Vail Mountain Rescue – Newsletters...2014/10/10 · Vail Mountain Rescue – Newsletters This...
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Friends of Mountain Rescue • PO Box 1094 • Edwards, CO 81632 970.470.9075 • vailmountainrescue.org Vail Mountain Rescue – Newsletters Did They Find the Doctor Yet? Situation: A man was lost after separating from his companions on a hut trip. Location: The Eiseman Hut Facing Vail ski mountain. Rescue personnel: 1300 man hours Rescue resources: Blackhawk UH 60 and OH 58 and UH 72 Lakota helicopters / 18 blade-hours Elapsed time: 5 days Outcome: The man’s body was found two weeks later Backcountry lessons learned: Never separate from your companions. Always carry appropriate navigational aids—a compass and detailed map or a GPS device—and know how to use them. Understand the entire area around your planned trail in case you stray. If you become lost, sit down, do not wander. Rescue teams will be coming to get you. In late March, 2014, everyone who lived in or visited the Vail Valley was riveted by the news that a young emergency doctor was missing near Vail. Where was he lost? Had he been found? Could he survive? Question like these were pervasive. They reflect our shared humanity, our desire to help, and our fears of similar circumstances for our friends and family. We tell the doctor’s story here to remind us all to enter our beautiful wilderness with greater knowledge and preparation, as well as, a certain amount of humility. The mountains are very big and we are so very small. He and three friends set out for the Eiseman Hut, 3,000 vertical feet and about 10 miles into the back country. This popular hut faces Vail ski mountain, and the trail is used by hundreds of skiers and snowshoers every winter. But something went horribly wrong. The party started up at 8:00 a.m. and took a break around 9:30. Stories differ, but for some reason, he separated from his three friends and pushed on alone. The others reached the hut around 5:30 pm expecting to see him there, but he was nowhere to be found. The only clue to his whereabouts was a 16-second unanswered cell phone call he made about an hour after they separated. His friends called 911 after a brief search of the hut area. Four VMRG teams responded. That very winter, they had undertaken four successful searches for groups who had become lost on the Eiseman hut route. So, they spent the night searching the area around the hut, as well as, the routes taken by previously lost parties. Hopes were high, but they found no trace of the missing physician. Over the next three days, VMRG, along with teams from seven other counties used every daylight hour to conduct ground searches. Colorado National Guard helicopters flew them in and conducted aerial searches. Neither yielded any results. On the fifth day, VMRG and the Eagle County Sheriff concluded that the area had been covered as well as weather and snow conditions permitted and that further searches were unlikely to be productive. The search was suspended pending additional clues. More than two weeks later, three backcountry skiers were headed down a chute in the Booth Creek drainage next to a steep rock face, when they saw something below that seemed awry. Upon closer investigation, it proved to be the body of the missing doctor. VMRG recovered his remains that evening. He had fallen about 700 feet down the rock face. It’s likely that after separating from his friends he continued up the drainage and missed the turn in the trail that would have taken him to the hut. His unanswered call was made from a spot just above that trail. He then continued up the drainage, eventually reaching the ridge between Spraddle Creek and Booth Creek. It was there, within sight of Vail, that he fell to his death.
Transcript of Vail Mountain Rescue – Newsletters...2014/10/10 · Vail Mountain Rescue – Newsletters This...
Friends of Mountain Rescue • PO Box 1094 • Edwards, CO 81632 970.470.9075 • vailmountainrescue.org
Vail Mountain Rescue – Newsletters
Did They Find the Doctor Yet? Situation: A man was lost after separating from his companions on a hut trip. Location: The Eiseman Hut Facing Vail ski mountain. Rescue personnel: 1300 man hours Rescue resources: Blackhawk UH 60 and OH 58 and UH 72 Lakota helicopters / 18 blade-hours Elapsed time: 5 days Outcome: The man’s body was found two weeks later Backcountry lessons learned:
ü Never separate from your companions. ü Always carry appropriate navigational aids—a compass and detailed map or a GPS device—and
know how to use them. ü Understand the entire area around your planned trail in case you stray. ü If you become lost, sit down, do not wander. Rescue teams will be coming to get you.
In late March, 2014, everyone who lived in or visited the Vail Valley was riveted by the news that a young emergency doctor was missing near Vail. Where was he lost? Had he been found? Could he survive? Question like these were pervasive. They reflect our shared humanity, our desire to help, and our fears of similar circumstances for our friends and family. We tell the doctor’s story here to remind us all to enter our beautiful wilderness with greater knowledge and preparation, as well as, a certain amount of humility. The mountains are very big and we are so very small. He and three friends set out for the Eiseman Hut, 3,000 vertical feet and about 10 miles into the back country. This popular hut faces Vail ski mountain, and the trail is used by hundreds of skiers and snowshoers every winter. But something went horribly wrong. The party started up at 8:00 a.m. and took a break around 9:30. Stories differ, but for some reason, he separated from his three friends and pushed on alone. The others reached the hut around 5:30 pm expecting to see him there, but he was nowhere to be found. The only clue to his whereabouts was a 16-second unanswered cell phone call he made about an hour after they separated. His friends called 911 after a brief search of the hut area. Four VMRG teams responded. That very winter, they had undertaken four successful searches for groups who had become lost on the Eiseman hut route. So, they spent the night searching the area around the hut, as well as, the routes taken by previously lost parties. Hopes were high, but they found no trace of the missing physician. Over the next three days, VMRG, along with teams from seven other counties used every daylight hour to conduct ground searches. Colorado National Guard helicopters flew them in and conducted aerial searches. Neither yielded any results. On the fifth day, VMRG and the Eagle County Sheriff concluded that the area had been covered as well as weather and snow conditions permitted and that further searches were unlikely to be productive. The search was suspended pending additional clues.
More than two weeks later, three backcountry skiers were headed down a chute in the Booth Creek drainage next to a steep rock face, when they saw something below that seemed awry. Upon closer investigation, it proved to be the body of the missing doctor. VMRG recovered his remains that evening. He had fallen about 700 feet down the rock face. It’s likely that after separating from his friends he continued up the drainage and missed the turn in the trail that would have taken him to the hut. His unanswered call was made from a spot just above that trail. He then continued up the drainage, eventually reaching the ridge between Spraddle Creek and Booth Creek. It was there, within sight of Vail, that he fell to his death.
Friends of Mountain Rescue • PO Box 1094 • Edwards, CO 81632 970.470.9075 • vailmountainrescue.org
Vail Mountain Rescue – Newsletters
This tragic incident provides several important lessons for everyone using the backcountry, whether winter or summer:
ü Never separate from your companions. ü Always carry appropriate navigational aids—a compass and detailed map or a GPS device—and
know how to use them. ü Understand the entire area around your planned trail in case you stray. ü If you become lost, sit down, do not wander. Rescue teams will be coming to get you.
