Redcloud Peak Trip Report 07/27/2012

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Redcloud Peak - 14,037 feet Sunshine Peak - 14,004 feet Handies Peak - 14,058 feet Uncompahgre Peak - 14,318 feet
Date Posted	07/27/2012
Date Climbed	06/20/2012
Author	johnt
Additional Members	San Juan Ron, orwigelement, Pika

Lake City 4
4 in 3 days, then - WHAT?! Redcloud, Sunshine, Handies, Uncompaghre 6/20-22/12 Phil came from the metro area to Buena Vista, and we drove the 3 hours to Lake City. We found a campsite just before the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch trailhead and settled in, excited about the next few days. Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch campsite "Phil"tering water Morning light woke me around 5 and we got on the trail to Redcloud pretty early. We passed some college kids (one had already lost their breakfast) and felt good about that. At 55 and 60 years old, we're moving well. The wind was fairly strong, but it was warm. Summiting Redcloud, it looked like a walk in the park over to Sunshine. It sure didn't look like a 500' drop to the saddle. Ah, we couldn't see the saddle from Redcloud - we had to round a corner and drop some more. On Sunshine we met "San Juan Ron" and "Pika" and had a really good conversation. I explained to Pika what "tossed their cookies" meant. She wasn't familiar with that American phrase. Coming down Sunshine to the saddle we had a bit of drama. I'm blind in one eye, and the wind combined with my tears blew my contact out of my good eye. I thought that it was still in my eye, but couldn't tell in the wind and couldn't mess with it for fear that it would pop out and be gone. I found a rock to crawl behind out of the wind, put a bandana on the ground to catch it, and finally got the contact replaced. Whew. I had horrors thinking about how I would make it down the mountain. Eric Weihenmeyer I'm not. Little did we know then that the drama wasn't done. (Cue spooky music) The next morning we headed up Handies on the Grizzly Gulch trail. Just over the bridge I saw moose sign. I didn't realize that moose were in that area. There's not a doubt, though, that is was moose. That was cool. We saw "orwigelement" coming down from his sunrise on the summit. The top came pretty quickly, and we headed down to the meadow to get out of the wind. We met a delightful grad student from CSU whose boyfriend was running in the San Juan Solstice 50. She was practically running up, and it was just her 2nd 14er! We had a great conversation covering everything from Bill Bryson to the new CSU stadium. Since I thought we were on Handies on the summer solstice, we named her "Summer." I realized later, though, that the solstice was actually the day before because this is a leap year. It's great to meet such great people on the peaks. We stopped in the meadow for lunch, and a couple of women were running down. We hadn't seen them earlier, so we asked, and they had come from Grouse Gulch! Pretty soon "Summer" ran past, and said she had heard one of the women say to the other, "You'll be running this section in the dark." She was obviously doing the race on Saturday. We packed up camp and went into Lake City and had a great pizza before going up the Nellie Creek road to do Uncompaghre on Friday. The road was doable, it just seemed long and slow. Maybe my feelings were a portend of coming events. (cue more ominous music). I almost immediately fell in love with the Uncom trail. A short forest walk, then a stroll along a beautiful stream. Within a half hour of the trailhead you see your goal from then on, and it's a strikingly beautiful peak. Uncom Today, however, the wind was howling, and as we approached the south ridge we considered turning around. We decided to continue until the terrain got tougher because it was just a gorgeous walk! The couloirs that we passed were screaming with the wind coming through. The closer we got to the crest of the ridge the more certain we were that we'd turn around. However, a man we had met at the trailhead (an Ironman competitor who was crosstraining) came down and said that the wind abated after turning the corner onto the west side. On his info we continued to the summit. The wind at the top was much less than lower down so we stayed on the top for quite a while. Uncom summit Looking over the cliff on the north end was pretty scary. On the way down at the switchbacks just below the crest a woman was sitting by herself,waiting for her husband to summit. She had stopped because of the wind. After hearing from us that it got better, she decided to go ahead and summit. We named her "Wendy." She became very important later. Nearly back at the trailhead we stopped for lunch along the creek where some very large volcanic boulders were about. They had huge gas pockets and were some of the most unique geologic features I've seen. volcanic rock If I could choose a place to die, it would be in my wife's arms. This would be choice #2. Just haul me up and let me go in peace. After completing four 14er's in three days, we were feeling pretty good. We hung around the trailhead just to make sure the couple of parties still up on the mountain made it down OK, and we talked with a man who was waiting. He ended up being the brother of "Wendy," and they were from Edmond, OK, where I graduated from UCO. Then disaster struck! Walking back to my truck I was slightly ahead of Phil when I heard him slip. I turned around just in time to see his feet way up in the air and him going down. He landed with a thud and a yell that went on and on. "Wendy's" brother and I tried to move him, but even the tiniest motion caused him to scream. He kept saying that it was the worst pain he had ever felt. Timing and many details are kind of unclear now as I was doing my best to help Phil, but after maybe ½ -1 hour Wendy and her husband arrived. We again tried to straighten Phil out to see if it was possible to transport him, but we couldn't do a thing without him screaming. It was obvious then that we needed SAR. Wendy (whom I learned was actually Stephanie) and crew headed down in their Jeep. Phil was smack dab in the middle of the road, but thankfully they were able to get around us. By this time Phil was really bothered by the sun beating down on him, so I had backed my truck up to him and rigged a sunshade using the rainfly from my tent. I tried to guess the sun movement and make sure he stayed shaded, and it worked until SAR transported him. The last party on the mountain arrived and did what they could, and left shortly. We were then alone, and the feeling of isolation was powerful for me. Here was my best friend in pain, in an awkward position that he couldn't move from, and not knowing what was wrong or what the future held both short term and long. I couldn't do anything but talk to him and give him a bit of water. It broke my heart every time he asked how long it would be before help arrived. It took a couple of hours before we heard an ATV coming up the road. The first to arrive were CDW officers, shortly followed by a Hinsdale County Sheriff ATV. They were communicating by radio, but of course couldn't do anything of a medical nature. Soon Buffy Witt, a paramedic, and her husband Gary, an ER doctor, arrived. Buffy took charge of the scene in a very professional yet empathic manner. I breathed a sigh of relief. A 4x4 ambulance and helicopter were both dispatched, and both had an ETA of 30-35 minutes. She got an IV going, and I sat on the tailgate holding the bag as far out as I could to keep it out of her way. The rainfly was still shading both Phil and Buffy. She had no painkillers so she couldn't yet move Phil. With quite a bit of pain and screaming they got Phil's shoe off and cut his shorts up to his waist so they could see what was going on. She quickly determined that he was dealing with a hip issue, most likely either a dislocation or a fracture. The helicopter arrived, and after circling a bit determined that because of the altitude and heat they couldn't land. They went down the valley to find a lower landing site. The ambulance arrived with drugs and they got some Fentanyl into Phil. I tore down the shade and moved my truck so the ambulance could get in. By the time I got back they had Phil on his back on the board, and said that the move had gone pretty well. We loaded him into the ambulance and headed down the 4 mile long 4x4 Nellie Creek Road. I followed the ambulance and every rock it went over made me cringe. Many switchbacks the ambulance had to do a 3-point turn, and it scraped the rear bumperon the creek crossings. I was thanking our luck that we didn't meet anyone coming up, but realized that the Sheriff's dept. had closed the road until we got down. We finally got down to Henson Creek Road, and much to my surprise turned right instead of left to Lake City. We went maybe 6 miles up the valley to a huge meadow where the helicopter was waiting. Finally, a flight out They got Phil strapped in and took off for Montrose Memorial Hospital, a Level 3 Trauma Center. I hugged Buffy and broke down a little before heading down to Lake City and cell service. I called my wife and we agreed for her to meet me in Gunnison. We got to Montrose about 3 hours after the chopper. His hip was broken into 5 pieces and his right leg was 3" shorter. Surgery was Saturday morning, and the surgeon put a long rod in his femur and bolted the pieces to the rod. The pieces were so out of place he had to make more incisions to reach them, and then couldn't get them to line up completely. Phil finally got home to Aurora a few days later, and settled into the routine of a slow recovery. As the surgeon said, "You can't speed up the biology of bone growth." Phil is handling this very well and is looking forward to our next hike together. We might not get to snowshoe this year, but next summer look for us. We'll be out there. (cue inspirational music) Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Lake City 4

4 in 3 days, then - WHAT?!

Redcloud, Sunshine, Handies, Uncompaghre

6/20-22/12

Phil came from the metro area to Buena Vista, and we drove the 3 hours to Lake City. We found a campsite just before the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch trailhead and settled in, excited about the next few days.

Morning light woke me around 5 and we got on the trail to Redcloud pretty early. We passed some college kids (one had already lost their breakfast) and felt good about that. At 55 and 60 years old, we're moving well. The wind was fairly strong, but it was warm. Summiting Redcloud, it looked like a walk in the park over to Sunshine. It sure didn't look like a 500' drop to the saddle. Ah, we couldn't see the saddle from Redcloud - we had to round a corner and drop some more. On Sunshine we met "San Juan Ron" and "Pika" and had a really good conversation. I explained to Pika what "tossed their cookies" meant. She wasn't familiar with that American phrase. Coming down Sunshine to the saddle we had a bit of drama. I'm blind in one eye, and the wind combined with my tears blew my contact out of my good eye. I thought that it was still in my eye, but couldn't tell in the wind and couldn't mess with it for fear that it would pop out and be gone. I found a rock to crawl behind out of the wind, put a bandana on the ground to catch it, and finally got the contact replaced. Whew. I had horrors thinking about how I would make it down the mountain. Eric Weihenmeyer I'm not. Little did we know then that the drama wasn't done. (Cue spooky music)

The next morning we headed up Handies on the Grizzly Gulch trail. Just over the bridge I saw moose sign. I didn't realize that moose were in that area. There's not a doubt, though, that is was moose. That was cool. We saw "orwigelement" coming down from his sunrise on the summit. The top came pretty quickly, and we headed down to the meadow to get out of the wind. We met a delightful grad student from CSU whose boyfriend was running in the San Juan Solstice 50. She was practically running up, and it was just her 2nd 14er! We had a great conversation covering everything from Bill Bryson to the new CSU stadium. Since I thought we were on Handies on the summer solstice, we named her "Summer." I realized later, though, that the solstice was actually the day before because this is a leap year. It's great to meet such great people on the peaks. We stopped in the meadow for lunch, and a couple of women were running down. We hadn't seen them earlier, so we asked, and they had come from Grouse Gulch! Pretty soon "Summer" ran past, and said she had heard one of the women say to the other, "You'll be running this section in the dark." She was obviously doing the race on Saturday.

We packed up camp and went into Lake City and had a great pizza before going up the Nellie Creek road to do Uncompaghre on Friday. The road was doable, it just seemed long and slow. Maybe my feelings were a portend of coming events. (cue more ominous music).
I almost immediately fell in love with the Uncom trail. A short forest walk, then a stroll along a beautiful stream. Within a half hour of the trailhead you see your goal from then on, and it's a strikingly beautiful peak.

Today, however, the wind was howling, and as we approached the south ridge we considered turning around. We decided to continue until the terrain got tougher because it was just a gorgeous walk! The couloirs that we passed were screaming with the wind coming through. The closer we got to the crest of the ridge the more certain we were that we'd turn around. However, a man we had met at the trailhead (an Ironman competitor who was crosstraining) came down and said that the wind abated after turning the corner onto the west side. On his info we continued to the summit. The wind at the top was much less than lower down so we stayed on the top for quite a while.

Looking over the cliff on the north end was pretty scary. On the way down at the switchbacks just below the crest a woman was sitting by herself,waiting for her husband to summit. She had stopped because of the wind. After hearing from us that it got better, she decided to go ahead and summit. We named her "Wendy." She became very important later.

Nearly back at the trailhead we stopped for lunch along the creek where some very large volcanic boulders were about. They had huge gas pockets and were some of the most unique geologic features I've seen.

If I could choose a place to die, it would be in my wife's arms. This would be choice #2. Just haul me up and let me go in peace.

After completing four 14er's in three days, we were feeling pretty good. We hung around the trailhead just to make sure the couple of parties still up on the mountain made it down OK, and we talked with a man who was waiting. He ended up being the brother of "Wendy," and they were from Edmond, OK, where I graduated from UCO.

Then disaster struck! Walking back to my truck I was slightly ahead of Phil when I heard him slip. I turned around just in time to see his feet way up in the air and him going down. He landed with a thud and a yell that went on and on. "Wendy's" brother and I tried to move him, but even the tiniest motion caused him to scream. He kept saying that it was the worst pain he had ever felt. Timing and many details are kind of unclear now as I was doing my best to help Phil, but after maybe ½ -1 hour Wendy and her husband arrived. We again tried to straighten Phil out to see if it was possible to transport him, but we couldn't do a thing without him screaming. It was obvious then that we needed SAR. Wendy (whom I learned was actually Stephanie) and crew headed down in their Jeep. Phil was smack dab in the middle of the road, but thankfully they were able to get around us. By this time Phil was really bothered by the sun beating down on him, so I had backed my truck up to him and rigged a sunshade using the rainfly from my tent. I tried to guess the sun movement and make sure he stayed shaded, and it worked until SAR transported him. The last party on the mountain arrived and did what they could, and left shortly. We were then alone, and the feeling of isolation was powerful for me. Here was my best friend in pain, in an awkward position that he couldn't move from, and not knowing what was wrong or what the future held both short term and long. I couldn't do anything but talk to him and give him a bit of water. It broke my heart every time he asked how long it would be before help arrived. It took a couple of hours before we heard an ATV coming up the road. The first to arrive were CDW officers, shortly followed by a Hinsdale County Sheriff ATV. They were communicating by radio, but of course couldn't do anything of a medical nature. Soon Buffy Witt, a paramedic, and her husband Gary, an ER doctor, arrived. Buffy took charge of the scene in a very professional yet empathic manner. I breathed a sigh of relief. A 4x4 ambulance and helicopter were both dispatched, and both had an ETA of 30-35 minutes. She got an IV going, and I sat on the tailgate holding the bag as far out as I could to keep it out of her way. The rainfly was still shading both Phil and Buffy. She had no painkillers so she couldn't yet move Phil. With quite a bit of pain and screaming they got Phil's shoe off and cut his shorts up to his waist so they could see what was going on. She quickly determined that he was dealing with a hip issue, most likely either a dislocation or a fracture. The helicopter arrived, and after circling a bit determined that because of the altitude and heat they couldn't land. They went down the valley to find a lower landing site. The ambulance arrived with drugs and they got some Fentanyl into Phil. I tore down the shade and moved my truck so the ambulance could get in. By the time I got back they had Phil on his back on the board, and said that the move had gone pretty well. We loaded him into the ambulance and headed down the 4 mile long 4x4 Nellie Creek Road. I followed the ambulance and every rock it went over made me cringe. Many switchbacks the ambulance had to do a 3-point turn, and it scraped the rear bumperon the creek crossings. I was thanking our luck that we didn't meet anyone coming up, but realized that the Sheriff's dept. had closed the road until we got down. We finally got down to Henson Creek Road, and much to my surprise turned right instead of left to Lake City. We went maybe 6 miles up the valley to a huge meadow where the helicopter was waiting.

They got Phil strapped in and took off for Montrose Memorial Hospital, a Level 3 Trauma Center. I hugged Buffy and broke down a little before heading down to Lake City and cell service. I called my wife and we agreed for her to meet me in Gunnison. We got to Montrose about 3 hours after the chopper. His hip was broken into 5 pieces and his right leg was 3" shorter. Surgery was Saturday morning, and the surgeon put a long rod in his femur and bolted the pieces to the rod. The pieces were so out of place he had to make more incisions to reach them, and then couldn't get them to line up completely.

Phil finally got home to Aurora a few days later, and settled into the routine of a slow recovery. As the surgeon said, "You can't speed up the biology of bone growth."

Phil is handling this very well and is looking forward to our next hike together. We might not get to snowshoe this year, but next summer look for us. We'll be out there. (cue inspirational music)

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

screeman57	um... 7/28/2012 2:29am what?!?!?! no wetterhorn?!?!?!?!?!?! jk, nice job...
San Juan Ron	Wow! 7/28/2012 2:59am Nice to meet you guys! I ”heard” about the incident in town but didn't realize it was Phil. Hope he is doing well! I saw the ”space junk” from Redcloud (do a search) and Phil saw stars! :) SJ Ron

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