Overnight Multi-Pitch: Stranded on a Cliff with a Broken Leg
Mt. Emerson, Inyo County, California

At around 2 p.m. on May 27, Inyo County Search and Rescue coordinators were notified that an emergency satellite beacon had been activated on Mt. Emerson in the High Sierra. One member of a party of three climbers had been struck by rockfall at a belay station, breaking her leg and foot in several places. The climbers were about 1,500 feet up the southeast face (III 5.4), at an elevation of about 12,000 feet. The SAR team was activated, and coordinators requested a helicopter from California Highway Patrol.

The SAR team noted that a cold wind system was forecasted to arrive and persist through the weekend, possibly affecting a helicopter’s ability to hoist the patient. The expected weather also meant a potentially life-threatening situation if the party had to spend the night out on the mountain. Plan A would be to attempt a helicopter hoist, but the more likely Plan B would mean assisting the party by climbing and descending the route on Mt. Emerson. Plan B would mean an all-nighter.

Shortly before 6 p.m., an attempted helicopter hoist failed due to gusty winds. Over the next few hours, six SAR members and their equipment were dropped off at 10,500 feet. Team members started climbing the southeast face right as darkness fell, with the first member arriving at the patient by around 9:45 p.m. The patient was assessed and packaged in a vacuum splint and rescue litter. By midnight, it was time to begin the long process of descending the route.

During a previous rescue on the same route on Mt. Emerson, in 2019, an Inyo SAR member had been struck and significantly injured by rockfall. With this in mind, the descent was executed in careful stages to minimize the number of people exposed to rockfall and to mitigate the perils of working in the dark, cold, and windy conditions. One SAR member would rappel a 300-foot rope and establish an anchor in a safe spot. The uninjured subjects would rappel to that spot. Next, the litter with the injured person would be lowered on two ropes, along with three litter attendants, while each rope was controlled by a SAR member. Each of these cycles took well over an hour, and rockfall was a constant hazard.

The patient reached the ground around 9 a.m. after five 300-foot lowers. From the base of the route, about 20 SAR members, who had hiked through the night to reach the climb, carried the patient through a large talus field and wheeled the litter out to the trailhead and a waiting ambulance. She reached the hospital about 24 hours after the accident.

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Listen to the Podcast Episode

When rockfall takes its toll, things get serious. Late in the day on an alpine climb in the Sierra, a microwave sized block fell and broke the leg of a climber as she stood at a belay 1,500 ft up Mt Emerson. As Inyo County Search and Rescue launched into the mission, they quickly realized that helicopter evacuation would not be possible given the weather. With freezing temperatures setting in and darkness falling, the ground team sprung into action—ultimately climbing hundreds of feet to the patient, and rigging hundreds of feet of a static lowering system to ultimately get her to a hospital 24 hours later, dodging inclement weather and rockfall hazards along the way. In this episode, we sat down with Todd Vogel, one of the team leads for the mission, to learn about the nitty gritty details of the rescue, what happens when the weather is too bad for helicopters, and how SAR teams deal with the emotional roller-coaster of their work.

The following Search & Rescue team has been selected for the 2023 Rocky Talkie Search & Rescue Award. The selected teams were selected to highlight the unbelievable skill, dedication, and bravery of volunteer SAR members, and remind us of the critical role they play in keeping us safe in the backcountry.

Join us in recognizing and celebrating volunteer SAR by watching their stories and voting for the rescue that most inspired you.

By voting, you’ll be automatically entered to win free Rocky Talkies and American Alpine Club memberships. Voting ends August 11th.