Ride to remember....one lucky dude

FROM MTBR 29er Forum. Author Gr@sshopper http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=390210

HE PLAN: We were going to ride up monrovia canyon to whitehorse saddle, and then over to Newcombe saddle and down to chantry flats. maybe 25 miles, mostly fireroads. It was a good ride until we got to newcombe saddle.

There was a sign there that said 3.5 miles to Mt Wilson. We decide that we need to do that, rather than just go down.

The trail from newcombe to mt wilson is called rim trail. It is not mtn bike accessible. At first, we were riding for 70% of the time, then it was 50%, but by the time we got to mile 2 we were pretty much walking the bikes.

At about 2.75 miles, we come to a snow field/chute. it's not the first snow we'd seen, but it is the largest, and it was forming kind of a bowl. We manage to cross it with some problem, but it was definitely doable. Another quarter mile, and there is an impassable snow field. And now we have a problem. Getting back to Newcombe saddle would put us going down in the dark. We can't really go forward - too icy, and slipping means dying.

We decide that we will turn around, stash the bikes on the other side of the first snowfield, and walk out (walking better than riding in the dark) When we get to the first snowfield, there is someone crossing it. We wait for 10 minutes for him to get through. The sun dips low enough to cast shadows across the snow. It immediately ices. Buddy has strong shoes and 40 lbs on me. He can kick holes in ice. I try to follow. I get 1/2 way across, look at him, and say oh f***, i'm stuck. And then the toehole he had kicked popped, cracked and fell away.

And I slid.

I figure that I'm going to die. There's maybe 750 feet of ice, and it looks like a major drop off at the end of the slide. Yes, I am in fact going to die.

Then I notice a little tree near the edge of the sheet. it has a large log caught on it. It's actually not that far off the grade of the ice. I might be able to hit it. I fling the bike to my right, and put all my weight on it, trying to self arrest and steer that way.

I come into the log like I was sliding into home - left leg up to spike the catchers eyes out.
The log starts to roll, but I slow enough to grab the tree, and hook round it off the ice. Safe in the snow.

Terry comes down around the outside of the chute. He grabs me by the backpack, and hauls me to the uphill side of the tree. He leaves me his water, and the warmest gear we have. A long sleeve tshirt.


An hour and a half later, I hear helicopters. I've never been so cold. I can feel the bones in my ankle sliding past each other. It doesn't hurt. The blood on my thigh is frozen. I try to wave down the helicopter. But he can't see me. The tree that caught me is keeping me hidden. 3 more passes, and the helicopter leaves. And again I fear for my life. It's getting dark. And what I though was cold before seems balmy.

Another hour and a half. I hate having a watch on. I decide I need to try and climb out. The ankle is numb enough from cold, I shouldn't feel anything. Kick my right foot into the snow, shovel my hands in deep, and rotate onto my left foot. And there is pain. I start cursing. Loud as I can. And somebody yells back.


There's a man in red. He's carrying a lumberyard worth of tools, a first aide kit that bulges out of his backpack - and a climbing rope.

He anchors at the top of the trail, and sort of rappels down the 200 feet to me. I grab the rope, and start to pull myself up. He blocks the downward slide both times I try my left leg. I'm on the trail. And there is another man. In a jumpsuit. With a pistol and a blood pressure cuff. I figure I'm going into shock, and let the deputy cover me up with a blanket. He wants to helicopter me out. The helicopter says it's too dark to stay, and he hasn't got any gas. The man is worried. He says they can't carry me out. It's too treacherous. Now I'm worried.

My riding partner shows up with another sherif's deputy. This deputy seems more important. He tells the helicopter we goddamn have to go out by air. And so they drop a horse collar and strap me in. I'm holding this foam wrap as tight as I can. And them I'm in the helicopter. And they are sticking needles in my arm. And them I'm in the hospital.

 

Wow!

....and I thought we had epics! Good story Dean!

BTW, never said 29er riders are smarter....

Here's the followup post from Gr@sshopper:

So it's a week later. I've got a hot pink cast on, won't be riding a bike for 10 weeks. My buddies went up and got my Zion, and say it's ok.

I will say that I'm packing my camelback differently from now on. Emergency blanket with an orange side, lighter, and micro flashlight, no matter what. I'm looking a for a small GPS. The rescue pilot said that I was barely found. they had to land at an airfield and gas up - they were in their emergency tanks and wouldn't have been able to take off from the hospital. With coordinates, they would have gotten me much sooner.

 

wew thats a story

 

I am so jonesing to get up into the San Gab high country. It is hard to believe that they went up there with lack of winter clothing and they must not have read about the women hiker dyeing a few weeks back slipping on a ice field. I was talking today about not using my winter clothes this year and it has been because of the ice conditions in the Gabs. The elevation grasshopper was at is not that different than SART.

Dean

 

Ok, so my fall off of one of the stunts on Chiquito wasn't so bad after all... I am glad he going to be ok...

 

I carry an emergency thermal blanket in my CamelBak. Got it from REI. You'd be surprised how small that thing is all packed up.

A 52"x84" blanket is only 3"x5"x1/4" packed up. Pretty cool.

 

I always carry one too. I gave away one last year to a guy that did a OTB and went into shock in El Moro. I was way impressed the paramedic ran from the lower lot, more than half way up Slow and Easy with a huge bag of emergency equipment and oxygen tank. He beat the rest of his crew in the fire truck by 10 minutes.

They also make good rain ponchos and rain shelters. http://www.rei.com/product/407104
Dean

 

Man! I'm glad you survived. Now you should work shopping your story around to the TV studios to pay for your air-ambulance lift and hospital bills. Get well soon!

 

Not me. was a post from MTBR......I got more sense that to ride in the ice.
Dean

 

And people wonder why I carry as much stuff as I do. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Besides, the extra weight just makes me a stronger rider, and if it allows me to help someone else, then it is worth it.

 

I can personally attest to the treacherous "Rim Trail", I can guess which part this dude fell at, everyone in our group walked it. If you have done Yeager mesa that is the only one comparable, bad when in good shape but terrible buried under snow. Too long of a bike ride to install a retaining wall for me, but if you anyone must check it out bring your rappelling gear.

Glad to hear he survived to tell the tale, without the wingman could have been just thawing now. I wont go into the wild solo, Boats nearly had to haul me out last time......

 

How long ago did you ride The Rim Trail. I have talked to a few that have rode it in the last year and said it is bad put passable.

Dean

 

Good story... makes me feel validated in our decision not to ride Upper Merrill on our bikepacking trip... and in the fact that I carry a GPS, flashlight and first aid kit on every ride. That 20 pound backpack has come in handy more than once.

They may be our "local" mountains, but they're not baby mountains by any means. People underestimate them because they're not the Sierras...


Thanks Dean for posting. See you in an hour!

 

That read like a good book/thriller, I kept waiting for the avalanche.

Good to hear he made it out

 

I'm obviously thankful when stories like this end well. :clap:

Although it may be un-SCTR-PC, I also want to smack the idiot(s) who got into this predicament in the first place. Not only were they unprepared, but they made a series of judgment errors along the way that could have easily been avoided. Their re-telling of the story does not seem to recognize this. Ditto for the serious personal risks and expense that others had to assume to rescue them. Maybe that is coming in a sequel. :?:

I fully recognize that accidents happen and are by definition unexpected events. But when stupidity makes a major ontribution that should be recognized too. If/when I get into a bad situation, I'm sure that in some way my bad judgment will have contributed to the problem. But hopefully in only a minor way. I carry a lot of stuff that I hope to never have to use on long rides in remote areas. First aid kit, space blanket, sat phone (globalstar service stinks btw) and additional clothing..........all to tip the odds in my favor.
R

 

whoa!!!

yea what EM said, to a degree. People seem to be lacking the wilderness self-reliance of old. City boys going into the wilds. Harsh, this Darwinism....and maybe tomorrow, I'll get mine, but 35 years of solo backpacking, rockclimbing, backcountry skiing, trail running and mt biking, and not an injury yet. Tho I did fly off Upper Winter Creek a year ago while NOT clearing a technical spot, so I could have been him (instead I caught a well- placed tree branch...

But Rim Trail is notorious. A well-loved trail runner died likely in the same spot trying to climb the icy trail in the mid 80's (his memorial place can be seen at Newcomb Saddle).

And think about this- 3 helicopter rescues in the last 3-4 weeks? (one from Upper Winter Creek 2 weeks ago + Middle Merrill + Rim... Keep it up mt bikers and easy to imagine The Man shutting down our fun.

Those of us who ride the various exposed front range trails need to keep in mind- this can be a death sport. Not too hard to squeegee off the side of an exposed trail.

But also very glad this story had a happy-ever-after ending.

 

Great story! That ride up monrovia to newcombs pass and down to Chantry is one of my favorites.

 

Does this mean that it is not a bike trail???:?:

 

Holy crap! I need to take up golf.