JOSH STRATMAN TELLS STORY OF RESCUE UTILIZING FIRST RESPONDER SKILLS

This story was submitted by Josh Stratman, MHCC health/physical education/wilderness skills instructor.

RESCUE SKILLS TESTED ON MOUNT ST. HELENS

The day started at 3 a.m. as my climbing partner and longtime friend and I drove to Mount St. Helens. We were going to do a New Year’s Day climb of the 8,365 ft. snow-covered peak. At the trailhead, we sorted and packed our gear. Since this was going to be a non-technical climb, we chose just to take basic mountaineering gear. We strapped our ice axes and crampons onto our packs and chose to leave behind the climbing rope and harnesses, as they are not needed on this type of climb. We threw some food and water in and prepared for the long day.

We were anticipating that the climb would take us about 10 hours, but unbeknown to us, our day was going to be much longer.

We hiked through the darkness, following the snow-covered trail illuminated by or headlamps. We followed the trail for 2 miles and then emerged from the trees and got a view of the mountain, lit up by the moon. Our goal of the summit sat 2.5 miles and 4,300 feet above us. We started the long climb up the mountain, and were immediately greeted by Chocolate Falls, a 40-foot frozen and snow-covered waterfall along Swift Creek. We easily maneuvered around and over the falls and continued our trek up the mountain.

The conditions were favorable; however, due to the low snow that winter, there were more rocks protruding through the snow and occasional icy spots near the rocks. Around the seismic station at 6,200 feet elevation the climb started to get increasingly icy, so we strapped on our crampons and pulled out our ice axes. The summit was roughly 2,000 feet above us and we were making great time.

A couple hours later, we were standing on the summit looking into the horseshoe-shaped crater caused by the volcanic eruption in 1980. From our vantage point, we could see Mount Rainier to the north and Mount Hood to the south; it was a great way to start the New Year!

We began our trek back down to the car. A quick check of the watch indicated we were on schedule and should complete the climb with plenty of daylight left. We noticed a few more groups below us on the mountain making their way up to the summit. There was a large group of 10 nearing the summit and a small group of two, lower on the mountain. We carefully climbed down the icy mountainside back down to the seismic station, and stopped to take a break and remove our crampons.

CALLED INTO ACTION

As we sat there, the small group of two (one girl and one guy) met up with us. We exchanged pleasantries, chatted about the climb and the weather and we parted ways. They continued up and we continued down. But a few minutes later, we heard a cry for help!

This is where our day changed.

The group of two we had just passed was yelling to us for help. We turned around and went back up the mountain to see what was going on. When we reached them, the girl was sitting on the ground holding her leg and appeared to be in a lot of pain. The pair had not donned their crampons yet and on her ascent she had stepped on an icy patch, twisted her left leg, and fallen.

I have been teaching Wilderness First Responder (WFR) courses for six years. WFR courses are intense, 90-hour classes in wilderness medicine. These classes teach you how to respond to emergency medical issues in remote settings where help is not readily available, and to perform evacuations. This was the exact training we needed in this situation.

I quickly assessed the climber to make sure she did not have any life-threatening injuries, and then moved to her leg. Upon examination, I determined that she had an unstable left leg and could not use it, and to make things worse, any movement caused extreme pain. (Later we learned that she sustained two fractures of her tibia – one just below the knee and the other above the ankle.) We needed to splint her leg and minimize the movement to reduce the pain.

I took stock of the materials and resources we had on hand. We had one pair of trekking poles, ice axes, a small first-aid kit, an emergency tarp, and some duct tape. I decided to splint her leg using a sandwich splint, an improvised splint that utilized trekking poles and rope or webbing to hold it in place. It was a splint that I had taught numerous times, but now I was putting the splint into action and testing it firsthand. We fashioned the splint using our one pair of trekking poles and some straps we took off our backpacks.

Once the splint was in place, it relieved some of the pain; however, we were still over 3 miles away from the trailhead and harder yet, we still had to get the injured climber down over 3,500 feet of snow and ice. Even with the splint, any abrupt movement of her legs caused an increase in pain, so we would need to move slow and smooth.

UP TO THE TASK

We called 911 and requested search and rescue, but the news was not good. It was going to be a minimum of six hours before a search and rescue team could be on the mountain. We were faced with a decision: We had to sit on the cold, barren mountainside and wait for the rescue team, or try to evacuate the girl ourselves.

We made the decision to evacuate, and to meet the rescue team on the descent. Again, we surveyed our resources: We already had used our one pair of trekking poles, so our resources were dwindling. About this time, the large group of 10 climbers had summited and was on its way back down the mountain. My climbing partner called them over and asked them to help with the evacuation, to which they eagerly agreed. We now had more rescuers and more resources, and things were looking good.

We created an improvised litter/stretcher using the emergency tarp and some trekking poles we borrowed from the larger group – again, a skill that I have taught numerous times in the WFR class, but now was getting to put into practice. The type of litter we created would allow six-to-eight people to carry it at the same time, which made moving down the icy mountainside easier. When someone got tired or needed a break, they would rotate out.

The litter and splint were working just as they were supposed to; the evacuation was going well – slow, but well. Due to the icy, uneven terrain and the need to take breaks, it took us about five hours to descend 2,500 feet and travel one mile.

We were now at the top of Chocolate Falls as we watched the sun set, and with it, the last of our light. On the way up, the falls were easy to climb up and over, but now were a daunting challenge that we would have to do in the dark. A short distance below the falls, the trail widens out and becomes relatively flat. The remainder of the evacuation would be easy; we just needed to get the injured climber down the falls and to the trail.

Again, I went back to my training and we utilized a litter carry method that allows rescuers to carry a stretcher/litter up or down steep terrain. I explained the method to the group and we carefully and gently lowered the litter and the injured girl down the falls. We then carried her down the last bit of rough, uneven terrain to the wide, flat trail.

SKILLS TAUGHT AT MHCC

It had taken us six hours to get to this point. We had less than 2 miles to go on a much easier trail. The group was tired, as most of us had been awake and climbing for over 16 hours, but spirits were high. We rounded a corner on the trail and met the search and rescue team and mountain paramedics. They were impressed with the task that we had just accomplished, and transferred the girl into their wheeled stretcher and rolled her back to the waiting ambulance.

After a long and challenging day, I was glad that I had the training and knowledge to respond to the situation. I encourage everyone who ventures outside to take a course in wilderness medicine. Hopefully you never have to use the training, but if you do, you will be thankful for the skills. And Mt. Hood Community College is offering a Wilderness First Responder course (HE289) during the Winter Term, which begins on Jan. 3.

Contact Josh Stratman at 503-491-7201 or [email protected] for more information