Accident on Birdland?

Anyone know anything about this?

lasvegassun.com/news/2013/a…

This post violated Rule #1. It has been removed by Mountain Project.

Good to know that smart asses still post on the internet.

Any further update on this individual? Sending positive vibes their way.

It was a woman who was climbing a route to the right of Birdland. She fell on the first pitch, ripped both her pieces, but the rope caught on a flake and arrested her. She stopped a few feet off the ground. She sustained a head injury, and possible a back injury, but was conscious. The SAR guys picked her up and helicoptered her back to the road, where an ambulance picked her up. That is all I know.

Any more info out there? I have a good friend climbing in Red Rock this week (a she, and a the leader in their group)....? Unfortunately she hasn't responded to text or phone calls since Friday.

Tyrel Fuller wrote: The SAR guys picked her up and helicoptered her back to the road, where an ambulance picked her up. That is all I know.

Just curious as to why the helicopter wouldn't just fly all the way to a hospital... They are already up and in the air, plus its a head injury, why not just fly the additional two minutes to a hospital??

EricSchmidt wrote: Just curious as to why the helicopter wouldn't just fly all the way to a hospital... They are already up and in the air, plus its a head injury, why not just fly the additional two minutes to a hospital??

SAR typically short hauls patients off the rock.

Killing In The Name Of wrote:Chopper flights to the rooftop heli pad aren't super common, with good reason. It's not two minutes, it's not cheap, and usually not necessary. Either you'll survive the drive or you're a duck pure and simple from the getgo.

Not true. How do you know if its unnecessary? Do you have a CT scanner for eyes and can tell if she has a brain bleed or not from the base of a climb? Sometimes minutes do matter.

John Wilder wrote: I wonder if it was on spectrum. spooky first pitch on that one with marginal gear, as I recall.

I was thinking the same thing about Spectrum.

Here's wishing her healing vibes!

josh

Some minor details from a remote view. We were on top of the second pitch of Y2K and were able to see quite a bit of the helicopter action. First, about half dozen SAR people came up the trail to Birdland with a stretcher. Soon after they reached the base the copter came in. He tried 3 or 4 times to get close enough to land or get the patient connected to the copter but they were super close to the slope and finally left and came back with a wire dangling. They then picked up the patient connected to the cable with a SAR person along with them and left. They later returned and picked up another SAR while the rest of the team hiked out.

RockyMtnTed wrote: Not true. How do you know if its unnecessary? Do you have a CT scanner for eyes and can tell if she has a brain bleed or not from the base of a climb? Sometimes minutes do matter.

That is exactly why they will typically put the patient into an ambulance medivac as soon as possible. The SAR chopper is not medical transport. The team is well trained but they have limited capabilities and space in the back of a chopper. They are also limited to the amount of medical equipment to what they can carry on their backs. The best thing they can do is put them into a fully equipped medical transport as soon as possible.

She was leading Valore and broke a hold. The MP beta indicates that it is a friable and questionably protected route, at least the first pitch. She is a 25+ year climber with hundreds of days at Red Rock and is also quite liberal (ample) with her gear placements.

She suffered an L1 fracture which was repaired with a small plate and is expected to be discharged in a couple of days.

Thanks to all that participated in the rescue operation!

Dave

Trained?Those are the last guys I would call to get me out of the canyon.There was a time a girl was hurt and while I was waiting to direct the so called help to the scene.These guys are fat and out of shape I had to help them climb a ten foot wall and carry their gear over to wall to get to the patient.Without me and my buddy they would not have been able to reach her.Who actually says theses guys are well trained for the terrain that comes with wilderness rescue!!!

pacowen wrote:Trained?Those are the last guys I would call to get me out of the canyon.There was a time a girl was hurt and while I was waiting to direct the so called help to the scene.These guys are fat and out of shape I had to help them climb a ten foot wall and carry their gear over to wall to get to the patient.Without me and my buddy they would not have been able to reach her.Who actually says theses guys are well trained for the terrain that comes with wilderness rescue!!!

Trolling? The LVMPD SAR team is actually one of the better SAR teams in the nation. Go check out there facility, equipment, and personnel. I did and was pretty impressed. I've also done quite a few rendezvous with them as I work for the local ambulance service in Vegas. Professional and proficient at what they do. They even have physicians who are involved in the rescues and begin initial treatment on scene, very impressive.

Glad to hear she is doing well!

Pacowen may be referring to redrocksar.org/, a completely different organization to the LVMPD SAR team. THE LVMPD SAR team is made up of highly trained professionals who do an amazing job.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that pacowen is referring to "Red Rock Search and Rescue" which is NOT who you would want to contact for a typical climbing emergency. It worries me that people are getting these confused. Another recent post here ran into the same issue and now it seems like people might actually be contacting this crew for climbing rescues. I'm guessing here at what's leading to this confusion but if you search for "red rock search and rescue", the unit with the name Red Rock Search and Rescue is obviosly going to be the first hit.

The correct unit to contact in the case of a climbing accident is LVMPDSAR. Let me explain a few of the differences between these two units:

LVMPDSAR-
- Several SAR trained metro police officers assigned full time
- Additional mountain rescue team made up of (20-30?) volunteers. Each volunteer goes through intensive training to join the team and then continual monthly training.
- 2 dedicated SAR helicopters and experienced crews to maneuver them into tight spaces
- A dive team( not really relevant here )
- "Tactical physicians" volunteer docs that are also trained to go along on rescue missions
- Other things I'm probably missing

Red Rock SAR-
- A non-profit supported by donations
- All volunteer staff (quite a few of them)
- Looks like they have some training and equipment for rope access

To me it looks like the biggest use for Red Rock SAR would be in the case of a lost individual when you need a lot of boots on the ground. Even in these instances though, LVMPDSAR will still be involved providing air and ground support.

Red Rock SAR

LVMPDSAR
LVMPDSAR