NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

INCIDENTS

Zion NP

Injured Woman Extricated From Park Canyon

On October 16th, a 28-year-old woman fell through a log jam while attempting the Das Boot/Subway Route in the Left Fork of North Creek, sustaining an unstable lower leg fracture. Two members of her party hiked through the Subway towards the Left Fork Trailhead until they were able to obtain cell phone service and reported the accident to the park at 6:30 p.m. The reporting party said that the injury had been splinted and that the woman and her companion had enough food, water and clothing to spend the night without NPS assistance. Zion's SAR team coordinated with Grand Canyon National Park for a short-haul mission the following day. At first light on October 17th, rescue teams traveled through the Das Boot canyoneering route to reach the woman. A technical lowering operation and a short litter carry were required to move her to a short-haul extraction site, where she was picked up via helicopter short haul at 2:30 p.m., 23 hours after the accident, and transferred to Hurricane Fire and Rescue for ground transport to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George. This was the second short-haul mission completed at Zion utilizing a multi-park team consisting of a Zion short-haul rescuer already on scene working with Grand Canyon National Park spotters and aircraft. By removing the need to insert a short-haul rescuer, the risk and cost associated with short haul missions in Zion has been significantly reduced. [Ryan McDonald-O'Lear, IC]

Yosemite NP

Climber Rescued From El Capitan

Rangers and search and rescue personnel completed a high angle, high risk rescue on El Capitan on Monday, October 22nd. Two rock climbers from Canada began ascending a climbing route known as the Muir Wall on Monday, October 14th. They were scheduled to reach the top of the climb on the night of Sunday, October 21st, just before a large snowstorm was predicted to bring several inches of snow to the area. The lead climber, a 24-year-old man from Ontario, reached the summit just before midnight on Sunday night; the second climber, a 40-year-old man from British Columbia, was forced to spend the night approximately 230 feet below the summit due to impending bad weather and a stuck climbing rope. Around 2 a.m. Monday morning, he attempted to deploy a rain fly over his HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portaledge" portaledge to provide shelter from the rain and snow, but in so doing slipped out of the portaledge and fell approximately 15 feet down the face of the rock. He was able to ascend his rope and secure himself back to the portaledge, but was unable to properly erect the rain fly. During the night, the area received approximately four to six inches of snow with nighttime temperatures in the 20s. Rangers were notified of the possible hypothermic climber midday on Monday. Due to unfavorable weather, the park could not secure a helicopter to assist in the rescue and instead employed ground teams to respond. Rangers Aaron Smith and Ben Doyle and SAR crew member Matt Othmer immediately hiked to the summit of El Capitan to rescue the climber. Snow, wind, and ice slowed rescue attempts and they reached the summit at approximately 4:00 p.m. The team rigged anchors and lowered Smith approximately 230 feet to the climber. Smith found the climber to be suffering from exhaustion and mild hypothermia. He attached ropes to the climber and then ascended them back to the summit. Using a mechanical advantage pulley system, the team then hoisted the climber to the summit. After warming him, the team descended back to Yosemite Valley via hiking and rappelling and reached the Valley floor at approximately 10:00 p.m. The climber was transported to a local hospital and is in good condition. [Public Affairs Office]

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/):

Northeast Region - A recent lecture by historian Stanley Milkis drew a large crowd to Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site to learn about the election of 1912.

Isle Royale NP - For the first time in 57 years, peregrine falcons successfully nested in Isle Royale National Park this summer. The last known recorded nest on Isle Royale was in 1955.

Intermountain Region - After 35 years with the National Park Service, the last 12 served as chief ranger at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Jim Bowman will retire on October 31st.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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