Mt. Wilson rescue

[kevintheclimber]

Spotted a helicopter hovering around mt wilson while on way up on Wilson Peak. Wondered what happened. glad hes ok

[LURE]

We were on the traverse headed towards Mt. Wilson, saw the heli circling Mt. Wilson and going up and down the Kilpacker approach. We passed a party going the other way at the Organ Pipes who said they ran into the party who called in SAR - they passed a guy stuck injured in the Kilpacker basin and called SAR when they got service apparently. What we were told is he fell on the traverse Sunday late afternoon and somehow managed to crawl down into Kilpacker and spent the night down there and was found by the party heading up the south approach to Mt. Wilson. I think the article is incorrect that he spent the night on the mountain. We had eyes on him and we stopped with the party we passed and they called in again to give SAR a better spot on his location - within the next hour the helicopter came back and circled a while longer.

This is what I know based on what I heard from people on the mountain that day, probably not entirely accurate.

It really sucks, the feeling you get when you're on the traverse and you see helicopters circling the peak you're headed towards. Really makes things feel eerie. I'm assuming they got a ground party in and got him out just fine but I don't know.

Edit: not the Organ Pipes, we were more on the Wilson side of the Gendarmes at the time, it was a long day, everything's all jumbled in my brain.

[Breckskier]

We were in the basin this weekend as well. My buddy spoke to a guy on Sunday morning who was going for the West Ridge route on El Diente that's in Roach's book but not on here. Wonder if that was the guy cause we climbed the NW Buttress and did the traverse and never saw anyone coming behind us. We didn't get back to the Basin until 4:30. We hiked Wilson Peak on Monday morning and didn't see anyone stranded in the basin either.

We also heard and saw the heli heading for Wilson Peak on our hike out through Woods Lake on Monday. I didn't think there would be anyway to land in Navajo Basin with the incredible winds blowing all weekend. The upper portion of the basin had 40+ sustained with 80+ gusts. I've never seen wind so consistently fierce for 48 hours in my life.

Glad he is okay.

[LURE]

The winds were terrible! I've never been in Navajo Basin before and was gonna start asking if thats normal in there. On your approaches in there over the weekend the winds practically carried you up, and basically blew you backwards on your way back to camp. Yeesh.

[coryhibbard]

Hi all,

My boyfriend and I placed the SAR call on the summit of Mt. Wilson on Monday.

We were heading up the Kilpacker Basin on our way up towards Mt. Wilson when we encountered a man coming back down from summiting Mt. Wilson earlier that morning. He informed us that up ahead in the basin there was a solo injured hiker, slowly trying to make his way down. He told us the injured hiker had fallen the day before on the traverse and hurt his leg badly, preventing him from being able to make significant progress down the difficult scree. The injured hiker had spent the night somewhere high up in the basin.

The man told us he had given the injured hiker water and some material to tie on his leg for support and that the injured hiker acknowledged his need for a rescue. After we talked for a bit we agreed that we each would try to call SAR once we had service (our party would try once we reached the summit, and the man would try once he reached the trailhead and could drive to service).

We continued up the basin towards Mt. Wilson and found the injured hiker. He was in good spirits (considering what I imagine to be a frightening night spent on the mountain) and said it was a very cold and windy night with no sleep. Thankfully, he had packed ample layers. We sat with him for a while and gave him a handful of bars to last him until rescue. He said a call to SAR would be much appreciated. We told him both our party and the man from earlier that morning would try to place a call as soon as we were able.

My boyfriend and I continued up to the summit of Mt. Wilson with purpose, and were able to successfully call 911 once on the summit. We stayed on the summit for nearly an hour as we communicated via text and calls back and forth with officials. We sent photos of the man's location (one of which ended up on the 9News website) and felt confident that help was on the way. We then descended down the north slope of Mt. Wilson and saw the helicopter come when we were mid-way down the slope.

That is the extent of what I know and I hope this helps to answer the curiosity. Overall, I am thankful that his injury was not something worse and that he had survived the night.

Safe adventures,

[Breckskier]

Thanks for the details on that story and nice work getting in touch with SAR.

I would not have wanted to spend the night up there in those winds, tough SOB right there.

And I was going to ask if those winds were normal for that area as well. I've never seen anything like it. Sounded like a jet turbine all night and we were convinced that trees were going to come down on our tent. Just walking forward into the wind on that last scree section of trail was extremely challenging. Crazy.

[quaternion]

In re the tangent about winds: they were just as crazy in Ruby Basin (by Pigeon/Turret) Saturday and Sunday nights. Very glad we camped in the trees!

In re the rescue: glad the climber survived his fall, and his night out. It's an interesting question to consider (but not suggesting we blow up this thread with recriminations and debate): at what point do you give up your summit bid to assist an injured climber? Probably worth thinking about before you find yourself having to decide in real time.

[bigredmachine]

And I was going to ask if those winds were normal for that area as well. I've never seen anything like it.

I didn't encounter any wind in the Wilsons 4 weeks ago. Snowmass was quite windy on Monday however (just glad it was sunny).

[LURE]

In re the tangent about winds: they were just as crazy in Ruby Basin (by Pigeon/Turret) Saturday and Sunday nights. Very glad we camped in the trees!

In re the rescue: glad the climber survived his fall, and his night out. It's an interesting question to consider (but not suggesting we blow up this thread with recriminations and debate): at what point do you give up your summit bid to assist an injured climber? Probably worth thinking about before you find yourself having to decide in real time.

That is a good question. Because while we were sitting up there in the traverse and could see this guy sitting down in the basin from where we were perched, I started thinking. I was scanning where we were and noticing that we could probably make our way down from the ridge to him. I briefly thought about asking my climbing partners if we should change plans and try to make our way down to be with this guy until help could arrive.

It never made it beyond a quick thought and we bid farewell to our passing party and we headed on to Mt. Wilson.

While intentions to go down and help him seem good, getting off the ridge would be too risky, especially when we were aware that this guy already had professional help on the way, plus he made it through the the night. I guess it was obvious his injuries were non life threatening. Nonetheless I pondered that very issue for a few moments while we were up there.

[Scott P]

It's an interesting question to consider (but not suggesting we blow up this thread with recriminations and debate): at what point do you give up your summit bid to assist an injured climber?

Whenever he or she needs help. The summit is less important. In this case, it sounds like the passers-by did the right thing. They helped the climber all that they could and climbed to the top in order to get cell service. They did go to the summit, but they were able to call SAR from there, which assisted the injured climber.

And I was going to ask if those winds were normal for that area as well. I've never seen anything like it.

It wasn't that windy both times I climbed Mt. Wilson, but it sounds like it was a very windy weekend over much of Colorado. We were in the Flat Tops and it was really windy there as well. The wind was never extreme, but it was consistent and never calmed down Sunday and Monday. Other friends said that it was windy in the Elks. Another friend who was on Vestal and Arrow said that it wasn't that windy there, so apparently the wind was hit and miss in the San Juans.

[youngk2844]

I hope he recovers quickly. The accident must have occurred quite late on Sunday. I was on Mt Wilson around 2 - 3 pm with Breckskier and his partner and was totally unaware of the injured hiker.

[tuxfan]

Very sorry to hear that someone was hurt! I hope that he recovers quickly! My wife and I did the traverse Sunday, but we were off and back at our camp by around 3pm. We completely missed any commotion.