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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, July 29, 2014 INCIDENTS Rocky Mountain NP Body Found On Longs Peak Early on the morning of Friday, July 25th, a man climbing the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak called the park and notified rangers that he and other members of his climbing group had seen a man's body below The Ledges. Rangers reached the location just after 10 a.m. and confirmed that the man was dead. The incident is under investigation, but foul play is not suspected. A Forest Service helicopter assisted with recovery efforts. The man's body was flown to the helipad at Upper Beaver Meadows and was transferred to the Boulder County coroner's office. [Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer] Rocky Mountain NP Seriously Injured Man Rescued From Backcountry On the afternoon of July 25th, the park received a cell phone call from a 31-year-old man who reported that he'd fallen an unknown distance while glissading down Gabletop Mountain and had sustained numerous injuries. The Forest Service helicopter employed earlier in the day for a body recovery from Longs Peak was utilized for aerial reconnaissance. Using cell phone GPS coordinates, rangers were able to determine his general location below Gabletop Mountain; the helicopter's crew provided his exact location. A rescue operation was begun. Four rangers and rescue equipment were flown to Loomis Lake between severe thunderstorms. They then hiked to his location, a steep cirque above the lake at an altitude of around 11,300 feet, arriving just after midnight. The injured man greatly aided in his rescue by moving down a steep band of rock, then down a steep snow field toward the rangers. The rangers found that the man was ambulatory, but that he was suffering from life-threatening injuries. They lowered him 500 feet with ropes and then assisted him an additional 700 feet down steep mountainous terrain to Loomis Lake. A paramedic on the park's rescue team provided advanced life support throughout the incident. The man was flown to Beaver Meadows Road, then taken by a Flight for Life helicopter to St. Anthony's Hospital for further treatment. Park rescue team members feel this was truly a life-saving mission. The man was fortunate to have cell phone coverage in this remote location, which has very limited coverage. [Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer] Glacier NP Hiker Shoots Bear On Park Trail A 57-year-old Texas man was hiking alone on the Mt. Brown Lookout trail last Saturday morning when a bear charged him from below the trail. The man used his bear spray on him, then shot the bear with one round from a handgun he was carrying. Indications are that he hit the bear, which then ran away. The hiker then headed back to the trailhead, encountering a volunteer backcountry ranger on the trail along the way. The volunteer notified park dispatch of the incident. Rangers immediately closed the trial and began an investigation. They also staffed the trailhead in order to advise other visitors what had happened. Rangers and bear specialists began a search for the bear, which may be either a grizzly or a black bear. The bear has not yet been found and the investigation is continuing. The trail remains closed. Park visitors are encouraged to carry bear spray as a deterrent for a charging grizzly bear. No single deterrent is 100 percent effective, but compared to all others, including firearms, proper use of bear spray has proven to be the best method for fending off threatening and attacking bears and for preventing injury to the person and animal involved. [Public Affairs Office] Cape Hatteras NS North Carolina Man Drowns Off Park Beach Rangers and Hyde County EMS personnel were dispatched to a reported possible drowning a mile-and-a-half north of the Ocracoke pony pens on the afternoon of July 23rd. A 59-year-old North Carolina visitor had been in the ocean on a boogie board with his daughter. The daughter returned to the beach for a few minutes; when she got back to him, she found him face down in the water. She pulled him to shore and bystanders began CPR. NPS and EMS responders continued CPR and also provided advanced life support, but could not revive him. [Jon Anglin, Deputy Chief Ranger] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers): Northeast Region - More than 500 visitors participated in the 2014 Armory Day celebration at Springfield Armory National Historic Site last month. This year's event included a military encampment, musket firing, and a music and dance performance. Yosemite NP - Yosemite National Park welcomed twelve delegation members representing national parks and protected areas in six different countries over the course of this past month. Air Resources Division - Over a two-day period in late June, staff from the Air Resources Division teamed up with resource managers at Great Sand Dunes and members of the local Youth Conservation Corps to collect dragonfly nymph samples for mercury analysis. North Cascades Complex - After nearly thirty years of dedicated service to National Park Service, Kelly Bush, district ranger for the park's Wilderness District, will retire on July 31st. To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites: NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/ The Morning Report is 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@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov). --- ### --- |