Morning Report Excerpts - 1999 First Half
The Morning Report includes accidents and incidents in the National Park System. I have excerpted reports I thought people might find interesting.
99-10 - Mesa Verde NP (CO) - Search and Rescue
New Jersey visitors Ellen Levine, 35 and Charles Polick, 37, became lost while hiking in the Cliff Palace area on January 10th. Rangers noticed their rental car parked in an area which is closed at dusk. A hasty search was conducted, but no sign of the occupants was found. Rangers began an extensive search the next morning which involved park staff, search dogs, Civil Air Patrol aircraft and local search units. Levine and Polick were found out of the primary search area five miles north of the point last seen after they built a signal fire on January 13th. They were mobile during most of the search and had covered about nine miles of rugged canyon terrain. Both suffered from cold and dehydration; they were flown out by air ambulance but not hospitalized. [Charlie Peterson, CR, MEVE, 1/13]
99-19 - Zion NP (UT) - Falling Fatality
On Thursday, January 21st, Sasha Simpson, 20, of Springdale, Utah, was killed when she fell 150 feet while climbing the Mountain of the Sun canyoneering route. Simpson was climbing with a group of friends and was near the end of the route. She was trying to release a jammed rope from their previous rappel when a rock dislodged, causing her to lose her balance and fall. The remaining members of the group did not have a rope long enough to complete the final rappel. At 6 p.m., an employee of Zion Lodge heard shouting from the cliffs above the lodge and contacted park dispatch. John Hannon, the first ranger to arrive on scene, found Simpson's body. The others in the group tied ropes, a sling, belts and packs together and lowered them to rescuers, who attached a 300-foot rope which they pulled up to them. They then rappelled down. Simpson's body was removed that evening. The five-hour operation was conducted in darkness by 15 park employees from all divisions and three climbers from the local community who train with park staff. Scott Brown was IC.
[Tom Haraden, ACI, ZION, 1/23]
(Note: this is the last rappel in Employee Canyon).
99-35 - Colorado NM (CO) - Rescue
On the afternoon of February 2nd, Jeffrey Fine, 18, and Laura Colaric, 17, were hiking off trail near the Devils Kitchen Monolith. They decided to scramble up a very steep and exposed slope; when they reached a sandstone outcrop near the canyon's upper rim, they realized that they could neither go further nor return. Fine then jumped 25 feet to a rock below and fractured both ankles. Colaric declined to follow and began calling for help. Another hiker with a cell phone heard them and summoned assistance. Ranger Bill Row and the Grand Junction fire department's technical rescue team responded. The team was flown by helicopter to a position from which they were able to rappel down to the victims. They set up a raising system and retrieved Fine, who was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery on the same night. They then helped Colaric rappel down to safer terrain. She was not hurt and was able to hike out. [Ron Young, CR, COLM, 2/3]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION
White Sands NM (NM) - African Oryx Census and Removal
The first phase of a three-year project to count and herd African oryx out of the park began in January. In the 1960's, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish released the elk-sized ungulates as game animals on military lands adjacent to the park. The oryx thrived in the environment; despite a hunting take of 450 animals per year outside the park, the total estimated population has increased to 3,000. A six-foot-high boundary fence was completed in 1996 by the NPS and the state. A two-day helicopter census over the 144,000-acre park was conducted this January by WASO wildlife program manager Mike Coffey and park resource management specialist Bill Conrod. Animals were marked with paint balls to prevent double counting. A total of 93 oryx were counted out of an estimated park population of about 145 animals. Following the census, two helicopters were used to drive oryx through fence openings. Forty-six animals were removed from the park over a three day period. The park was assisted by staff from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the Army's White Sands Missile Range. [Bill Conrod, RMS, WHSA, 2/9]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION
Glen Canyon NRA (UT/AZ) - Tamarisk Removal
The park conducted a successful exotic plant control operation during the period from March 2nd to the 6th. The park's ten-person tamarisk crew traveled to Coyote Gulch, a remote and scenic side canyon of the Escalanate River, with the objective of removing the exotic trees. Planning and support were provided by the park's resource management division; area rangers, resource management staff and BLM staff from nearby areas helped the crew with removal of the tamarisks. Chainsaws were used to cut the plants at ground level. The resulting stumps were then sprayed with a herbicide/ penetrating oil mixture, a technique with proven effectiveness. Approximately two miles of the canyon were cleared of tamarisk during this operation. The entire ten-mile stretch of Coyote Gulch within the park's boundaries is now clear of all concentrated areas of tamarisk. A follow-up project scheduled for next year will target upstream areas under BLM jurisdiction. [Tom Haberle, Botanist/Exotics Control Coordinator, GLCA, 3/8]
99-158 - Glen Canyon NRA (AZ/UT) - Rescue
While hiking up the steep Hole-in-the-Rock trail on April 16th, 58-year-old Susan Hilb of Denver, Colorado, lost her footing and fell backwards about four feet, sustaining a fracture to her left lower leg in the process. Hole-in-the-Rock is a historic site where Mormon pioneers blasted and chiseled a steep and narrow route through a cleft in the cliffs high above the Colorado River in order to cross Glen Canyon and continue their journey to southeastern Utah. The road has eroded away and boulders have fallen, leaving the trail a boulder-filled gully which climbs about 600 feet in elevation over a distance of a quarter mile from the present Lake Powell. Hilb was about 150 yards from the top when she fell. Escalante subdistrict ranger Jim Bowman and maintenance mechanic Phil Engleman arrived in the area a short time after the incident and were notified of the accident by Hilb's companions. It took over four hours to complete a steep-angle, technical raising operation due to the logistics entailed in making two helicopter trips to ferry in climbing and medical gear and personnel to assist. Because members of the park's climbing team were at Canyonlands NP instructing a technical rescue class, the Page fire department team was utilized to conduct the rescue. Rangers Nate Card and Tim Thompson also assisted. Hilb was a client of High Desert Adventures, a park concession, and was on a backcountry trip in the Escalante Canyons area at the time of the accident. She landed backwards on her day pack, which almost certainly prevented head and neck injuries. [CRO, GLCA, 4/29]Ô
99-167 - Glen Canyon NRA (UT/AZ) - Hazardous Material
Visitors from Salt Lake City found a wooden, lead-lined box in Lost Eden Canyon near Bullfrog in late April. Within the box was another, smaller lead-lined box which contained a "wafer" with a handle on it. They left the wooden box in the area where it was found and took the small box and wafer back home with them. On May 2nd, they returned to Lake Powell to retrieve the wooden box. When they returned to the scene, they found not only the original wooden box but also a canister-like object that was approximately seven inches tall, seven inches in diameter, and weighed 60 to 70 pounds. The wooden box and the canister were taken to the Halls Crossing Ranger Station and turned over to rangers Russ Miller and Steve Luckesen. The Utah State Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Radiation Control, arranged to have a Utah Highway Patrol hazmat responder pick up the objects and transport them to Salt Lake City for further investigation. The investigators determined that the containers held medical-grade gamma radiation nodes used in radium therapy. The technology used for this type of treatment is between 40 and 50 years old. It's possible that these boxes were left in the canyon before the creation of Lake Powell. Both the canyon area and the NPS ranger station showed no signs of contamination and have been reopened. State officials say that there is no evidence that radioactive contaminants got outside of the packages. Preliminary investigation reveals that the amount of radiation exposure by individuals who had contact with these items is not much more than what would be received from natural background radiation. [Cindy Ott-Jones, CR, GLCA, 5/6]
99-180 - Zion NP (UT) - Attempted Armed Robbery; Shots Fired
Rangers responded to a report of shots fired on the Zion Canyon scenic drive on the evening of Thursday, May 13th. Two women sitting in their vehicle at a pullout reported being approached by a man with a gun who demanded their money. After they told him that they had no money, the man reached for the vehicle keys, at which point the women drove off. Several shots were fired, striking the left front tire, left rear door, and rear window. A roadblock was established, but failed probably due to the length of time it took before a passerby reported the incident at the park lodge. A sheriff's department search dog and crime scene technician were called in and recovered a considerable amount of evidence; a composite sketch of the suspect is being prepared. Climbers on the adjacent cliff face have provided a vehicle description and a western states lookout has been distributed. [Brent McGinn, ZION, 5/14]
99-180 - Zion NP (UT) - Follow-up: Attempted Armed Robbery
On the evening of Thursday, May 13th, an armed man shot at two women in their vehicle in Zion Canyon after a failed robbery attempt, striking the vehicle three times. Fifteen employees from all park divisions searched the roadway adjacent to the crime scene on Friday, looking for evidence that may have been discarded as the assailant fled. Over the weekend, park and concession employees were screened to rule out a possible suspect living in the park. A composite sketch was released to the public on Monday and was to appear in local newspapers yesterday. Physical evidence is being analyzed and individual rangers are being contacted about unusual or suspicious incidents around the time of the shooting. Follow-up interviews with the witnesses and victims were also conducted yesterday. There's no indication as to whether the assailant is a local resident or someone passing through the area, or why he picked the two young women, who were waiting for their boyfriends to finish climbing. He is thought to be an amateur, as he was shaking and very nervous during the attempt. [Brent McGinn, ZION, 5/18]
99-213 - Denali NP&P (AK) - Rescue
On the afternoon of Friday, May 21st, Colorado climber Malcolm Daly, 45, fell 120 feet while ascending a difficult ice couloir on the southwest ridge of Mt. Hunter. Daly and his partner, Jim Donini, were 2,600 feet up the route when Daly's protection failed and he fell, striking Donini in the thigh with his crampon points. Daly sustained an open fracture of one leg and an ankle fracture of the other. Donini was able to lower Daly 150 feet, but was unable to continue due to both of their injuries. He secured Daly at about the 10,000 foot level and descended the mixed rock, snow and ice route to their camp on the Kahiltna Glacier. Only minutes later, a passing Talkeetna Air Taxi pilot spotted Donini and picked him up. Darkness and poor weather grounded rescue teams until Saturday morning, when an partial assessment of the situation was possible. Daly was tied into a small ledge 2,400 feet from the bottom of the route and 1,100 feet from the small (approximately ten foot by ten foot) mushroom-shaped top. The near vertical slope and deep coulior appeared to negate a short-haul helicopter evacuation. It appeared a raising was the only possible means of rescue. This would require short-hauling rescuers to the summit, who would then descend to Daly and arrange a technical raising followed by a short-haul removal of all from the summit. The weather forecast was for continued unsettled weather. Due to the several previous days of exhausting rescue activity, the Alaska Region's Type II incident management team (Hunter Sharp, IC) was called in to assist the park's staff. Throughout Saturday, additional resources were brought in, including hand-picked parajumpers from the Air National Guard and five members of the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group.
As the weather cleared on Sunday morning, a slightly different helicopter approach was visible that had been obscured by clouds the day before. Ranger Billy Shott was short-hauled on a 200-foot rope to a point about 40 feet below Daly. With the helicopter hovering, Shott climbed to Daly and clipped him into his harness; Lama pilot Carl Cotton then backed away, swinging both out to safety. Daly was the seventh climber rescued this season and the sixth bonafide save. [Ken Kehrer, CR, DENA, 5/25]
99-292 - Canyonlands NP (UT) - Search and Rescue
On June 19th, Thomas Woolley, 55, of Westerville, Ohio, and a companion attempted to hike the Syncline Loop, a rugged eight-mile trail in the Island of the Sky District of the park. Although the temperature was above 90 degrees in a highly arid environment, each man took only one quart of water with him. The two men hiked the three-mile downhill section of the trail, but Woolley could not continue after that because he was suffering from dehydration and exhaustion. His partner went for help, but was overcome by the same problems and spent the night on the trail. On the morning of June 20th, he hiked out and reported the incident. Rangers responded and began a hasty search when Woolley could not be located at the point last seen. Rangers tracked Woolley's footsteps and other clues for three miles down a wash until they were lost in heavy brush along the banks of the Green River. The search was escalated, with a helicopter and a dog team brought in. At about 5 p.m., the crew of the search helicopter contacted a group of canoers who reported that they'd pulled Woolley from the river, then had passed him off to a vehicle group driving along the White Rim Road. Search team members picked up Woolley about thirty minutes later.
He told investigators he had waited until evening, then hiked towards the Green River before spending the night in the wash. The next morning he hiked to the river; while trying to get through the tamarisk along the bank, he fell into the Green River, which was flowing at a flood stage of approximately 27,000 cubic feet per second. The 275-pound Woolley spent approximately an hour floating downstream in the 65 degree water, traveling about four miles with no gear or life jacket before the canoers spotted him and pulled him from the water. He had repeatedly attempted to extricate himself from the river by grabbing onto shoreline vegetation, but the force of the water thwarted his efforts and flushed him downstream. Ranger Colin Smith served as incident commander. [Steve Swanke, CANY, 6/22]