Fallen Skier in Bloody Couloir. On Saturday, May 10th, at 12:05, the team was called out for an injured 38-year-old female skier who had a reported 800 foot fall in Bloody Couloir on Bloody Mountain. The skier came to rest at an elevation of approximately 11,700 feet.
Rescue base was established at the bottom of Laurel Lakes Road, at the intersection with Sherwin Creek Road. Rescue operations requested a CHP helicopter, and our friends at CHP - Central Division Air Operations H42 accepted the mission.
Fortuitously, a team member was in the party with the injured skier, which aided tremendously in mission planning, execution, and patient care. Working with our team member in the field by cellphone, multiple action plans were developed and executed.
A team of five deployed from the bottom of Laurel Lakes Road in Ranger One for bottom-up access, while a team of three gathered at Mammoth Airport to await the arriving helicopter for possible insertion or top-down access. Both teams carried similar equipment: ski gear, medical supplies, and technical rope rescue equipment.
A portion of the bottom-up ground team on the hike in.
2 of our 3 team members at Mammoth-Yosemite Airport prepared for possible helicopter insertion.
H42 conducted a reconnaissance flight upon arrival at the scene, then proceeded to Mammoth Airport to offload gear and reduce weight. Operations pivoted to utilizing the team member in the field to assist in hoist operations. H42 offloaded equipment, prepared their screamer suit and a radio to be inserted to our team member, and returned to the incident location.
CHP H42 assessing conditions prior to hoisting the subject from the couloir.
CHP H42 hoisting the subject from the couloir.
The CHP crew lowered the screamer suit and a radio to the team member, who packaged the subject and aided in the hoist rescue. The subject was transported to Mammoth Airport, and then to Mammoth Hospital in a private vehicle. She is reported to be in stable condition. We wish the skier a speedy recovery.
IC: Belcher Ops Leader: Beck Responders: Tardy, Huizingh, Creager, Lipman, Barker, Arndt, Baron, Haugh, Glessner, Wallace, Anderson, Buchanan, Senior, Trainor, Carlson, Brownlee, Salay, Romanova, Pavlovsky, Irving-Ruffing