NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

INCIDENTS

Blue Ridge Parkway

Missing Woman Found After Major Search

C.L.H., 25, of Elgin, South Carolina, was located by search crews Monday evening after an extensive three day search. She is currently recovering in a hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. C.L.H. was hypothermic, but conscious and able to confirm her identity when searchers located her about a mile from where her vehicle had been parked on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Crystal had been last seen by her father at his office on the morning of Tuesday, October 26th. Her vehicle was seen parked at Bullhead Mountain Overlook near Milepost 234 on the Blue Ridge Parkway on Wednesday morning. As this overlook provides parking for an area where visitors frequently hike and camp overnight, the vehicle's registration was not immediately checked. Upon running the registration of the vehicle on Saturday morning, rangers discovered that the owner, C.L.H., was listed as missing by her family. Over the next three days, searchers and organizers from multiple cooperating agencies searched an area with a radius of about a mile and a quarter from the point where here vehicle was found. The area was divided into segments, and those segments were prioritized and searched. Seven teams searched assigned areas on November 1st, some going out on multiple missions during the day as they searched the difficult terrain. That afternoon, one of the teams volunteered to search one last segment of the area before dark - and found C.L.H. just after 6 p.m., alive but suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and exposure. The searchers began warming her, and her condition started to improve. C.L.H. was found on Stone Mountain State Park land, approximately one mile downhill from where she had parked on the parkway and in an area of steep terrain and tall trees, with the light quickly fading. A paramedic was able to hike in to her location, arriving just before 10 p.m. It was determined that she was stable enough to stay the night. Due to the difficulty and risk associated with a helicopter rescue in steep terrain, a plan was developed to bring C.L.H. out of the area by helicopter at first light. Thirteen searchers and rescuers spent the night with C.L.H., keeping her warm and monitoring her condition. A helicopter from the North Carolina National Guard hoisted her out of the ravine she was in around 8:30 a.m. along with one of the paramedics who had been treating her. She was then flown to a nearby landing zone near the Bluffs Lodge on Blue Ridge Parkway, where she was assessed by an ambulance crew before being transferred to a medical helicopter to be flown to Winston-Salem. It is certainly due to the outstanding inter-agency cooperation and pre-planning - and the hard work of searchers and volunteers on the ground - that this search and rescue effort was a success. Participants in the search included personnel from North Carolina State Parks, North Carolina Highway Patrol, Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Laurel Springs, Cherry Lane, Glade Creek, Alleghany County Search and Rescue, Alleghany County Sheriff's Department, Kershaw County, North Carolina Search and Rescue Dog Association, and North Carolina Project Saver Specialized Team. [Lena Boesser-Koschmann, Assistant Chief Ranger]

Devils Tower NM

Five Climbers Rescued In All-Night Operation

On October 30th, rangers received a phone call from Crook County dispatch regarding a group of climbers who were stuck on the south side of Devils Tower with a rope caught in a crack. They had no headlamps or proper cold weather clothing and had only a little food and water with them. The five climbers, all from Iowa, were on a single-day climb to the summit via the Durrance Route when the incident occurred. Two of them reached the summit around 4 p.m. The climbers then descended to The Meadows, a relatively flat section on the south side of Devils Tower about 120 feet from the summit. One of them rappelled to a point about 140 feet below The Meadows. The plan was for the remaining four to pull the rope back up, for three of them to be lowered, and for the fifth and final person to rappel down and join them. The rope, however, got stuck. The first climber then called for assistance. Rangers Drew Gilmour, Tim Raaf and Joe Stiver responded and enlisted three local climbers - Keith Noback, Dave Schrall, and Chris Engle - in the rescue operation. Noback and Schrall started climbing the Durrance Route at 10 p.m., reaching the stranded climbers at 4 a.m. Noback, a local doctor, completed a brief medical assessment of the climbers, with particular attention to the possibility of hypothermia. All five climbers were cold and tired, but able to complete the rappel down. Engle, waiting at the bottom of the Durrance Route, sent the climbers down the last 120 foot rappel to awaiting rangers and local fire and EMS personnel. All climbers returned safely, with only minor signs of hypothermia. The temperature at 3:30 a.m. was 33 degrees, with light snow falling and winds blowing from 25 to 30 mph and gusting to 45 mph. This was the third climbing search and rescue operation conducted in the park this year. Gilmour, the park's chief ranger, was IC. Stive handled communications, and Raff logistics. [Tim Raaf, Seasonal 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/):

Statue of Liberty NM - The “Liberty Bike,” featured on the popular cable television reality series “American Chopper,” was presented to the park for a yearlong exhibition on October 28th, the 124th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.

Workplace Enrichment - Workplace Enrichemnt is providing a guide to help employees and supervisors with annual performance appraisals and associated discussions.

Fort Sumter NM - Superintendent Bob Dodson will retire in December after 37 years of service. Photo.

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of 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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