May 1998
Vol. XXII No. 5

Member of the Mountain Rescue Association

The Corvallis Mountain Rescue Newsletter is published monthly

to keep friends and members of the Unit informed of our activities.

Editor: Bob Freund

MISSION REPORT 98-03: Fallen Climber, Smith Rocks State Park by Tim Fitzpatrick
We were just finishing the second traverse pitch on Super Slab about 11:30am when we heard the shouting. Jeff, Don and I had headed over for a day of rock at Smith and were on our first route. A climber had fallen 100 feet, just around the ridge from us. We rapped off our belay anchor, leaving our ropes and gear to be cleared by the Pingora boys behind us (they didn't). Jeff called 9-1-1, Don grabbed my medkit and around we went.
According to witnesses, Bill (age 39, Vancouver, WA) had fallen off the 2nd pitch of Titanium Jag (5.10b), hit his belayer 20 feet below, and then tumbled down the face to a ledge about 100 feet below. He was still 15-20 feet off the ground on a 5-6 foot wide ledge, partially in a hole under a boulder. His face was very bloody, but there was little else visible. Two or three other climbers had already gotten there and one of them, Darren, had his head stabilized at an angle. We all gloved up and Jeff started assessing him from the waist up. Sirens were clear off in the distance and a helicopter soon made its appearance. We stripped Jeff of his rock pro and while I assessed his legs and feet, Don began looking for anchors. An EMT-climber, Justin, arrived and took over the medical direction with Jeff's assistance. Bill was breathing well and had a rapid, but decent pulse. We moved Bill about 2-3 feet to clear him from the boulder and align him a bit more. Very little damage was visible and Jeff cut his shirt away. We rigged a 5-point anchor in a flaring vertical crack system and equalized with 2 runners. One climbing rope was available from Ron and Darren, a brand new green 11mm.
The paramedics from Redmond Fire arrived within about 30 minutes (times are a little vague). A park ranger was on scene about when we had arrived and was in radio contact with the sheriff and fire department and also presumably with Deschutes SAR. We yarded the paramedics up, one on belay, one just gripping the rope. Their gear promptly followed, including a medpac, a defibrillator, and several other bags. A spine board came up next. The three of us had already identified ourselves as being with CMRU and the paramedics and ranger gave us the go ahead to prepare to lower Bill off the ledge. A stokes litter was also brought up, but without any rigging. We jury-rigged it with a 30 foot piece of 1" webbing and 4 locking carabiners. Each of the 'biners were equalized with a self-adjusting twist to our load 'biner. Four pieces of cord or runners were used to secure the spine board to the litter. Jeff had gone back to tending the patient and Don was prepping the edge line (another climber would lower him alongside the litter). I prepped Ron, who had a Grigri which was to be our lowering device. I rigged a belay line out of the other half of the rope, through an ATC with a munter back up off my harness - not optimum to be in the system, but the best that could be done at the time.

Bill was moved onto the spine board after Jeff had fitted him with a collar. Jeff had the head and the first slide onto the board (pushed under from behind) showed a river of blood from the back of Bill's head. It didn't stop flowing until he reached the helicopter. The paramedics had fitted him with an airway and were on their 2nd bottle of oxygen. He was being bagged and had an IV line in along with some drugs. The spider was attached to the board and Bill was lifted into the litter. One of the paramedics needed to go with the litter on the way down to bag Bill and deal with any emergencies. We rigged him with the safety off the main line (a double-loop bowline with a figure-eight tail). Jeff was litter attendant with a daisy chain attachment. After about 2 hours (give or take) over the edge we went. Pretty smooth all things considered. The stokes caught up on the rock near the head and while Don and Jeff tried to manhandle it into position, the litter rigging tilted and the foot dropped about 2 feet until we could clear the litter. The rigging reset nicely back to horizontal as we cleared the head. The next 10 feet down went smooth and they had Bill on trail and off the ropes within 5 minutes after we started the lower. I had watched Ron and the Grigri and the anchors as we went, all were solid, the Grigri giving a very smooth lower and the anchors all bomber. We figured about 600 pounds on the load during the trip down.
Bill was rushed down the trail, with help from Deschutes SAR who had begun to arrive, and was airlifted to St. Charles hospital in Bend. Deschutes SAR went after Bill's belayer (Brian, age 24, I believe) who had been forced to sit it out 80 feet above his friend for 3 hours. It was another hour before Deschutes lowered him on an Oregon Spineboard (similar to a KED).
All things considered, the rescue went smoothly. People donated gear without hesitation and all the climbers involved were willing to do whatever it took. Ron, Darren, and Justin are the only names I caught, but there were 2 or 3 others including the Australian dad on vacation with his kids, Don's belayer, and another shirtless young guy who continually talked to Bill and reassured him. Egos were non-existent.
Bill died from massive head trauma, Saturday May 2nd in Bend. Brian was released from Redmond Hospital that night with minor injuries.

REACCREDITATION COMPLETED - finally
After what seems like forever, CMRU completed the final portion of its reaccreditation process. The glacier travel portion of the Winter Rescue module was the final requirement which needed to be successfully fulfilled - and now that has been accomplished.

ANGELA & KEN - good-bye
Angela Helmrich and Ken Parton have left the Corvallis area for Virginia. Ken left, the first time, a couple of years ago to pursue his career in nursing, but returned last year to be with Angela. The Unit will miss Angela's infectious smile and cheerful personality; and Ken's energetic approach to life. We wish them both the best of luck with this new chapter in their lives - and hope they will return to Oregon someday.

BENTON COUNTY SAR CERTIFICATION - completed
The last weekend in April was the final field and overnight part of Benton County's SAR certification program. CMRU trainees Mike Bamberger, Lindsay Clunes, Jake Fox, Matt Jarvis, Dustin Mitsch, and Preston Van Meter took the instruction and participated in the overnight. Other CMRU members assisting with the classes included: Jon Sears, Anne Greenwood, Jim Dagata, and Bob Freund. (My apologies if I missed anyone, ed.)

FYI NOTIFICATIONS - for your information
OMRC teams have agreed to notify each other when a member team has been activated for a mission. If CMRU is activated, a FYI notification is sent to Portland and Eugene via pagers. EMR recently obtained pagers for its "Hasty Team" members. CMRU has advised EMR and PMR to use our group capcode to send FYI notifications to us. In the future, you may see FYI test pages from EMR, PMR or OMRC similar to the ones we receive each Wednesday evening from CRCC.

NEW ADDITION TO THE "FAMILY" -
Lindsay Clunes is the proud father of James Lindsay Clunes who arrived in March. Lindsay and his wife struggled with names until they realized his name was "pre-ordained." Ask Lindsay about the interesting story.
Corvallis Mountain Rescue Unit Newsletter Page 3

ANNUAL ROCK PRACTICE - May 16/17
Don Lacer is laying out this year's rock practice which will be held at the Deschutes River canyon up stream from Steelhead Falls -- an area we have used the past couple of years. To reach the exercise area, go north of Terrebonne on Highway 97 about 1/4 mile and turn west on Lower Bridge Road:

Turn/Direction
Road/Street Name
Comments/Signs
Drive for:
West
Lower Bridge Road

2.0 miles
Right
43rd Street
Sign: "To Crooked River Ranch"
1.8 miles
Left
N.W. Chinook Drive

1 mile
Left
Badger
Watch the corners
0.4 mile
Right
Rainbow
Dirt Road
1.9 miles
Left
Quail

0.8 mile
Right
River
Bear to the south at the bottom of the hill
1.0 mile

For those who have not been to this location, a warning: there is no water system - so bring all your own water; and there are no toilet facilities.

PROCEDURES MANUAL - April 1998 printing
A run of 10 manuals was produced for Trainees who have paid their book fees but have not received a copy of the Unit's Procedures Manual. Don Lacer has the manuals. In addition, there are inserts for chapter 6 (Forms and Lists) which are available to all members. The insert consists of an index and copies of the latest ICS forms which are available to the Unit as computer generated (currently in Word 97) forms. Some of the system rigging diagrams still need to be added.

TRUCK INVENTORY - on the Unit's computer
Thanks to the work done by several people following last year's truck work party, the inventory which was done that warm August night was compiled and put into a master file -- with sub-files for each bin. The most current information resides on the Unit's laptop computer.