Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Cottonwood lakes SPOT rescue of 8-18-09

I probably fall into that category but when a human life is in danger all the rules change.

I've gotten into some serious arguments about the use of helicopters, where I thought they were being used either simply for convenience, or when they were being used so that the "image" of everything being done was the issue. In fact, they are extremely dangerous methods of transportation in rescue operations. an interesting series in the Washington Post is running, that addresses the issue:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/22/AR2009082202372.html

Sometimes a life must be risked in order for a life to be saved.

"Convenience" is a relative term.

"For eight bucks a year, the SPOT insurance policy will cover up to $100k in rescue costs.

So, if anyone from Inyo County SAR reads this, I'd put in a claim to recover costs (if they had the coverage).

Edited by Richard P. (08-25-09 12:09 PM)"


The teen with the spot had the insurance, but not the boy that needed rescuing.

In order for a life to be saved, a life must be at risk. If a live is not at risk, a life cannot be saved. When a life is put at risk, when that is not the case, it is an avoidable risk, and invites real tragedy.

The 27 people who died in helicopter rescue crashes in 2008 would testify to that, if they were still alive.

".....extremely dangerous methods of transportation..."

Not to be confused with the far higher statistical chances of being in a car crash on the journey to or from the trailhead.

Most medivac helo accidents have involved loss of situational awareness due to unanticipated weather or darkness.

ALL 27 were involved in NON life threatening cases? How many people were SAVED by helos?.....................................DUG

helos are used a LOT for situation where they are not really REQUIRED. The context of the article is Maryland. This is the most secure airspace in the US. It is home to the Maryland Shock-Trauma Unit, the progenitor of all trauma care in the US. After their most recent rash of helicoptor deaths, this was the result:

"But after last year, a national panel of experts concluded that Maryland flew too many people who could have been moved by ground ambulance.

The guidelines for calling a helicopter have tightened, dramatically decreasing the number of flights."

That means that when the actual situation was examined, it was found that EMS people were dying for no reason.

The classic misuse occurred at the Ventura River (near Oxnard, CA) in the late 80s.

Sheriff waded about 50 or so feet in less than a foot of floodwater to get to a building where 2 women were "stranded". His task? To assist the ladies get into harness so they could be "rescued" by a chopper. It was shown on national TV - wish I could find a clip.

And that helicopter wasn't even in the mountains. Add a high-altitude, mountain environment with sudden changes in wind and weather, reduced lift, terrain hazards (Google "settling with power"), and you've got even more risk. And, in a mountainous environment a pilot's options are very limited if something should go wrong, unlike a relatively flat landscape. Good luck trying to "auto rotate" your way down to someplace.

Everyone has this image and notion of a helicopter sweeping in to the rescue, but bear in mind that as Ken says, this is extremely dangerous activity under the best of conditions. There have been any number of cases where subjects with injuries as simple as a broken leg have died in helicopter accidents after being "rescued"*. In hindsight, I'm sure they would have preferred to have been carried out in a litter, even if it did take several hours.

This is why, unless the situation is truly life threatening, you should not blithely expect the air calvary to come in and save the day. They are putting their lives at risk every time they take off.

* One incident I recall the subject with a broken or sprained leg was airlifted off a peak after several attempts to unload enough gear to allow the copter to take off again with his added weight. Unfortunately it wasn't enough and the copter crashed into a lake. Since the subject was in a litter, which was lashed into the copter, he went to the bottom with the copter. As far as I recall, (could be wrong) the crew managed to swim out. Very, very sad and tragic. There are many more; I could go on.

First off, I would like to thank everyone on the trail that assisted our group on August 18, 2009.

Secondly, we are very thankful that we had a SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker in our group.
Unfortunately, the device was purchased just before our trip and its capabilities were not fully understood. The boy’s parents (who were not on the trip) purchased the device and the boy setup it up.

Lastly, we are fortunate to have this message board to discuss problems and accidents that others encounter, so that others can learn from the misfortunes of others.

Our story:

We took the time to acclimate at the Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead, 10,000 feet. We arrived on Saturday, August 15, 2009 and spent two nights (45 hours) at that altitude. We moved up to Long Lake (11,135 feet) on Monday, August 17, 2009.

The boy was 17 years old and his pack was not 50+ pounds during his assent. When the boy was being evacuated by the three of us, only two full size backpacks were taken down the trail. Additional gear had been added to his backpack and it was being carried down the trail by the boy with the SPOT.

We didn’t camp on a stream, nor did we wash any dishes in a stream or lake.

On Tuesday, August 18, 2009 the boy woke up at 9am. He was coughing and was lying flat on his back in his tent. We had him roll over to his side and the coughing stopped. After we allowed him to rest a bit, his mom got him up. This was difficult; he just wanted to rest and did not want to get out of his tent. When we finally coaxed him out of the tent (about 10am), we had him drink fluids and his mom had him eat a little breakfast. He did not improve sufficiently so we decided to evacuate him to the trailhead.

We began our decent at 11:40 am.
We soon encountered a group of four (RayH group) on the trail and two for them headed immediately down the trail for help.

At first he would walk a bit, but he became more and more combative. Finally he offered resistance to every attempt to move him down the mountain. It is easy to understand why someone won’t help themselves but very hard to accept that someone who knows they are in trouble will fight all the rescuers attempts to help them.

While our travel over the rocky trail was very difficult, I wouldn’t characterize it as dangerous. The trail was narrow and rocky, but no one was going to fall off a mountain or slip into a crevasse. Perhaps a bruise, a scrap, twisted ankle, or at worst a broken bone.

We soon realized that we would not be able to evacuate him all the way to the trailhead (5.5 miles). Additionally, it was clear that his condition had deteriorated and was in serious condition. So the goal changed to just bring him down to an open area near Cottonwood Lake #2, where a helicopter could land. It is approximately ¾ mile from Long Lake to Cottonwood Lake #2. We weren’t sure exactly how the SPOT worked. We knew that the SPOT sent GPS locations, but weren’t sure what would happen if we moved.

A short time later we realized that we were not going to be able to move him any further. We were still approximately ¼ mile from Cottonwood Lake #2. The boy with the SPOT, the patient’s mom, and “dont” were up the trail a bit, so I wasn’t present when “dont” convinced the boy to push the SPOT button. The button was pushed at about 1pm. At the time it was clearly the right thing to do and frankly the only viable option left. The boy with the SPOT hesitated in pushing the SPOT button because he wanted to share the responsibility with at least one other person in our group. The boy and the mother were isolated with “dont” and approximately 25-50 feet away from us in rocky terrain (out of sight). I didn’t hear the conversation, but I would have certainly instructed the boy to push the button. It wouldn’t have taken any “convincing”. In fact, we were about to tell him to push the SPOT button ourselves, but didn’t get the chance. At that moment the boy appeared from up the trail and informed us that he had already pushed the button.

Additionally, some confusion may have occurred because we discussed the cost of a helicopter rescue. In the discussions, one person mentioned that they had read that someone had been billed $35,000 for a rescue. “Dont” added that he didn’t think Inyo charged for rescues. Anyway, the boy that owned the SPOT was a concerned about the expense and felt that the contractual agreement required that we first attempt to rescue ourselves; that the service was only to be used as a last resort. We all, including “don’t” and “RayH” group, had discussed various aspect of this and no one on the mountain had the answers.

While we of course wanted to avoid any unnecessary cost, we gladly choose to accept the consequences when we felt the boy life was endanger. After all, why go to the trouble of having a SPOT if you are never going to use it. He was with our group, he was our responsibility, and we love him. We did not want any harm to come to him and would do anything to save him. However, one should not minimize the impact money has on ones decision making. After all, $35,000 is a lot of money. You can buy a SPOT for $100. Many seem to be willing to push the button and bear whatever the cost, but don’t seem to be willing to fork out $100 to purchase a SPOT.

I’m just asking others to be realistic. If you buy a SPOT, you may be faced with some difficult choices.
• How much effort should be made before giving up?
• Will you be willing to use your SPOT to assist others?
• How much financial responsibility are you willing to accept for someone else’s rescue?

I now know the answers to those questions.
• I will purchase a SPOT and will be responsible for my own rescue.
• I will not unnecessary burden others with the decision to push the button, I will push it myself, and accept the associated financial responsibility.
• And, I have always helped other people at all times and will continue to live up to that code.

Two days before our trip, I didn’t even know what SPOT was. Now my feeling is that it would be irresponsible not to include one on every backpacking trip. I am certainly very glad that our group had one. I will most certainly purchase one before my next trip.

Our small rescue attempt only lasted one hour and twenty minute from start to finish. Some may say that the SPOT button should have been pushed a little earlier. But, how much earlier? Some will say 5 minutes earlier, some will insist that 10 minutes earlier was the correct time, while others might say, why attempt any rescue effort—just push the button. It’s a judgment call, which we will probably never all agree on. Hind sight is always 20-20. Our rescue effort wasn’t perfect and certainly had a few rough edges. The bottom line is that the button was pushed, the helicopter came, and the boy was successfully rescued. Next time the situation and the circumstances will be different. The answers to the questions (What should be done and when?) will be different as well. I have learned a lot from this experience and hope you will too. We were fortunate to have the SPOT and help of others on the trail. I sincerely hope that your next rescue will be successful also.

According to the information that I have read, there are three treatments for HAPE; 1) decent, 2) decent, and 3) decent! “The American Alpine Club – Climbers Guide: Mountain Sickness Prevention, Recognition, and Treatment”, in section on HAPE treatment on page 49 it reads “If detected early enough, a small loss of altitude makes a great improvement.”

When the helicopter first flew over, they did not come directly to the GPS location. Additionally they did not give any indication that they saw us on the ground. They continued to fly around. This appeared like they hadn’t seen us. So when the helicopter came back we made darn sure that they saw us. As for a helicopter landing location, we were in a very rocky area and we weren’t really sure where they would be able to land.

When the helicopter returned, it flew over us and then found a landing site at a small lake about 200 yards away. The Paramedic said that they had seen us on the first fly by. They came by to assess the situation and then had to drop off about 500 pounds of gear. This is interesting because the assessment was very brief and patient was in the shade under the trees.
This is my first rescue. I guess I’ll have to read up on the proper method to use for hailing a helicopter. What we did seemed to worked and they didn’t mention that we should have done anything different.

The helicopter was an INYO Forest Service Helicopter. They could not take the boy’s mother because of the helicopters weight limitations. The paramedic did not obtain an “Authorization and Consent to Treat a Minor”. In fact he was about to leave without obtaining any information. It is a good thing that we remembered at the last minute to give them the father’s phone number and a list of medication that he is allergic to. Better yet, I should have remembered to grab his “Authorization and Consent to Treat a Minor” with me. Because of the rush to leave camp, I inadvertently left it in my backpack. The paramedic did not provide any assistance in transportation the patient to the helicopter, nor did he help the patient get into the helicopter. The task was done by “dont” and the boy with the SPOT.

When the boy arrived at Lone Pine Hospital, they needed to call the boy’s father to obtain consent to treat. Again, good thing we provided the boy’s father’s phone number.

Authorities reported that they had gotten three separate 911 calls.
The boy was diagnosed with Pulmonary Edema with blood in the lungs. It didn’t seem like a mild case too me. He was released on August 20th and saw his personal physician on August 21th.
His personal doctor’s recommendation was that he should be careful on his next accent and provide sufficient time to acclimate. My recommendation is that he should be very careful on his next assent and have a quick exit strategy.
He is back in school and doing fine now.

Again, I am extremely grateful to all those that helped us on the trail.
I especially wish to thank the “RayH” group and “dont”.


Lessons learned, perhaps there are others too, but here is my stab at it:
1. Every responsible group/person should carry a SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker. The device is relatively inexpensive. The one we had worked fine and can be purchased at REI for $100. Others we met on the trail mentioned that they did not have a SPOT and explained that they were waiting to purchase the lighter better model. Remember when trouble strikes; a lighter better model that you plan to purchase in the future isn’t going to help you much.
2. If you decide to purchase a SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker, you should purchase it well in advance of your trip. Give yourself some time to learn its capabilities and to properly setup the messaging system. Ensure that everyone who will receive the “notification that a 911 massage has been sent” knows what they should do when they receive the message. Make sure that the SPOT contact person knows the trailhead and where the group expects to be on each day. Do not just tell them, write it down for them! Write it down for every one of them! Don’t expect that family members will share the document; give the document all of them.
3. HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) can occur at elevations of 11000 feet. Everyone planning a backpacking trip should be familiar with all high-altitude illness, including Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE), High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), Peripheral Edema, etc. Everyone in your group should know how to prevent altitude sickness, recognized the symptoms, and treat each of the illnesses.
4. The trek leader should know the health history of all the group members. Don’t just assume that the young and active are healthy. Be sure to get a doctor’s certification of health specifically for your strenuous backpacking trip and high altitudes that expected to be encountered. In addition, be sure to ask each member if they have ever suffered from an altitude illness. Ask if they have ever had headache and/or nausea at higher elevations, as they may not be aware that they had suffered from a high altitude illness. Find out if they have heart or lung problems. Especially, ask if they have ever had pneumonia.
5. Always obtain an “Authorization and Consent to Treat a Minor” and carry the form with you at all times. Better yet, make a copy and have the minor carry the form too. Also, paramedics should carry blank “Authorization and Consent to Treat a Minor” forms with them, especially in mountain rescues where the parent can’t accompany the minor.
6. Be aware that the person that you are trying to rescue may resist your attempt to help them.

Great report of your account of the event.

I don't understand why dont didn't just carry the kid out to Horseshoe Meadows on his back?

RB - Great report, excellent follow up to some of the things being discussed. In my opinion you did the very best with what you had and knew at the time. That's all anyone can ask.

I own a SPOT and I use the tracking feature to make my wife happy and try to impress my friends (doesn't work though . I don't trust it enough to save my life and I don't count on it. I am glad to have it along and if the time comes I'll push the button for me, for you for anyone. I'll sweat the bill - if there is one - later.

I hope I never have to push the button..................DUG

RB, thanks SO MUCH for taking the time to write such a comprehensive report! Many people will study and learn from your information.

I think it is somewhat curious that someone that bad off would become combative. Does he remember that part, or was he perhaps delirious?

Edit: removed the part about release date.

I made a typo.
He was released from the hospital on the 20th.
He saw his personal physician on the 21st.
Sorry,
RB

I think we all learned a lesson from this one.

Unless it comes from someone that was totally involved in the situation (i.e. there the whole time), the story comes out as speculation.

Just a thought...

This almost sounds like HACE not HAPE.

FYI, there is no charge to the subject in California for search and rescue activities. Yes, as I believe someone said above, the county will bill your county, and vice-versa when they do a SAR mission there, but it's basically just a government paper-pushing exercise that you as the victim have no involvement in.

RB, excellent narrative. Thanks for posting.

Certainly an appropriate helicopter evac. It might not be obvious to everyone, but this is complex. As you can guess, the first thing the helo must do is go UP, the last thing you want to do with HAPE. Won't be there long, but a person can crash in seconds. Oxygen helps, but don't know if FS has it aboard. Most important helo mission: get to the hospital.

While a convenience, a permission to treat sheet is not particularly critical. Every hospital has protocols to deal with this, and in the case of a child in dire straits, none is needed. It will be automatically be sought, but it won't be the doctor making that call. Your advice is not out of place, however.

People who have low oxygen levels are often combative. The sensation is that of suffocation, and any handling tends to increase the sensation.

For skilled first responders, one of the critical actions is to STEP BACK and observe what is going on, rather than jump in and do everything personally, unless it is something requiring professional skills. This really helps with the evaluation process, and avoids missing critical clues. It may seem like indifference, but it is not.

First, thank you RB for posting the details of the incident to the board. There are LOTS of lessons to be learned hear.

I added some emphasis to the quote above to highlight that this is EXACTLY why the search and rescue community is OPPOSED to the notion of charging for search and rescue operations. Once the financial component is factored into the equation, the decision to call for help may be delayed and the outcome may not be so happy in some future emergency.

See the following for more info:
Mountain Rescue Association (MRA)

Note: Inyo SAR is a MRA team

National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR)

As a taxpayer and a SAR team member, I am happy to see some very tiny portion of my tax $s go to providing rescues like this. I'll even allow for some unnecessary rescues as the price we pay for our particular social contract.

The above being said, personal responsibility is still something we need everyone to embrace. A SPOT is just another tool and is not a substitute for good judgement, the right equipment, training, realistic goals, and all those other things we embrace.

Good comments by others on this thread. I encourage people to look at this situation and look at how you might handle it if confronted with a similar situation in the future.

I'm glad this turned out OK.

Don't forget Hypoxia (unless I missed it)

I need a little help, here. The terminology -- more importantly, the symptoms -- of these advanced illnesses are new to me, and I am not comfortable just "googling" them, or worse, "Wiki-ing" them for the crucial information. I recently had my first experience dealing with the treatment of a severely AMS afflicted individual, and I felt woefully inadequate in both my knowledge and treatment of the individual (there were several symptoms appearing at once). If someone could recommend a comprehensive -- but readable -- source for this information, I would be appreciative.

Bee