Cliffed Out...Sheep Hunters Rescued

[JBrown1]

I’m a sissy when it comes to heights, but I can tell you from experience(recent experience) that sheep fever can make a guy do dumb things.

Case in point: I placed my 14 year old daughter and myself in a tight spot that almost saw us sleeping on top without proper shelter. Long story, but in the end the weather held and we were able to make it down an alder choked chute as the fog and darkness descended.

I’ve never been so thankful for alders.

Had it rained, or snowed as it threatened to do, we might have been in for a rough night, if not worse.

As it was, we stumbled into camp just past midnight. It’s amazing how all the talk of hot cocoa and huge meals disappears when you are finally able to crawl into your sleeping bag at the end of a 15 hour ordeal.

A lesson well learned.

 

[rayporter]

not a judgement, here, but i have a question. since you had the big picture from a distance, do you think it looked any different from their perspective? up close?

I watched this whole event unfold from the beginning. I'd spotted these guys coming up the ridge they were rescued from about 2 hours earlier. We were sitting around camp and I saw the C130 start to circle the area and knew immediately these guys had pushed the button. Sure enough, shortly after the Herc started circling, the Pavehawk showed up, dropped a couple of PJs on the ridge and then started hoisting people out.

The hunters were making their way along a fairly narrow ridge and came to a spot where it cliffed out in front of them. They tried to descend the face to get around the steep step on the ridge and, obviously, got into a spot where they felt they couldn't go back up, down, or around safely, and pushed the button.

I try not to armchair quarter back these things much as I wasn't in their shoes. In summary, I think this was a totally avoidable and unnecessary rescue that was driven by some poor decision making and ram fever. Glad things worked out for everyone involved and hopefully some lessons regarding judgement and decision making we learned by the hunting party.

Their best stroke of luck was that the weather was good enough to fly. One day later and they would have been on their own for the next 3 days at least. Counting on a rescue in the mountains as part of one's contingency plan is foolish at best.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

It must have been one amazing sheep they were after.

 

[ColeyG]

not a judgement, here, but i have a question. since you had the big picture from a distance, do you think it looked any different from their perspective? up close?

Yes of course terrain looks a lot different depending on distance, perspective, etc. From their perspective it obviously looked to them like they could drop off of the ridge to end run the steep step.

When you are on top of a steep ridge it is hard if not impossible to tell what the terrain looks like below you. It may appear easy at first only to roll over into steep, loose slopes below.

When viewing face like the one they are on from a distance, the terrain always looks steeper than it actually is.

The main photo circulating makes it look like they were clinging to a vertical face, which they were not. I'd say the slope angle was 40-ish degrees, class 3-4. You can see loose debris laying in the gullies, etc. It was certainly "no fall" territory. What I don't understand is why they couldn't climb back up to the ridge they descended from as it was only a short distance above them, and going back up that terrain is easier and less scary than descending it, which they had already done.

 

[Snyd]

What I don't understand is why they couldn't climb back up to the ridge they descended from as it was only a short distance above them, and going back up that terrain is easier and less scary than descending it, which they had already done.

Could have been the Fear Factor. Everyone has their limits.

 

[Alaskan89]

Glad those guys made it back safe but there is no sheep on the planet that's worth climbing up/down a mountain face like that one.

 

[bram751]

who pays for the rescue?
I know the USCG will send you a bill if you have a medical emergency offshore.
maybe Alaska needs to tighten up licensing with better regulations

I don't think they do. I may be incorrect but I believe that "Title 46 US Code, sec. 2110" prohibits them from doing so. My neighbor was one of the helo pilots that did this rescue and he told me they don't charge anything.

 

[ozyclint]

It must have been one amazing sheep they were after.

Glad those guys made it back safe but there is no sheep on the planet that's worth climbing up/down a mountain face like that one.

ROAL

 

[squirrel]

I followed a goat trail down once, and learned dont ever do that again. I didn't have a gizmo button to push, just a little piece of 3/8" rope. Never has grass felt so good underfoot than when I finally exited that chute. Sometimes Murphy and Darwin team up and it can be a rough day.