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Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:10 pm
by simonov

Re: Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:38 pm
by HikeUp
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Air Rescue pulled two missing hikers and 10 rescuers to safety today from Sugar Loaf Peak near Mount Baldy.
Overzealous response? Or is 10 normal?

Re: Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 5:42 pm
by AW~

Re: Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:11 pm
by Hikin_Jim
Anyone know what lead up to the rescue?

HJ

Re: Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:53 pm
by Tim
More info here: http://www.sbsar.org/news-information/2 ... -peak.html

Looks like two crews went in, thus the large number of rescue personnel. I've noticed that Mt. Baldy area incidents tend to get responses from multiple units. Maybe it's because the area is in both LA and San Bernardino Counties?
Hikin_Jim wrote:Anyone know what lead up to the rescue?
A guy named Tyler wrote this in the comments section of the PE story:
We were not lost or missing, i cross countried DOWNHILL toward the parking lot and hit a dead end at night fall, my hiking partner was exhausted and hiking up the scree would be extreamly dangerous.

also we where not on the peak we where 1000 ft. below it on the north side, i could see the parking lot just couldnt get to it..
to go back up would mean 1000+ ft. of gain on a very steep rock scree slope at night. i was content to stay the night, the reason we were labeled missing was cause my partners parnets was concerend and called the sherriffs. it took the search and rescue guys 6 hours to get through a relitivly short area to us but the buck thorn bush was extreamly dense, tall, thick, and painfull along the steep rock slope, i felt really bad for them as i heard them struggling through it. i didnt want them to come, just lower the helicopter and get us out. they got to us at 4 30 am and chilled with us, they where really cool funny guys who do it cause they love to do it.

Lol the person i went with knew we where gonna cross counrty out, rather than taking a proven route we wanted to take a gamble and beat sun down, oh well, we stayed the night rather comfortably and didnt wish for any ground crews to attempt reaching us, i knew it would be dangerous for them, i planned on finding a way out come day break, not in the dark. my partner was exhausted so we found a good spot to stay in theopen and have a contained fire for warmth. her parents called the sheriffs around 10 pm and they sent a chopper, while a forest ranger saw my light and radioed the chopper, they could have just grabbed us and not sent a crew, it wasnt my choice. but we had a fun time with the SAR members and they where stoked they didnt have to do the annual baldy run. one of them was so fricken happy he thanked me when we left cause it was the first time he got to be air lifted out after lots of near misses where they told him to hike out. He had a smile ear to ear.
This seems to jive with the marked up map provided by SBSAR. Sounds like they got to Sugarloaf then tried to do a blind descent down a drainage to the parking lot but got blocked by brush.

Re: Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:42 pm
by Zach
hahahaha! those guys look happy as cheese to be on that helicopter

Re: Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:33 am
by mattmaxon
SAR teams

They do not know what they are getting into. Some times they may need man power to haul up, pick off or otherwise rescue someone

It is pretty standard stuff

If they need to move an injured person a short way many hands would be needed

I personally know 5-6 members of the SB Cave Rescue team and respect their judgment

The other thing SAR teams have to contend with is lawyers second guessing everything they do afterward.

Re: Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 7:10 am
by simonov
mattmaxon wrote: I personally know 5-6 members of the SB Cave Rescue team and respect their judgment
I gotta wonder, though: why the helicopter evac? Helicopters are dangerous. The risk of injury or death is probably greater taking the helicopter ride than hiking back out.

If there were no injuries, why the urgent evac?

I think helicopters are used too much in these situations.

Re: Twelve pulled to safety by helicopter. TWELVE!! WTF?

Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:00 am
by Hikin_Jim
So I guess when they say 12 people were extracted, they mean 2 hikers and 10 SAR personnel?

HJ