NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

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INCIDENTS

Texas Parks

Padre Island, Palo Alto Prepare For Hurricane Dolly

The two NPS areas along the south Texas coastline - Padre Island and Palo Alto - have been making preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Dolly, which is expected to make landfall in the extreme southern portion of the state today. Both parks put their hurricane plans in effect over the weekend. Infrastructure has been secured, employees have been evacuated, and both areas are now completely closed. Damage is expected to be minimal, but surge will likely have significant impact on Padre Island beaches. The incident management team managing both parks will meet early on Thursday to assess the damage, but will in any case remain closed at least through Friday. The Central Incident Management Team is on standby pending assessments from the parks. [Billy Shott, IMRO]

Grand Teton NP

Exum Mountain Guide Dies In Climbing Fall

Rangers are conducting an investigation into the climbing death of longtime Exum Mountain Guides employee G.G., 58, on Saturday, July 19th. Fellow guides, who were with G.G. before the accident that took his life, have provided rangers with extensive information about the circumstances leading up to his untimely death. G.G. and several other Exum guides had taken a group of clients, including youths from Wilderness Ventures, to the Lower Saddle on Saturday with the intention of climbing the Grand Teton the following day. After the group had eaten dinner and settled into their Lower Saddle camp for the evening, G.G. departed around 5 p.m. to free solo climb the Lower Exum Ridge on the Grand Teton, a climb rated 5.7 on the Yosemite Decimal System. According to his colleagues, G.G. planned to climb the route to Wall Street and then return back to Lower Saddle base camp. It is not unusual for professional guides—either in pairs or solo—to go out for additional climbing on their own once their clients have settled in for the night. Several guides were concerned when G.G. had not returned by dark; however, the guides noticed headlamps coming down from the Upper Saddle and they figured it was G.G., perhaps assisting a mountaineering party in their late-hour descent. When the guides awoke at 3 a.m. to prepare for the day's excursion, they discovered that G.G. was missing. Out of concern, they notified Exum Mountain Guides president Jack Turner, who contacted the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center (TIDC) with news of the missing guide. After the call, park rangers immediately began coordinating a search and rescue response, and requested an interagency contract helicopter. At the Lower Saddle, several Exum guides began a hasty search for G.G., with three guides climbing the Lower Exum Ridge route and two guides ascending the classic route to the Upper Exum Ridge via Wall Street. One of the guides ascending towards Wall Street spotted G.G.'s body around 6 a.m. from an area near the Eye of the Needle. After alerting the party that was ascending the Lower Exum Ridge, two of the guides from the Lower Exum Ridge party climbed to G.G.'s location and confirmed that he was deceased. Park rangers and TIDC were notified of the fatality, prompting a switch to a recovery and investigation operation. G.G.'s body was flown from the accident site on the mountain via short haul and delivered to his family and a contingent of fellow climbing guides at the park's Lupine Meadows rescue cache at 12:30 p.m. The body was then transferred to the Teton County Coroner's office. Rangers are investigating the accident, though they acknowledge that the exact cause may never be known for certain. They speculate that G.G. may have fallen from one of the upper pitches of the Lower Exum Ridge route. They also note that there was a substantial (and atypical) wind gust of about 60 mph at approximately 6 p.m.on the day of the accident that may have been a factor in G.G.'s fall. Whatever the cause of this accident, park rangers and Exum guides both agree that G.G. was climbing well within the realm of his capabilities, and doing what he was comfortable with and what he loved. A resident of Ridgeway, Colorado, G.G. had been an Exum guide for 17 years and a climbing guide for 28 years. His vast mountaineering experience included expeditions on the southwest face of Kanchenjunga and the west face of Hyani Potosi in Bolivia's Cordillera Real; ski ascents in the Alps and in Colorado; and extensive climbing in North America and the Himalayas. He was the program director for Sterling College's “Semester in the Himalayas” as well as an AMGA Certified Alpine Guide. [Jackie Skaggs, PAO]

North Cascades NP

Climber Rescued From Eldorado Glacier

On July 18th, four climbers were ascending the lower slopes of the Eldorado Glacier when one member of the group had an unwitnessed fall down snow and a short rock cliff. His companions found him unconscious at the base of a rock-snow moat. One climber made a three-hour-long hike out to make a 911 call, while the remaining two climbers, one of them an ER physician, cared for their partner. Rangers arrived to the scene via the park's on-call contract helicopter. After brief EMT care and packaging, the patient was short-hauled to a site lower on the mountain, where an Airlift NW medical helicopter could safely land. He was then flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he remains in the neurological ICU with a critical head injury and bi-lateral arm fractures. [Kinsey Shilling, Chief Ranger]

Sequoia-Kings Canyon NPs

Rescue Of Injured Hiker

On Wednesday, July 9th, rangers were notified that hiker R.K., 26, had suffered a dislocated shoulder in a fall and was located on a rock in Roaring River above Roaring River Falls. Due to steep terrain and the R.K.'s condition, it was determined that a helicopter shorthaul rescue would be the safest rescue method for both rescuers and R.K. Ranger Debbie Brenchley was shorthauled from the Roaring River Falls parking lot to R.K.'s location, where he was prepped for the extraction. Both were then flown to the waiting Cedar Grove ambulance, where he was treated by a park medic. During the follow-up interview, R.K. said that he'd been hiking with friends, slipped, and fell approximately 12 feet into the river and landed on a submerged rock, injuring his shoulder. He was then swept over a 30-foot waterfall and self-rescued himself on the cliff side of river. This was one of nine SARs that occurred in Kings Canyon National Park between July 1st and July 9th - six of them major SARs. [David Schifsky, IC/Grant Grove Sub-District Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

Other stories can be read on InsideNPS at one or the other of these two sites:

NPS readers - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index

Non-NPS readers - HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/

Please note that both publications carry a combined NIFC/NPS fire report. That is generally posted around 8 a.m. Eastern.

Among the stories in today's edition are the following:

Clemson University - A research, education and training institute for park professionals at Clemson University will be named for recently deceased past director George Hartzog and his wife, Helen, in honor of Hartzog's contributions to the profession.

In The Media - A weekly summary of news stories about or of consequence to the NPS, including links to the articles.

US Park Police - Sergeant Wayne Johnson retired from the Park Police on July 19th following more than 22 years of honorable service.

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Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found at the following web site:

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363

Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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