According to his friends, the Climber was decending the traverse from the old chute route, leading a group of 5. The group was decending at 6 am, having prudently gotten up and down before the sun hit the slopes. The traverse was icy, not soft enough for a good boot track. The leader slipped, apparently while trying to kick a step, and ended up in the Hot Rocks area at about 10,600', just west of the Hogsback (see Spot waypoint above in Google Earth view and below in terrain view).
I was the first responder to reach the injured climber. The other climbers in the Hogsback area quickly pitched in, watching for and diverting falling ice, donating pads and tarps, digging out a safe location for the patient (away from falling ice), helping with patient assessment (thank you Abraham for the head-to-toe exam, and for the volunteer writing down SOAP notes), vital signs (thank you to male climber, two-weeks from graduating from nursing school, and the Mt Hood Ski patroller who arrived on scene) and cell calls (We didn't have good cell reception at the accident scene but climbers on the Hogsback were able to get a call out.) After the initial flurry of activity I asked the nursing student to look through the patient assessment checklist to see if we had missed anything. The handy Patient Assessment Checklist is available on the Mazamas website
Good work by Portland Mountain Rescue, especially Mark Morford who was leading a group of scouts and was on scene immediately, facilitating the patient move to a safer location and providing a calm voice (His quiet, calm voice didn't extend to the climbers above us however, Mark was appropriately assertive about their need to not send more ice raining down on us.)
PMR and RAT team arrived on scene about 5 hours later (Sounds long, but thats actually a good time to get that high on the mountain with an effective, organized response.) The PMR teams were delivered in two unusually high snowcat trips (thank you to the intrepid snowcat driver) into an area just below the Devils Kitchen. (Sheriff apparently requested and received waiver of wilderness boundary rules.) See PMR account of rescue.
This was also my first "911" use of the SPOT satellite beacon. It was already on and active when I arrived at the patient (I had been sending "OK" signals out as I was climbing, see below) so it only took 5 seconds to push the "911" button and see it was blinking. I was then immediately able to focus on the injured climber. The Sheriff later told me that the SPOT worked well in aiding their response. Good to know.
...........DATE/TIME .................TYPE-MESSAGE.. LATITUDE LONGITUDE
05/17/2009 ...06:11:06 AM .......911 ............45.3719 -121.6985
05/17/2009 ...05:13:27 AM .......OK .............45.3671 -121.6978
05/17/2009 ...04:29:47 AM .......OK .............45.3642 -121.702605/17/2009 ...02:53:13 AM .......OK .............45.358 -121.701605/17/2009 ...12:34:29 AM .......OK .............45.3341 -121.7095
Oregon Air National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk arriving at LZ next to Timberline Lodge
Snowcat arriving at helicopter with injured climber
Transfer from Snowcat to helicopter
Offloading gear from snowcat
Above, recalling one of the few lighter moments a half-hour earlier when the injured climbers down jacket was cut off and the snowcat filled with down. It was also at this point I was feeling a huge sense of relief, with the injured climber now transferred to the helicopter and on his way to OHSU.
Rescue staging area (above) The operation was coordinated by Clackamas County SAR. with assistance from the volunteer communications group Mountain Wave communications.
A happy ending (Below) John speaking at the 2009 State EMS Awards banquet
Links to News accounts of the accident. (As is usual with initial news reports, like these below, there are numerous errors, such as the account that said there was a doctor on scene, take them with a grain of salt. I do want to note that the injured climber and his party were climbing prudently, descending the old chute at 6 am when the slip occurred. Some news accounts refer to folks climbing too late, which was certainly the case later in the afternoon on this unusually warm Spring day.)
Oregonian Article August 22, 2009 "Dentist who fell on Mt hood loses his halo brace"
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may172009/hood_final_5-17-09.php
http://web12.clackamas.us/alfresco/download/direct/workspace/SpacesStore/ca0f3412-4406-11de-a4a3-f7b7a5637363/2009-05-17-CCSOPR-MountainRescue2.html
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/injured_climber_is_airlifted_f.html
http://www.katu.com/news/local/45257277.html
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/45258387.html
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_052509_outdoors_climber_mount_hood_survives.18cc00be.html
And a year later....John Summits Mt hood http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/07/milwaukie_dentist_summits_moun.html
Photo credits to PMR, Clackamas Co Sheriff and Jackie Niemeyer
For description of the February 1st rescue on Mt Hood and additional information regarding Mt Hood rescues generally see http://mikessummits.blogspot.com/2009/01/mt-hood-february-1-2009.html
