7-15-12 At about 11:30 pm Sunday July 15, 2012 an injured hiker was located by SAR and lifted out by National Guard Black Hawk helo about 2 miles from the Lyons Creek trail head. The last team was returned to base by 0230 the following morning. Great work to all of SAR who turned out. (thx to SAR 420)
Monday, July 16, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Lover's Leap SAR 7-10-12
Two climbers were ascending the wall. The lead climber was 15 feet above last anchor when he fell a total of 30 feet, apparently breaking his ankle. His partner anchored in and was stuck in his position but uninjured. A 911 call was placed just after 400pm. Units from West Slope and Tahoe EDSAR responded, along with several members of Lake Valley Fire and Big Hill Hotshots.
Two rope systems were set up, one by EDSAR, the other by Lake Valley. The injured climber was lowered 300+ feet with rescuer Scott. Members of Team 5 assisted the subject from the scree down to a wheeled stokes for evacuation to a medic unit.
The other climber was lowered with a rescuer/paramedic. SAR members and fire walked the second subject out.
Lover's Leap is in the Strawberry/Horsetail falls area of US 50, just west of the Tahoe Basin
Members of Team 5, at the bottom of the cliff, prepare to evacuate the injured climber.
Two rope systems were set up, one by EDSAR, the other by Lake Valley. The injured climber was lowered 300+ feet with rescuer Scott. Members of Team 5 assisted the subject from the scree down to a wheeled stokes for evacuation to a medic unit.
The other climber was lowered with a rescuer/paramedic. SAR members and fire walked the second subject out.
Lover's Leap is in the Strawberry/Horsetail falls area of US 50, just west of the Tahoe Basin
Members of Team 5, at the bottom of the cliff, prepare to evacuate the injured climber.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Wright's Lake Search- USFS Volunteer
A volunteer trail worker for El Dorado National Forest became separated from his work party, on the afternoon of Saturday, July 7, 2012. The 65 year old male, an insulin-dependent diabetic, was experienced in his role as a trail worker. Forest service started a search for the man late in the afternoon and subsequently contacted El Dorado Sheriff's office, shortly thereafter.
Search and Rescue volunteers from EDSAR, joined by law enforcement and forest service personnel, continued the search throughout the night. Additional searchers joined the effort on Sunday morning. A mutual aid request brought in additional search dog teams. A fixed-wing airplane assisted the search Sunday morning and CHP helo H-20 did so in the late afternoon.
Hikers reported seeing the subject on Saturday. An intensive search effort failed to yield useful clues.
The search effort was winding down Sunday evening, with plans made for mutual aid assistance from 4 other counties for Monday. Near 9:00PM, an area dog team heard a whistle, then followed the dog to the subject. The missing subject was upright and stable, but not ambulatory. Deputy Cathey was looking at organizing ground personnel to effect a possibly long carryout of the patient.
Ultimately, the medical helo, CALSTAR, using night vision equipment, was able to land nearby and evacuate the patient.
Narrative by Carda dog handler whose team made the find and assisted in the rescue:
A little bit about our search yesterday in El Dorado County. As you may know, this was a Forest Service volunteer who has diabetes and was out for a day project to clean up trails and went missing when he separated from his team. Needless to say, that alone was upsetting for that team and all the Forest Service people. Although he had been working as a volunteer for 6 years, this particular area was not known to him. When we got there at 530 PM, we were the last team to deploy, in fact, when we left around 615ish, other teams were on the way in. The area by Wrights Lake is at and above 7000 feet with forest, granite mountains and lots and lots of waist high scrub ( I have the scratches to prove it). I knew we would be searching in the dark and coming back in the dark, but I had NO IDEA how late or how dark it would be! The only person in base who would flank me was the head ranger and she went out with me. One of the reasons she did, was because CP had this one area they really wanted a dog to go into that was 56 acres (yeah...with dark coming and the terrain up there) because earlier that AM, a trailing dog (not sure who) had trailed from the PLS, downhill to a hill top that then dropped off into drainage's and steepness and brush. Here I could make some comment about how area dogs get sent into the fun, steep, brush and drainage ... but I won't. The ops person said the dog lost the trail but had a"lot of interest" and when you looked at the map you could see a very likely scenario that placed him below this point and scent coming up those drainages. So, it just seemed like such a good chance and a good assignment for my big dog. So Lynn and I took off and met up with Brian Fox ( CARDA apprentice) who was returning with his team and he jumped teams and joined us for a second deployment. The plan was not to try and do the 56 acres of crazy terrain in the approaching darkness, but to make two passes along the south / western boundary which would allow me to send the dog up and down into the drainages in what was improving scent conditions. We hiked out (and it was hike!) and did just that and being good searchers, we called out his name periodically. It was so quiet out there and we were the only team in the field. As we got about halfway through the first real pass and about to the first of two MAJOR drainages, we got a whistle response! We called again and got another response and that was it - we were off to pinpoint the sound. If I could attach the map on this group message I would and you would see he was about 1/2 mile down from us on a granite slab that bordered one of the major drainages - just like our search plan would have taken us to. Sound carries funny and wilderness terrain does not always make things easy and we ended up not getting there as the crow flies, as you can imagine. Now the dog part - sure Max made a "find" - he found him and gave his alert and refind. He got his toy and all was good. BUT - Brian had BEAT my dog to the subject (that boy is fast!) and so really... this not a dog find. But, I had to chuckle when I saw the news report because so often they do not give us credit when we have had the find, that this credit that is not accurate is, I suppose, a little balancing of the scales? But for us, be clear, this was a TEAM find and thanks to a good TEAM, he was found without a second night in the field. He was helicoptered out around 1030 - 11PM and then... we were to hike ourselves out. This was actually the crazy part, as it was after 11 and pitch black (no moon yet). We started out but keep in mind we had given most of our water, food (which we didn't have much of anyway) and even two people's jackets, to the subject. Long and short of it, after working on going back a "shorter" way that became impassable and dangerous, around midnight we returned to the place where he had been and decided to build a fire and warm up, rest and hike out when it got light. CP didn't like it and sent in one of their local Tahoe SAR teams who made a bee line to our UTM and bushwhacked a MUCH shorter trail out and we hiked out with them, getting back at 330AM. They were a great group of people, they brought water, carbs and jackets making it a LOT easier - including finding the way back which none of us would have thought of, especially then. BTW - Karen Atkinson, I have your jacket, THANK YOU! For me, this was so worthwhile. Leaving late was risky, but believing it was a good probability he was in the area and that was because I do believe in our "tools". The trailing dog had been called within 24 hours and had a really believable clue. This was important information. Scent conditions were good and I wanted us to follow-up and we did. It really is a great feeling to find someone alive and to see the whole team approach really work. Without the clue from the other search and dog teams, our teamwork, the support of the El Dorado team and the helicopter pilots, who knows what would have happened. Lynn, the ranger (who this guy worked for really) was SO HAPPY, she had never been on search before and to have a live find on her first search of one of her people was just wonderful. Anyway, that's about it. If anyone would like to see the map and tracks, I'm happy to send it. Be Well, Kathryn Kathryn Stewart CARDA 737
Search and Rescue volunteers from EDSAR, joined by law enforcement and forest service personnel, continued the search throughout the night. Additional searchers joined the effort on Sunday morning. A mutual aid request brought in additional search dog teams. A fixed-wing airplane assisted the search Sunday morning and CHP helo H-20 did so in the late afternoon.
Hikers reported seeing the subject on Saturday. An intensive search effort failed to yield useful clues.
The search effort was winding down Sunday evening, with plans made for mutual aid assistance from 4 other counties for Monday. Near 9:00PM, an area dog team heard a whistle, then followed the dog to the subject. The missing subject was upright and stable, but not ambulatory. Deputy Cathey was looking at organizing ground personnel to effect a possibly long carryout of the patient.
Ultimately, the medical helo, CALSTAR, using night vision equipment, was able to land nearby and evacuate the patient.
The map and waypoints were provided by the CARDA dog team handler. Near Wright's Lake you can see the Command Post and where this team started their search assignment. Red GPS tracks show the path to and from the search/find area. The spot marked Call Out is where the subject responded with a whistle to his name.The S and the star is the area of subject find and the little red tail to the North is where the subject was carried to the CALSTAR helicopter.
A little bit about our search yesterday in El Dorado County. As you may know, this was a Forest Service volunteer who has diabetes and was out for a day project to clean up trails and went missing when he separated from his team. Needless to say, that alone was upsetting for that team and all the Forest Service people. Although he had been working as a volunteer for 6 years, this particular area was not known to him. When we got there at 530 PM, we were the last team to deploy, in fact, when we left around 615ish, other teams were on the way in. The area by Wrights Lake is at and above 7000 feet with forest, granite mountains and lots and lots of waist high scrub ( I have the scratches to prove it). I knew we would be searching in the dark and coming back in the dark, but I had NO IDEA how late or how dark it would be! The only person in base who would flank me was the head ranger and she went out with me. One of the reasons she did, was because CP had this one area they really wanted a dog to go into that was 56 acres (yeah...with dark coming and the terrain up there) because earlier that AM, a trailing dog (not sure who) had trailed from the PLS, downhill to a hill top that then dropped off into drainage's and steepness and brush. Here I could make some comment about how area dogs get sent into the fun, steep, brush and drainage ... but I won't. The ops person said the dog lost the trail but had a"lot of interest" and when you looked at the map you could see a very likely scenario that placed him below this point and scent coming up those drainages. So, it just seemed like such a good chance and a good assignment for my big dog. So Lynn and I took off and met up with Brian Fox ( CARDA apprentice) who was returning with his team and he jumped teams and joined us for a second deployment. The plan was not to try and do the 56 acres of crazy terrain in the approaching darkness, but to make two passes along the south / western boundary which would allow me to send the dog up and down into the drainages in what was improving scent conditions. We hiked out (and it was hike!) and did just that and being good searchers, we called out his name periodically. It was so quiet out there and we were the only team in the field. As we got about halfway through the first real pass and about to the first of two MAJOR drainages, we got a whistle response! We called again and got another response and that was it - we were off to pinpoint the sound. If I could attach the map on this group message I would and you would see he was about 1/2 mile down from us on a granite slab that bordered one of the major drainages - just like our search plan would have taken us to. Sound carries funny and wilderness terrain does not always make things easy and we ended up not getting there as the crow flies, as you can imagine. Now the dog part - sure Max made a "find" - he found him and gave his alert and refind. He got his toy and all was good. BUT - Brian had BEAT my dog to the subject (that boy is fast!) and so really... this not a dog find. But, I had to chuckle when I saw the news report because so often they do not give us credit when we have had the find, that this credit that is not accurate is, I suppose, a little balancing of the scales? But for us, be clear, this was a TEAM find and thanks to a good TEAM, he was found without a second night in the field. He was helicoptered out around 1030 - 11PM and then... we were to hike ourselves out. This was actually the crazy part, as it was after 11 and pitch black (no moon yet). We started out but keep in mind we had given most of our water, food (which we didn't have much of anyway) and even two people's jackets, to the subject. Long and short of it, after working on going back a "shorter" way that became impassable and dangerous, around midnight we returned to the place where he had been and decided to build a fire and warm up, rest and hike out when it got light. CP didn't like it and sent in one of their local Tahoe SAR teams who made a bee line to our UTM and bushwhacked a MUCH shorter trail out and we hiked out with them, getting back at 330AM. They were a great group of people, they brought water, carbs and jackets making it a LOT easier - including finding the way back which none of us would have thought of, especially then. BTW - Karen Atkinson, I have your jacket, THANK YOU! For me, this was so worthwhile. Leaving late was risky, but believing it was a good probability he was in the area and that was because I do believe in our "tools". The trailing dog had been called within 24 hours and had a really believable clue. This was important information. Scent conditions were good and I wanted us to follow-up and we did. It really is a great feeling to find someone alive and to see the whole team approach really work. Without the clue from the other search and dog teams, our teamwork, the support of the El Dorado team and the helicopter pilots, who knows what would have happened. Lynn, the ranger (who this guy worked for really) was SO HAPPY, she had never been on search before and to have a live find on her first search of one of her people was just wonderful. Anyway, that's about it. If anyone would like to see the map and tracks, I'm happy to send it. Be Well, Kathryn Kathryn Stewart CARDA 737
