NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT


Wednesday, August 28, 2013


INCIDENTS


Grand Teton NP

Climber Seriously Injured By Rockfall


A 54-year-old Wisconsin man sustained multiple traumatic injuries when he was buried by a rockfall in the South Fork of Garnet Canyon yesterday morning.


The rockslide occurred at 9:15 a.m. and was followed by numerous calls for help and multiple HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPOT_Satellite_Messenger" SPOT device activations. 


The large slide came from the north aspect of Nez Perce Peak, west of the Hourglass Couloir. Nez Perce lies to the south and east of the Grand Teton. The man and his two climbing partners intended to summit the Middle Teton on Tuesday. The rockfall came from above an area not typically on the route climbers use to access the Middle Teton.


Shortly after the slide occurred, two Exum guides in the area, one of whom is also a climbing ranger in Denali National Park, responded to the accident location. The guides and bystanders stabilized the man and worked to unbury him until park rangers arrived on scene at 11:19 a.m.


Three rangers, assisted by the Exum guides and other bystanders, moved the injured man to a better location for extrication via short haul. With a ranger attending him below the helicopter, he was flown to the park's rescue cache at Lupine Meadows. A team of park medical providers and an Air Idaho life flight crew provided additional medical care there. He was transported to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls by Air Idaho Rescue.


No other people reported injuries and rangers swept the area to verify that no one else was buried by the slide.


[Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, Office of Public Affairs]


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/):


George Washington Carver NM - George Washington Carver National Monument hosted the 70th annual Carver Day celebration on Saturday, July 13th. This date marks the establishment of the park on July 14, 1943, the first national park dedicated to an African American.


Denali NP&P - Low snow levels on Denali's glaciers this summer presented the park with a rare opportunity to clean up trash and equipment left on the Muldrow Glacier by previous mountaineering expeditions.


Crater Lake NP - During the three days from August 16th through August 18th, Crater Lake hosted a significant multi-agency technical SAR training course for several Oregon County SAR teams and park staff. 


Fire and Aviation Management - Celebrating success is important, especially when a historic structure is saved from a potentially destructive fire. That is what happened when a fire started on the roof of The Wayside at Minute Man NHP a year ago.


North Cascades NP - Students from a local elementary school attended the park's Lunch and Literacy Summer Camp this summer. The camp was sponsored by the park, RTCA and a number of area organizations.


Daily Almanac - Heat advisories have been posted for the northern Plains and western Great Lakes regions. Excessive heat warnings will remain in effect across parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin through today.


National Fire/Incident Situation Highlights - The daily national fire summary is posted around 8 a.m. EDT each day and can be found at either of the links above. Today's edition will again feature updates on fires in Yellowstone and Yosemite.


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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).


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