarded the north side of Everest), it sure looked to me like her leader did not put in a single piece of pro on that traverse, and some of that ice looked like it could have taken a few screws. So, I am wondering if he should have tried harder to protect his second, which may have shortened the length of her pendulum fall? In any case, the Valhalla traverse sure looks a lot harder now than when we traversed it to make an early ascent of the Enclosure couloir in 1972, which at the time was the classic warm up climb for the Black Ice couloir in the Tetons.

 

[mahony]

So if I'm the Forest Service guys at the top of Mt. Whitney....I'm thinking I get paid to hike down Mt. Whitney why the heck would I get in a chopper and miss the beautiful day.

Thanks for sharing the video, it really is very cool to see how they operate. I have to say that the hikers seem nonplussed by the whole thing, although the last guy seems sort of lost/partially responsive.

I guess at least they had a cabin to shelter in.

 

[DougPaul]

Ok, perhaps I am missing something, although I did watch the first part twice. If that is real video footage (assuming that Michelle was shooting and not belaying Stephen, who has snowboarded the north side of Everest), it sure looked to me like her leader did not put in a single piece of pro on that traverse, and some of that ice looked like it could have taken a few screws. So, I am wondering if he should have tried harder to protect his second, which may have shortened the length of her pendulum fall? In any case, the Valhalla traverse sure looks a lot harder now than when we traversed it to make an early ascent of the Enclosure couloir in 1972, which at the time was the classic warm up climb for the Black Ice couloir in the Tetons.

The footage of Koch on the early part of the traverse does not show him putting any pro in. But the narrative leading up to the fall does say that she was 30 ft out and the post-fall narrative says was held by a piece of pro.

Obviously impossible to say from here if Koch could/should have put more pro in or whether the ice was firm enough to make it worthwhile. Certainly the pro that he did put in prevented her from falling a lot farther (perhaps to her death).

The film is edited and, of course, the climbers couldn't film while climbing and perhaps while belaying. (What? Climbers don't usually bring separate film crews along to film the entire climb? ) I'm sure there is a lot of critical information that we don't see due to the gaps.

Doug

 

[ChrisB]

I had the same Q as Dr. D...

Why did the leader not adequately protect this notorious traverse better for his untested the second? (He mentions that this is their first climb together.)

Plus, he seems cocky that his pro held (My hero!!!).

Thank god for cell phones.
cb

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Here are a couple photos of the BIC and EIC, with ice that looks thin and sketchy, similar to that in the video, in the first shot, but more "phat" in the second shot taken during June 2009.

http://www.tetonat.com/2009/06/teton-climbing-website-up-and-running/