|
A multi-day rescue effort to save an injured Korean climber was
initiated Thursday May 20th by a late night emergency call to the
Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (RCC), who in turn notified mountaineering
staff at Denali National Park & Preserve. 40-year-old Il Ho Cho
of South Korea, leader of the Daejeon Mt. McKinley Expedition, reportedly
fell 50 to 60 feet just above Denali Pass at 18,300 feet during
a descent of the West Buttress route. Cho was unable to descend
any further due to his injuries. Climbing partners wrapped Cho in
layers of down clothing, insulated him from the snow with a backpack,
and then descended to the 17,200-foot high camp to get help. Throughout
the early morning hours, members of multiple Korean climbing parties
made two separate attempts to return to Cho with emergency supplies,
however they were turned back by high winds and whiteout conditions.
Friday morning, a crew on board a Hercules HC-130 aircraft, launched
by the 210th Rescue Squadron out of Kulis Air Force Base in Anchorage,
was unable to locate Cho due to overcast skies. In a remarkable
15-hour push at altitude on Friday, an NPS ground rescue team climbed
from the 14,200 foot ranger camp to where Cho lay at 18,300 feet.
The team then executed a technical lowering of the injured climber,
reaching high camp at about 10pm. The team was led by Renny Jackson,
a climbing ranger from Grand Teton National Park on temporary detail
to Denali. Jackson’s team consisted of four other Teton climbing
rangers who volunteered their time to join Jackson during his detail.At
high camp, Cho was stabilized and treated overnight for exhaustion,
hypothermia, dehydration, frostbite, and a possible head injury.
On Saturday, poor visibility continued to preclude a helicopter
evacuation, so Jackson led a further technical rope lowering of
Cho down the “Rescue Gully” from the 17,200-foot high camp to the
14,200-foot ranger camp. Of note, this was the second time in a
week that the Grand Teton-based patrol and other volunteers had
executed a 3,000-foot rope lowering of an injured climber down the
Rescue Gully. When skies cleared on Monday morning May 24th, the
park's contract high altitude Lama helicopter flew into the 14,200-foot
camp and evacuated Cho to 7,200-foot basecamp, where Cho was transferred
to an airplane and taken to Anchorage for further medical care.
Denali mountaineering ranger Gordy Kito served as the Incident Commander
for the rescue, with mountaineering ranger John Evans directing
ground operations from the 14,200-foot camp. The overall effort
involved the entire South District ranger staff, the 210th Rescue
Squadron, and over 35 volunteers at various camps on the mountain.
Submitted by Maureen McLaughlin, Public Information Officer, Talkeetna
Ranger Station
Privacy & Disclaimer
Author:Jane
Tranel
Last modified on: January 23, 2004
www.nps.gov/akso
|
Related Links
|
