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MISSION REPORT 98-11: Body Recovery, Three-Fingered Jack Member-hours: 89
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of a climb in October 1948 by the OSC Mountain Club (during which 47 people where put atop Three-Fingered Jack) a group of ex-mountain club members and their families climbed Three-Fingered Jack on 10 Sep 98. One of the group, Bill Pruitt, began to complain of dizziness during the descent and collapsed at the 7100 foot level (top of the scree slope) on the west side of the mountain. He died at that location.
CMRU was notified via pager of the incident at 2145 and was activated at 2200 for a 0700 rendezvous at the PCT trailhead on Santiam Pass along with the Linn County Posse. During the initial call, we were only advised that the deceased subject was on the mountain -- we did not realize that there were others with him who were unprepared to spend the night. Camp Sherman hasty team had been activated and spent the night at the bottom of the scree slope and with the subject on the mountain.
CMRU members departed basecamp at 0730 and the Posse departed at 0800 carrying evacuation gear. The hike in took about two hours to reach the bottom of the scree slope. Packaging materials were taken to the subject's location and packaging was completed by 1100. The Camp Sherman team assisted in getting evacuation gear to the subject's location. Rigging was completed by noon and the evacuation began at 1208. The evacuation system was a single rope scree lowering using four 300 foot low-stretch ropes bent together lowering a SKED. The litter reached the horses at 1257 and the subject was transported by the Posse to the trailhead. All CMRU personnel returned to the truck by 1537.
Lessons Learned:
Be careful to get the larger picture. In this case, there were living subjects which needed care as well as the deceased; but we did not ask whether additional people needed care or rescue and focused only on what we were initially asked to do: the body recovery.
A radio broadcast at 1030 by Camp Sherman team leader (Mark Foster) passed field operational control to CMRU and made it clear to all participants who was directing operations in the field from that point forward.
HELICOPTER TRAINING -- possible
Stay flexible on the weekend of October 17/18 for some possible helicopter training. Jeremy Adolf has been working on getting the Unit some training one of those days, but we're not sure if it is really going to happen. More information will be paged when available.
ICE PRACTICE 1998 some points to remember by Don Lacer
The Eliot Glacier was indeed in great shape for practicing on ice, and we didn't go very far before we had to put on our crampons. That brings me to the points that I want us to remember; all twelve of them to be exact. The sharp steel ones that are now strapped to the bottom of our feet. The ones that are our friends when traversing a steep slope directly above a crevasse, and then become our foe when doing their job too well and unexpectedly grabbing the ice and tripping us up on a glissade. They are points that keep us safely stuck to the mountain one moment, and then turn around and tweak our ankles and shred our expensive clothes the next. Points that demand our respect, and punish us if they don't get it.
As a group, we did some roped travel, got a good look at some crevasses, and practiced our self-arrest. One member also suffered a sprained ankle, another aggravated a previously injured knee, and I did an abrupt face plant after stepping on some dirt covered ice during my hasty descent to catch the group ahead of me. I was not injured, but it was a careless mistake, caused by hurrying when there was no reason to hurry. So when our training doesn't go quite according to plan, there are still lessons to be learned. Let's all strive to be smart and safe and stay in one piece.
CORVALLIS SKI SWAP - it's coming!
This year's Corvallis Ski Swap will begin for us at 0600 at the Stor Haus lockers (behind Wilson Motors) on Thursday, October 22. We'll need CMRU members who can unload and transport ski racks, pipe racks, and boxes of material used for the ski swap. Setup at the Benton County Fairgrounds begins at 0700 with consignment beginning at 0900. Consignment runs until 2100 on Thursday and continues Friday until 1700. The Sale runs on Friday night from 1800 to 2100 and again on Saturday from 0900 to 1800.
Following the close of the Sale on Saturday, we'll need to reorganize the floor for inventory. Following dinner (usually served at the Fairgrounds) we inventory until completed Saturday night. All day Sunday (0900-2100 PST) we'll be returning unsold merchandise and dispensing checks for those whose equipment sold.
This is the Unit's only fund-raising event, so please come and help out all four days. |
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