Medical Rescue on Grouse
Yesterday evening we received a page for an injured skiier on Grouse Mountain.
We responded to Capilano Gate SAR Station and launched an HFRS operation in an attempt to quickly extract the subject before dark. Unfortunately the subject was in a heavily treed gully and HFRS was not possible. However, two members were inserted via HFRS and accessed him quickly.
Concurrently members were descending from the base of the Cut on Grouse and arrived at the subject not long after with a Cascade Strecher.
A conventional rope rescue operation was launched, and our Rope Rescue kit was brought down to the subject along with two 300 foot ropes. Coquitlam SAR and Lions Bay SAR were also brought in to help.
The subject was packaged and brought out to the base of the Eagle Chair using 3 to 1 pulley systems, counter balance and direct pulling. It was quite exhausting for all involved, but we managed to get the subject to the base of the chair by midnight.
The reason for the call was that the subject, a male in his 30's, went out of bounds at the base of the Cut and skiied down the old chairlift line. He veered off to the right into a gully, descended a few hundred feet, hit a tree and broke his leg. The subject stated he had consumed a number of alchoholic drinks and some mild sedatives either prior to or after the accident. This appeared to be a factor in this accident, as well as creating a situation where it was very difficult to understand the subject over the cell phone.
We were able to get a helicopter up to pin point his location, otherwise it would have been very difficult to locate him. His description of where he was put him in a drainage further to the East.
Special thanks to Grouse Resorts, Metro Vancouver, Coquitlam SAR, and Lions Bay SAR for providing fantastic operational support and man power.
We responded to Capilano Gate SAR Station and launched an HFRS operation in an attempt to quickly extract the subject before dark. Unfortunately the subject was in a heavily treed gully and HFRS was not possible. However, two members were inserted via HFRS and accessed him quickly.
Concurrently members were descending from the base of the Cut on Grouse and arrived at the subject not long after with a Cascade Strecher.
A conventional rope rescue operation was launched, and our Rope Rescue kit was brought down to the subject along with two 300 foot ropes. Coquitlam SAR and Lions Bay SAR were also brought in to help.
The subject was packaged and brought out to the base of the Eagle Chair using 3 to 1 pulley systems, counter balance and direct pulling. It was quite exhausting for all involved, but we managed to get the subject to the base of the chair by midnight.
The reason for the call was that the subject, a male in his 30's, went out of bounds at the base of the Cut and skiied down the old chairlift line. He veered off to the right into a gully, descended a few hundred feet, hit a tree and broke his leg. The subject stated he had consumed a number of alchoholic drinks and some mild sedatives either prior to or after the accident. This appeared to be a factor in this accident, as well as creating a situation where it was very difficult to understand the subject over the cell phone.
We were able to get a helicopter up to pin point his location, otherwise it would have been very difficult to locate him. His description of where he was put him in a drainage further to the East.
Special thanks to Grouse Resorts, Metro Vancouver, Coquitlam SAR, and Lions Bay SAR for providing fantastic operational support and man power.
Labels: Grouse Mountain, Helicopter Flight Rescue System, HFRS, Rescue, Task
posted by John Blown at
3:22 PM
3 Comments:
Out of bounds + alcohol + over counter drugs.... I can't believe this resulted in an injury
By
Karl, at 12:20 PM
Good story....patient confidentiality might be an issue however. If it was me that you described (whether the story is right or wrong), I would take issue with the public disclosure of these private details.
By
Anonymous, at 12:23 PM
If you drink and drive and cause an accident the police will release your name and the fact you were drunk to the media.
We have not released the subjects name, just described the factors of the accident. Hopefully people can learn from this, and realize that drinking and skiing do not mix.
I try not to leave out details of a rescue that contributed to the accident, since we do not want these accidents to happen again if possible.
Ie. if someone didn't have an ice axe and slipped - we would suggest - use an ice axe and practice how to use it.
In this case we would suggest - don't drink and then go ski out of bounds.
Its a learning process.
By
John Blown, at 5:56 PM
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