NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

INCIDENTS

Mount Rainier NP

Climber Perishes During Liberty Ridge Ascent

A party of three climbers departed White River on June 10th for a summit attempt via the challenging Liberty Ridge route. During the climb, one member of the party, R.P., 50, of Olympia, Washington, became severely hypothermic and possibly frostbitten. On June 13th, his partners were unable to get him walking from their camp at 13,600 feet, so left him to seek assistance. They contacted a ranger on Emmons Glacier at 5 p.m. that evening. Two teams of climbing rangers headed to his location, one team from Camp Schurman and the other from Camp Muir. One of the teams had to turn back at 12,100 feet due to winds blowing at 55 mph. Members of the second team spent the night in a snow cave and resumed their efforts to reach R.P. at 5 a.m. the next morning. They found some of his gear at the point where his partners left him, but were unable to find R.P. Air searchers found a 2,000-foot-long slide track leading down a 50 degree ice- and snow-covered slope over some of the steepest and most inhospitable terrain on the mountain. The track indicated intermittent airborne periods and ended at an icefall below Liberty Wall. No signs of R.P. were found during a thorough visual search of the slide area. A Chinook helicopter from Joint Base Lewis-McChord and an MD 530 from Northwest Helicopters assisted in the search, which was called off at 4 p.m. due to high winds. Limited visual searching from the ground will continue. The operation is now considered a body recovery, as the risk-to-benefit ratio is not conducive to extensive searching. Liberty Ridge is one of the most technical climbs on Mount Rainier. Members of the climbing party are experienced climbers and were well equipped for the climb. IC on this incident was Brian Hasebe. [Patti Wold, Park Information Officer]

Shenandoah NP

SAR Teams Conduct Numerous Search And Rescue Operations

Over the past several weeks, search and rescue responders at Shenandoah National Park have conducted nine search and rescue operations, five of them becoming major SAR incidents:

A 24-year-old man was climbing grape vines along the Hazel River Trail and only recognized the folly of this activity when he was about 50 feet above the ground. The grape vines broke before he could get down, causing him to fall about 35 feet. The man fractured both ankles, with one of them being an open fracture. In addition to being in one of the more remote areas of the park, the four-and-a-half mile carryout was conducted in a heavy rainstorm and required four swiftwater crossings as a result of swollen creeks.

A 57-year-old man was rock climbing with two companions near the summit of Old Rag Mountain. Through a possible miscommunication, the lead climber took the second climber off belay. When the second climber pulled on the unsecured belay line, expecting it to hold, it gave way and he fell 50 feet to a lower ledge and sustained several serious injuries. While the park's ground team was mobilizing, initial rescuers stabilized the man and assisted the US Park Police air rescue helicopter in a litter hoist evacuation.

A group of hikers headed out on an off-trail route toward one of the park's summits. Two women from the group took an alternate route and became disoriented. They reported their predicament by cell phone after it got dark and were asked to remain in place overnight, since the weather was favorable. A search began for them in the morning and the two women were located. Both were in good condition.

Most search and rescue operations in Shenandoah become major SAR incidents because of the difficulty of the terrain and rugged nature of the trails. SAR operations are only successfully completed because of the cooperation of all divisions and the enthusiasm shown by the numerous employees who volunteer and train for these difficult operations. [Pete Webster, Deputy Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Carlsbad Caverns NP - The Loop Fire, which began in the park around mid-afternoon on Monday, spread so rapidly that the park had to be closed and evacuated just hours later. Fire burned over the park's housing, maintenance, and historic district and visitor center, but there was no notable damage and no injuries were reported.

Climate Change Response Program - The May/June 2011 issue of the Climate Change Response Program's newsletter is now available online.

Office of Communications - Steve Whitesell will become the regional director for National Capital Region on June 19th.

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

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