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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Sep 28, 2011 - 10:36am PT
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Wow Wow Wow.
The golden rule applied to climbing at the highest level.
Beautiful.
Any chance you took any video Tom?
This most certainly is a saleable story and would be great very well deserved PR for YOSAR. Then again it would not be great PR for climbing and Yosemite in general on such a rough year already.
I have no idea if you wish to make any money on such a story but the work you do is incredibly worthy of it.
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Slakkey
Big Wall climber
From Back to Big Wall Baby
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Sep 28, 2011 - 10:37am PT
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Excellent Pictures Tom and once again YOSAR shows just what a great job they do
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Clovis, CA
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Sep 28, 2011 - 10:40am PT
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Awesome!
I can't imagine the rush of being strung under a helo and hoisted up to a wall.
Hats off once again to YOSAR!
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coastal_climber
Trad climber
British Columbia
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Sep 28, 2011 - 10:56am PT
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When you start charging for rescue, people will not call for help.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Sep 28, 2011 - 11:14am PT
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wow, this makes great TV.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Sep 28, 2011 - 11:30am PT
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Very nice work all around. LEOs, pilot, YOSAR, and the climber's partner.
Very nice work. Nice pics too, Tom!!!
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Sep 28, 2011 - 12:11pm PT
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Might have been. But the cost of saving that thumb includes the pretty great risk of 3 other lives Actually 5 lives counting the climbers. I've been wondering about the same calculation. I can only conclude that the heli pilot had great confidence that he could pull it off safely. That might be the most important skill of the pilot: successfully evaluating the risk.
Great job by all.
Edit: PS, I don't mean to imply you weren't counting to 5, just emphasizing that the climbers themselves may have been at significant risk.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Sep 28, 2011 - 12:16pm PT
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Might have been. But the cost of saving that thumb includes the pretty great risk of 3 other lives
I dunno but have to think the rangers and Pilot live for that kind of adventure. We do
Peace
karl
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 28, 2011 - 12:18pm PT
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How is the Park Service legally bound to undertake such a risky rescue in
a non-life-and-death situation?
There was a similar rescue on the 2nd ascent of NE Buttress of Slesse but
in that case it was a lot closer to life-and-death.
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AndresPelaez
climber
Austin, TX
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Sep 28, 2011 - 08:09pm PT
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Great report, and what an awesome rescue job! I witnessed the rescue from the top of the Higher Cathedral Spire. I'm glad everyone is ok.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Sep 28, 2011 - 09:40pm PT
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Great idea Chris. They're the shizzzz
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:39am PT
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Just WOW!! and Yowza....
elcap -pics... Incredible trip report & incredible pictures...
Yosar,.....impressive rescue!!.. ... double- Wow!.. hijole..
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:43am PT
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My guess given the phones and all is that the pilot and rangers knew that they were on a mission to save a thumb and the benefits that go along w/ having an opposable one for an unfortunate visitor.
When someone has head trauma in the same spot, the exercise to save the thumb will probably prove to have been very useful.
I don't know how one gets a ride on a rope across the grey bands w/o a thumb. Below that, bailing w/ the injured as baggage would be more manageable.
I'm glad it worked out well for all involved.
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johnr9q
Sport climber
Sacramento, Ca
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Sep 30, 2011 - 04:27pm PT
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Sounds alot like my incident:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1290830&msg=1290830#msg1290830:
Accident happened Oct 12, 10)
Thanks for all the emails and calls, The lies as i remember them: As. Matt and I were attempting to fix our lines from Sickle Ledge to the base of El Cap so we could get a head start on the Nose Route the following day. we 3rd classed up the buttress to the base of the difficulty. Matt led the first pitch and i led the second, I had made the pendulum to the next crack on the right continuing to aid up. My first piece was the cracked fixed pin and i set two more pieces above that. I knew that my last piece wasn't very good but it was the best i could find so I was high stepping above my last piece, when the piece pulled. As i was falling i felt a pain in my left thumb that was unusal. when I stopped falling Ilooked at my thumb and i saw a stump above the distal knuckle. I then looked down to see the end of my thumb falling down 400 feet to the bottom. I was sure we wouldn't be able to find the finger as it went into bushes and rocks. Matt lowered me till i was even with him and then threw a rope over to me and pulled me to him. He then lowered me to a tree that we could rappel from. Curt was on the scene so i yelled for him to alert the clinic so they could alert a medic for my arrival. Curt also called the Park Service and they sent a medic up to the base of Elcap. Curt found a fixed rope and jugged to me and assisted me down the fixed rope. When i got to the bottom, I found an ER Doctor that happened to be in the area. He was holding Curt's crying baby. The ER Doctor looked at the thumb and said he would assist me to the clinic. We met the Park Service ranger coming and he did basic first aid and assisted me to a waiting ambulance, Meanwhile Curt and Matt started looking for my severed finger. I advised them that they would never find it because of the difficulty of the terrain and the wide area it could have fallen. Foutunately they didnt listen to me and started a search, Curt also got other climbers to assist.and one of the party found it.just before dark. By this time I was well on our way out of the park in an ambulance. The Ranger radioed us said they were driving with the thumb, code three, to catch us. We drove to El Portal where we met an ambulance from Maraposa that would continue to transport me to Mariposa (the initial ambulance needed to stay in the greater yosemite area). My thumb also met us at the rundevoux. The people in the Mariposa ambulance made a number of calls and decided that I should be life flighted by helicopter to Fresno where the reattachment could be made. We drove to Mariposa where a helicopter with pilot/flight nurse/EMT transported us to Fresno.when i arrived in Fresno, the first doctor i saw informed me they didn't do reattachments there. Needless to say, I wasn' very happy with Fresno. They tried to make up for it by fast tracking me on all the necessary xrays, blood/urine tests, ekg and other preliminaries for surgery while waiting for another heliocopter to arrive. I got into another helocopter and we traveled to San Francisco and landed at San Francisco Int'l Airport, (we couldn't land at the hospital cause Feinstein has declared San Francisco a noise free zone, according to our pilot). An ambulance then took us to California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. They specialize in finger replacement. The fall occured at 6pm and now it was midnight, I was concerned that too much time had elapsed for the reattachment to be successful but the surgeons said, if there isn't muscle involved (no muscele in the fingers) the time frame isn't as critical. The Doctors told me that it might be difficult to reattach the finger because the cut occurred at the distal joint where there is a defined artery but no defined vein, At 1 am i went into surgery which lasted 1 1/2 hrs. For some reason tme anesthia stops my breathing so they inserted a breathing tube and they controled my breathing. The doctors said there was a fair chance that reattachment wouldn't be possible. they told me when i woke from surgery i would know the surgery was unsuccessful if my finger was wrapped completly. If the end of my finger was exposed and I saw two pins in the end of my finger, i would know it was successful, When i awoke, i saw 2 pins so i was happy. If the cut had occurred near the base of the finger there is a defined vein and artery, With my cut with no veins but an artery, the blood would be able to flow into the severed tip (the doctors use micro surgery and a microscope to reattach the artery) but there is no where for the blood to circulate threw the finger tip until the veins reattach themselves so in order for the blood to flow out, half the nail is removed and a hole is placed there for the finger to bleed. This hospital uses sophistophated instruments and if the bleeding isn't adequate a special solution is used on a swab that causes bleeding. If, after using the swab, the bleeding isn't adequate, a leech is placed on the hole and the leech removes the blood while cleaning the hole. It also emits an anticoagulent that increases blood floow. I am also on a heavy dosage of blood thinners to help with blood flow. Each day now means there are better odds that the reattachment will work. I will probably go home some time next week and be in a restrictive device for at least 2 more weeks then, if the bones are stable, I should be able to start physical therapy. Function, feeling and strength etc are still to be determined.
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shipoopoi
Big Wall climber
oakland
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Sep 30, 2011 - 10:08pm PT
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ouch, his fingers looked fairly compromised also, as if they were suffering from compartment syndrome. what a freak accident. when i heard on the radio about it, i thought the thumb would have got severed by a minitraction, like what happened to that lady on lurking fear. but, i guess an aider wrapped and pinched the thumb off. just goes to show you there is more that one way to skin a cat. poopoi
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roy
Social climber
NZ -> SB,CA -> Zurich
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An amazing rescue!! Cool heads and phenomenal skill all around. And brilliant reporting Tom!
Cheers, Roy
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James Doty
Trad climber
Phoenix, Az.
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Johnr9q, What an incredible series of events! All from a detached thumb tip. Good luck with that thing.
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chiindi
Big Wall climber
Lakeview, OR
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Oct 18, 2011 - 01:27pm PT
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Renamed thumb ledge?
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Mom
Social climber
So Cal
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Oct 18, 2011 - 01:33pm PT
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GREAT AND TIMELY RESCUE! THANK YOU YOSAR!! ACCOLADES TO THE PREMIERE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM RESIDING IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES!!
SECOND GUESSING DIMINISHES THE GUESSER...
PHOTOS - THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE, TOM, AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR FANTASTICALLY GIFTED PHOTOGRAPHER'S EYE... JUST BREATHTAKING AND TELLS OF THE RESCUE WITH THE VISUAL CLARITY THE RESCUE DESERVES.
To All - Be Well & Be Blessed
Mom
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