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 PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,524 Likes: 105
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OP
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,524 Likes: 105 |
Man! HAPE strikes even the seasoned hikers. Here is a report of a PCT hiker on Trail Journals that was evacuated from the Tyndall Creek area by helicopter. Some quotes from the text (Man, these people type more than they hike!!!): We looked out of our tent to see Half-Ounce huddled up underneath a tree. He was sitting and leaning up against a trunk of a tree with two sleeping bags wrapped around him. He had to sit up to breath and had been there for most of the night.
...We were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Half-Ounce had HAPE, High Altitude Pulmonary Edema and the shortest way out was over Forester Pass, elevation 13,180 feet, the highest point on the entire PCT.
...Half-Ounce walked 10 yards and had to stop and rest. Another 10 yards, stop. Then it was 10 feet, and sit down. Then 3 feet and sit down.
There was no way he could take another step up in elevation. Decisions had to be made and options were now more limited. He had to descend.
...The final decision was that Half-Ounce would descend. Turbo and 10-Spot would go with him and take all of his gear.
They would go to Tyndall Creek Ranger Station (unmanned and closed). It was at the lower elevation of 10,890 feet. If that wasn't low enough, they would follow Tyndall Creek down to the Kern River and then down further if needed.
...At this time, about 6:15am, another hiker came up the trail and just walked into our dilemma. His trail name is Balls.BTW, here's a picture at the PCT/Walker Pass, with "Balls" on the left.  ...Balls made it to Forester ahead of us. No cell reception. From the pass he scaled a rock peak, an additional 400 feet, to get a signal. He contacted 911, and then S.A.R. (Search and Rescue). They dispatched personnel.
And from the next day's journal: Half-Ounce called from the medical center and filled us in on his status. He was still on oxygen and medication. He was better, but he still has a ways to go in his recovery. He will continue to stay in the hospital.
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,524 Likes: 105
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OP
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,524 Likes: 105 |
And then the guys helping the HAPE victim had their own trouble: (This also from the Trail Journal entry for 6/17/2010): "Boston & Cubby's 2010 Pacific Crest Trail Journal" 10-Spot and Turbo made it into town at 8:30pm. We thought that they would most likely come in tomorrow.
They ended up hiking 28 miles today to get all the way here. They hiked from Meadow Junction, south of the confluence of the Kern River and Tyndall Creek, up to Forester Pass, over Forester Pass, down Bubb's Creek, to Bullfrog Lake, up to Kearsarge Pass and down to Onion Valley Trailhead. They then hitched a ride into town.
They had an epic of their own today.
They left from camp this morning from the location of Half-Ounce's evacuation. When they had hiked down to this location with Half-Ounce the day before, they were off trail and bushwhacking. This morning, they located trail and hiked out on it. The trail crossed Tyndall Creek at the confluence of the Kern River.
At this crossing the water was big. Very big. They attempted to cross on a huge fallen tree. The fallen tree's roots were on the far end of the tree. The tree was glazed over with ice. 10-Spot reached the far end first. Between the glaze of ice and the obstacle of a vertical wall of uprooted roots, there was an enhanced degree of difficulty and a mishap occurred. The result was disastrous. 10-Spot's backpack ended up in Tynndall Creek and within 3 seconds it was carried into the Kern River, never to be seen again. In the blink of an eye everything was gone. Everything!
10-Spot and Turbo then completed the crossing of the fallen tree.
At this point 10-Spot is now 28 miles from civilization with absolutely no gear and he has to go over the highest pass on the entire PCT. All of this in snow with no crampons and no ice-axe. He has no tent, no puffy jacket, no sleeping bag. From this point on it was "hike until you get there". There was no longer the option of stopping and camping for the night.
10-Spot followed in Turbo's footsteps. He had no sunglasses to protect his eyes from snow blindness for the 28 miles of snow. He pulled his hat down and his neck bandana over his eyes. He looked through the fabric.
Turbo kicked and chopped steps in the snow for 10-Spot to have footing for the steep climbs and traverses through the snow. 10-Spot had to glissade down Forester Pass without an ice-axe.
He protected his eyes the best he could, hiked the best he could with no crampons, and along with Turbo, pushed the pace and kept going. Making it all the way to civilization at Onion Valley Trailhead.
When they got to town, they told us the whole story of what had happened and what thoughts they were thinking when the pack went down the Kern River. Wow, and we thought our hike over Forester and Kearsarge Passes were epic. This beat ours by a long shot.
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,524 Likes: 105
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OP
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,524 Likes: 105 |
Oh MAN!!! From the 6/19 entry:
Boston & 10-Spot went to the bank to get his finances started up again. They then went to the gear store and made thirteen hundred dollars worth of gear purchases. They then went to the library, got online and ordered seven hundred more dollars worth of gear. 10-Spot called this his day of "retail therapy".
By the way, my son Brett's PCT adventure starts Friday morning in Canada. He's up near Seattle right now.
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,251 Likes: 1
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,251 Likes: 1 |
Moose should send this guy a T-shirt.
Verum audaces non gerunt indusia alba. - Ipsi dixit MCMLXXII
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 695
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 695 |
Maybe you already posted this, but is Brett going to post periodic updates to anything like an online journal throughout his trip?
If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it. - Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,524 Likes: 105
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OP
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,524 Likes: 105 |
Brett will be updating periodically via text message from his cell phone, and he's carrying my Spot.
I'll start a "Jessica" thread and post updates as they come in.
He also has a Trail Journals page, (accidentally named "test") that I'll try to keep updated, too.
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 129
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 129 |
Interesting. When I was having my B & B (burger & beer) at the WPS yesterday, there were two young PCT hikers--Calorie and Double-Check. Calorie had been injured a few days earlier, slipping on the snow just below Kearsarge Pass. They were coming out for a resupply. He fell a couple of hundred feet, and gashed his leg to the bone. There was already a helo in the air or about to be, planning to look for an overdue Moose, and it diverted to pick him up. I didn't get the whole story, but he is on the mend. He had hiked 6 miles yesterday, and was hoping to get back on the PCT soon.
By the way, said Moose had brought up a chocolate cream pie from the Alabama Hills cafe, to help the seniors celebrate their conquest of Mt. Whitney; she took at least half of it home.
PS. The mosquitoes are out, even as high as Trail Camp.
Last edited by Bob R; 06/24/10 06:08 PM. Reason: mosquitoes
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 595
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 595 |
...By the way, said Moose had brought up a chocolate cream pie from the Alabama Hills cafe, to help the seniors celebrate their conquest of Mt. Whitney; she took at least half of it home. That was very kind of her - I saw her TOF parked beside the store. I had intended to join you for a B & B, but after changing realized that I was pretty beat, and if there was any hope of driving home - and arriving intact - I needed skip the B & B. Maybe John will schedule another senior hike in the fall. If so, would it be the "First Semi-Annual Fall Senior Hike"?!
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 213
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 213 |
I keep forgetting to ask, but didn't this time -- what the heck is the "TOF". I know it's Laura's vehicle, and I guess I could figure out what the acronym means if I spent some time thinking about it, but . . .
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,261
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,261 |
I keep forgetting to ask, but didn't this time -- what the heck is the "TOF". I know it's Laura's vehicle, and I guess I could figure out what the acronym means if I spent some time thinking about it, but . . . TOF= Truck Of Fun
The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day. 
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 213
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 213 |
Sounds VERY suspicious . . . :-)
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 654 Likes: 54
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 654 Likes: 54 |
I've never met Laura, but I saw someone who looked like her in the kitchen talking with Doug. I'm kicking myself for missing a chance to meet the luckiest girl in the world, not to mention missing the pie.
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Re: PCT hiker with HAPE
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 582
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 582 |
Mmmm... chocolate pie for breakfast... for days...
BP: I heard you were in and out of the store faster than a speeding bullet. Really sorry I missed you, too. I even put my party dress on for you guys!
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