First SAR experience (not to crazy)

[Tornadohunter]

I was on a backpacking trip on the crow pass trail in anchorage with a relatively large group. One of the individuals suffered a sprain knee about 7 miles before the end of the trailhead. 1 mile before the final campsite. The guides were able to get them to our final campsite and after a long debate and possible air rescue, they settled on a team of 5 to carry them out. As I was one of the faster ones in the group, me and another guy shuttled our backpacks to a stopping point about 2.5 miles from our final campsite. We then ran back and grabbed another backpack and shuttled it to that point. As we were doing that 3 others took turns piggybacking the injured party. Once we got them to the stopping point, the entire group had a reflection session and then we started moving again. At this point I used my garmin Inreach to contact the guides wife to get in touch with park services . Me and the same guy ran our packs to the improved trail where an atv could meet us. We then ran back and took turns carrying the injured until an atv could meet us. Overall, it took us 6 hours to evac an injured party 4 miles. Point being, garmin inreaches/sat communicators are invaluable in the backcountry

[greenonion]

I was on a backpacking trip on the crow pass trail in anchorage with a relatively large group. One of the individuals suffered a sprain knee about 7 miles before the end of the trailhead. 1 mile before the final campsite. The guides were able to get them to our final campsite and after a long debate and possible air rescue, they settled on a team of 5 to carry them out. As I was one of the faster ones in the group, me and another guy shuttled our backpacks to a stopping point about 2.5 miles from our final campsite. We then ran back and grabbed another backpack and shuttled it to that point. As we were doing that 3 others took turns piggybacking the injured party. Once we got them to the stopping point, the entire group had a reflection session and then we started moving again. At this point I used my garmin Inreach to contact the guides wife to get in touch with park services . Me and the same guy ran our packs to the improved trail where an atv could meet us. We then ran back and took turns carrying the injured until an atv could meet us. Overall, it took us 6 hours to evac an injured party 4 miles. Point being, garmin inreaches/sat communicators are invaluable in the backcountry

Excellent input. Been planning on changing my current plan and device. Great feedback!

[Count40]

Please, edit to improve that original post, because it is very confusing ("end of trailhead","me, guys" but "them", etc.).

Please, put it in context of SAR situations which are mostly much tougher than that, and mostly not with such large groups (easily self-sustainable) on easy to moderate hikes, with fairly manageable injuries. Many other factors, not curable by all-curing Garmin, and without any time for debating.

[HikesInGeologicTime]

Please, edit to improve that original post, because it is very confusing ("end of trailhead","me, guys" but "them", etc.).

Please, put it in context of SAR situations which are mostly much tougher than that, and mostly not with such large groups (easily self-sustainable) on easy to moderate hikes, with fairly manageable injuries. Many other factors, not curable by all-curing Garmin, and without any time for debating.

PlEaSe, just ask questions to clarify anything you didn't understand (or consider taking a reading comprehension class, because the story as told made sense to me). Not everyone on the forum is a professional writer nor has any desire to be (and with reason). Save the condescending attitude for your apparent day job as an English professor or editor at one of the major publishing houses.

[MaryinColorado]

I was on a backpacking trip on the crow pass trail in anchorage with a relatively large group. One of the individuals suffered a sprain knee about 7 miles before the end of the trailhead. 1 mile before the final campsite. The guides were able to get them to our final campsite and after a long debate and possible air rescue, they settled on a team of 5 to carry them out. As I was one of the faster ones in the group, me and another guy shuttled our backpacks to a stopping point about 2.5 miles from our final campsite. We then ran back and grabbed another backpack and shuttled it to that point. As we were doing that 3 others took turns piggybacking the injured party. Once we got them to the stopping point, the entire group had a reflection session and then we started moving again. At this point I used my garmin Inreach to contact the guides wife to get in touch with park services . Me and the same guy ran our packs to the improved trail where an atv could meet us. We then ran back and took turns carrying the injured until an atv could meet us. Overall, it took us 6 hours to evac an injured party 4 miles. Point being, garmin inreaches/sat communicators are invaluable in the backcountry

Thank you for sharing! Was the injured individual able to walk a little bit, or was this a carry-out scenario? Just curious.

And I like your mention of the reflection session. Sounds like that was a really healthy pause during a very stressful situation.

Besides the mention of Garmin (which I 100% agree!!), any other tips/lessons from this experience that you think are helpful to think about?

I did Wilderness First Aid a couple years ago, and that was really eye-opening specific to injuries deeper in the backcountry, like in this case. So I sometimes pause to reflect and learn from what went well (or not) with other people's experiences.

Thanks, again, for the share, and I hope everybody has recovered ok from the experience.

[Tornadohunter]

I was on a backpacking trip on the crow pass trail in anchorage with a relatively large group. One of the individuals suffered a sprain knee about 7 miles before the end of the trailhead. 1 mile before the final campsite. The guides were able to get them to our final campsite and after a long debate and possible air rescue, they settled on a team of 5 to carry them out. As I was one of the faster ones in the group, me and another guy shuttled our backpacks to a stopping point about 2.5 miles from our final campsite. We then ran back and grabbed another backpack and shuttled it to that point. As we were doing that 3 others took turns piggybacking the injured party. Once we got them to the stopping point, the entire group had a reflection session and then we started moving again. At this point I used my garmin Inreach to contact the guides wife to get in touch with park services . Me and the same guy ran our packs to the improved trail where an atv could meet us. We then ran back and took turns carrying the injured until an atv could meet us. Overall, it took us 6 hours to evac an injured party 4 miles. Point being, garmin inreaches/sat communicators are invaluable in the backcountry

Thank you for sharing! Was the injured individual able to walk a little bit, or was this a carry-out scenario? Just curious.

And I like your mention of the reflection session. Sounds like that was a really healthy pause during a very stressful situation.

Besides the mention of Garmin (which I 100% agree!!), any other tips/lessons from this experience that you think are helpful to think about?

I did Wilderness First Aid a couple years ago, and that was really eye-opening specific to injuries deeper in the backcountry, like in this case. So I sometimes pause to reflect and learn from what went well (or not) with other people's experiences.

Thanks, again, for the share, and I hope everybody has recovered ok from the experience.

Really, i think the biggest take aways are these. 1) In the back country, have sat communication. Even in a larger group, it proved invaluable and saved us from unnecessary work. Park services was able to get injured party on ATV for the last two miles. Ranger, Guide(happened to be a doctor), and injured party left on ATV. Me and the two others hiked ourselves out. It would have been a lot more tiring if we had to hike the injured party out the last 2 miles. Me and the other guy ended up doing about 15 miles, most of which was packs on or carrying injured party. We were all exhausted. 2) Knowing basics of back country medicine is critical. Our guides were super experienced and the one made a splint using a foam sleeping pad, lashing straps, and duct tape. This allowed injured party to walk some of the way. 3) Duct tape is a vital tool to have in the back country. All said and done, i felt like posting this because the rangers were amazed with our efforts and the ER was impressed by the backcountry splint. I guess that leads me to the most important point...being knowledgable or with people who know how to deal with backcountry injuries makes things much easier to deal with if something does go wrong. When i get the time, im probably going to try to get some wilderness first aid/emt training. Honestly, if i lived in colorado, i would probably join a SAR team. The backcountry is where we belong and s**t can and will go wrong from time to time. And being able to help was a good feeling. While we didnt have things like exposure to deal with, it gave me insight on how SAR works and have even more respect for those individuals who face much more challenging rescues.