vonvon went down hard in Crystal Cove

I just got a call from vonvon who said he went down at the top of rattlesnake and broke his arm at the least. Not sure what else if anything might be in bad shape.

The FD is looking for him in a chopper.

 

Oh man, so is he still out there? Crap, I hope he's okay.

 

wow, hope it's not any worse then a broken arm.

 

Prayers for him. Keep us posted

 

Bummer that section has taken down many bikes and people thru the years.

Dean

 

They found him (took a while--it was hard). He got choppered to the hospital. Verdict is bad break in his arm but otherwise a-ok.

Another testimonial for the "is riding solo dangerous?". If that had happened in a more remote area things would have been worse.

 

glad they got him out.....what happened to his bike?

 

I'm not clear on the details, but it sounds like they dropped off some emergency personnel to attend to him from the first chopper, but they had to wait for a different chopper to come get him and they couldn't walk him out. So the second chopper came and picked him up with most of the personnel while the rest of them walked the bike and gear out downhill to the southwestern end of the park.

I went to the ranger station and got his bike from them and it doesn't even have the tiniest scratch on it amazingly. I guess it landed on him.

Which is a silver lining in the cloud considering he just bought that bike two weeks ago. So when he heals up he'll have a brand new bike to ride.

His break requires surgery, however. Apparently he went OTB and was trying to tuck and roll and landed on his arm. I've never broken anything, so I can't really relate to how serious that is or how long it takes to heal.

 

We were out there this evening riding and we saw two choppers looking for him for quite a while. I hope everything is ok and heals quickly.

 

oh, man...send him our good wishes. please keep us updated.

 

Sending the healing vibes......

 

That sux. Everytime i feel reallly stupid but I'm always scared to go down rattlesnake or singletrack, when I'm riding there alone. I try to stay on the fire roads where people will pass me. I put rock-it on that list as well.

Many healing vibes. [-o-]

 

glad it was only a broken arm. Typically extremities are easy to recovery fully from. 4-8 weeks recovery and some PT and he'll be good as new. Healing vibes his way.

 

sucks that he had the take the $5000 ride to the hospital. But at least he was awake for it and was able to "enjoy" it.

Anyways, i'm just glad to hear that he's going to be fine. Shit happens, glad he'll be able to ride another day! Heal up brotha!

 

The endo of a lifetime.

Hey everyone on STR, im out of the hospital and feeling better.

I was headed down Rattlesnake on my new Chumba VF2 and got a little over confident. Before I knew it I was doing a endo and did not roll onto my shoulder. Instead I treid to break my fall with a stiff arm and ended up snapping the arm at the elbow backward. When I first looked at the arm it reminded me of something I only saw on TV. Half of my arm was bent completely backward. I had to straighten it out the pain was excruciating. I then took off my bag and used it as a support for my limp arm and got out my phone and called 911.

They had a hard time finding me it must have taken over an hour. After what seemed like an eternity a hiker came along and called them to give them gps coordinates from his easy trail application. The hiker stayed with me because he said he noticed a few rattlers on the trail until the paramedics arrived. Because I was in such a remote part of the trail they had to climb up rattle snake to find me. When they got there they gave me oxygen and cut off my favorite MB shirt and gloves to splint my arm. Everytime a new person appeared they asked me the same questions, did you have a helmet on were you alone what day is it what time whats your name.

With no shirt I began to get the shakes so one of the FF flanked me with his coat. They sat me up and asked me if I could walk out but I was getting dizzy and nauseous so they decided to helivac me out. They then hoisted me on a freezing cold metal gurney strapped me in and carried me to a spot where the helicopter could get close enough to lift me.

The amount of dirt the chopper was kicking up was crazy. They had to cover my face while they connected the cables and finally 2 hours later I was hoisted out of the canyon. It was scary as hell. The wind was blowing me around I had no shirt on and I was shaking like a leaf. The whole way up all I could do was pray that nothing went wrong. I actually said the Lords prayer a few times to help me stay calm. When they finally got me to the chopper I was amazed at how still the pilot was keeping the aircraft. When I was in the chopper I began to start crying I don't know if it was from joy or pain.

When I was securely locked into place in the chopper the very nice medic thought I was a woman I guess because of my hair and asked me if I wanted some morphine. I said heck yea and I need a blanket. He said we will get you the pain killers first with an IV then get you a blanket. He stuck the needle in and could not find the vein so he had to try again and got it in the second time. I was in so much pain it didn't matter. The IV drip started and I began to feel the wrenching pain in my arm subside. They gave me a blanket and before I knew it we were on the ground at the Mission Hospital.

At the hospitol I had to stay on the metal gurney for another 30 min until they could get me a room. They asked me if I wanted more drugs and I said YES! The pain was 7 on a scale of 10. This time they gave me a synthetic morphine they said was more potent and she was right. It brought my pain down to about 4. They got me into a room on a soft bed with heated blankets and thats when I started to calm down. They took me in for xrays and discovered that I did not have any breaks in my bones. My arm was dislocated at the the elbow and the injury did not require surgery, Thank God!

They gave me some propofal (same stuff MJ overdosed on) knocked me out and snapped my arm back into the socket, finally my ordeal was coming to an end.

I want to thank all of the wonderful people who helped with my rescue. In all it took around 20 people to help me and I am truly blessed to be in a place where all of these rescue workers & hikers come to the aid of a fellow citizen.

Thank you all and God bless you.:clap:

I asked Jason(the hiker) to take a few pictures so I could post them and keep them as a reminder of what I went through.
Thank you everyone who said a healing prayer for me I will be back on the mountain in no time :bang:

 

I'm glad to hear your injuries aren't worse and that everything went well. It was crazy the way the choppers kept landing and taking off all over the park. I would think that if they have a map of the trails at Crystal Cove it would have been a simple thing to find you.

 

Whole story gives me goosebumps! Very glad you're OK bro and that you had a signal up there to call for help! Speedy recovery and sending them healing vibes your way!



(Don't read this part Von)

Perhaps we could pass the hat, fund raiser ride, etc. for the chopper ride?

 

Von, glad to hear that you are out of the hospital and in good spirits. Dislocated elbows are no joke, thats for sure!

Heal up!

 

I had the exact same injury while playing football. It was 30+ years ago and I still get the shivers when someone mentions the pain. You are one tough dude to swing your flopper around. Mine was distended and I remember my little sister "petting" my elbow bump to make it feel better. Damn that hurt.

Take it slow and heal well :clap:

 

Hopefully there will be no need for that. When they were getting my info I asked if it was for the bill and they told me it was a free service. But thanks for the love my friend