SURVIVING THE FALL; SAUGUS MAN AMONG CLIMBERS ON MOUNT RAINIER.Byline: Seattle Times The only sound, survivors said, was a warning shout from someone above them. Then it hit - tons of snow that slammed into climbers This list of climbers includes both mountaineers and rock climbers, since many (though not all) climbers engage in both types of activities. The list also includes boulderers and ice climbers. on Mount Rainier A format for providing platform interoperability and native OS support for CD-RW and DVD+RW disks. The "MRW" or "CD-MRW" format enables files to be saved to RW disks as if they were hard disks (from any Save dialog or dragged and dropped). on Thursday, killing one and injuring eight; a Saugus man is among the survivors. ``I figured I was dead,'' said Kent Swanson, 53, of Maryland, who was making the climb with his brother, Gregg Swanson, 42, of Saugus. Kent suffered a broken leg and sprained fingers when the avalanche hit two climbing teams descending Disappointment Cleaver on the mountain's east face. Gregg, treated at a local hospital, was seen leaving Friday with a cast on his arm and walking with the help of crutches. The climbers' ordeal and delicate rescue by helicopter played out over six hours Thursday after warm spring weather loosened snow at the mountain's 11,000-foot level, triggering an avalanche that knocked the climbers about 100 feet down the mountainside. That all but one climber climb·er n. 1. One that climbs, especially a person who climbs mountains. 2. Sports A device, such as a crampon, used in mountain climbing. 3. A plant that climbs. 4. made it safely off the mountain was described as remarkable, the result of an ``intense, technical rescue.'' ``I've learned how efficient we can be in rescues,'' said Lou Whittaker
Whittaker and his twin brother Jim were born and raised in Seattle. , owner of Rainier Mountaineering mountaineering or mountain climbing Sport of attaining, or attempting to attain, high points in mountainous regions, mainly for the joy of the climb. Inc., who flew off the mountain with the injured in·jure tr.v. in·jured, in·jur·ing, in·jures 1. To cause physical harm to; hurt. 2. To cause damage to; impair. 3. . ``It was close, people. We were pushed.'' Rainier Mountaineering was leading Thursday's climb. The dead climber was identified as Patrick Nestler, 29, a civil engineer from Norwalk, Conn. Nestler apparently survived the initial fall, officials said, but suffered massive injuries and spent several hours hanging from a rope before rescuers could reach him. When the group hit the summit, ``We were thinking we had a great day,'' Kent Swanson said. But coming down Disappointment Cleaver, Kent Swanson heard someone above yell ``slide,'' and his team guide told him to run. ``You're running for your life . . . trying to get the hell out of there,'' said Swanson, who figures he probably ran only about 10 feet before the avalanche hit. ``I thought I wasn't going to make it. I thought, It's over.' Both he and his brother suffered leg injuries as they tumbled down the mountain. After the avalanche, he said, people remained calm, taking a count of who was there and trying to keep anyone else from falling into the crevasse crevasse (krəvăs`), large crack in the upper surface of a glacier, formed by tension acting upon the brittle ice. Transverse crevasses occur where the grade of the glacier bed becomes suddenly steeper; longitudinal crevasses, where the glacier . Mike Gauthier, a climbing ranger with the National Park Service, said he was climbing on his day off and had reached the summit when he got word of the avalanche via cellular phone. Riding a snowboard snow·board n. A board resembling a small surfboard and equipped with bindings, used for descending snow-covered slopes on one's feet but without ski poles. intr.v. , he descended to the slide site, and with the help of other rescuers he tried to help secure tenuous climbing lines. One rope, with five climbers attached, was so frayed rescuers worried it would snap. Had the ropes not caught on rocks, Gauthier said, the climbers would have fallen 200 feet to a glacier below. Rescuers had to anchor new lines and slowly pull the climbers to safety, he said. All of the injured climbers had been released from hospitals by early Friday. The avalanche, which hit as many as a dozen climbers, happened near the site of a 1981 icefall that killed 11. Those hit by Thursday's avalanche were taking a five-day mountaineering course conducted by Rainier Mountaineering, a popular guide service. They began their ascent at 3 a.m. and were on their way down from the summit when the avalanche occurred about 2:30 p.m. Nina Redman, a 35-year-old librarian from Manhattan Beach Manhattan Beach, city (1990 pop. 32,063), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1912. It is a residential and beach community with an oil refinery and nearby factories that produce transportation and electrical equipment, computers, and pottery. , was in a roped team of five people when the sheet of snow hit the lead person, dragging the entire team down the slope. ``It felt like we were going down a waterfall,'' said Redman, who spent more than an hour dangling from a rope after the massive avalanche struck along a popular climbing route A climbing route is a path by which a climber reaches the top of a mountain, rock, or ice wall. Routes can vary dramatically in difficulty and, once committed to that ascent, can be difficult to stop or return. So, choice of route can be critically important. on the 14,411-foot peak. Redman tried to drive her ice ax into the side of the mountain, ``but it didn't seem to do much.'' She ended up dangling from the middle of the rope with each end anchored by climbers pinned against rock outcroppings. ``I didn't know how I was going to get out,'' she said. ``I was just calling out for help.'' On another rope next to her were two of Redman's friends, Deborah Lynn and Susan Hall. ``There were two waves,'' Hall said. ``The snow fell, then there was a moment of quiet. And it came down again. I never saw it. It just hit me.'' Her backpack slipped up around her neck, choking her, and its weight pulled her down the mountain. She struggled to hold on and yanked herself free from her pack, which went flying into a crevasse below. Then her helmet came down over her face and she couldn't see. Lynn was also dangling, with a stream of water pouring over her. She was getting hypothermic hy·po·ther·mi·a n. Abnormally low body temperature. [hypo- + Greek therm and told Redman she thought her ribs were broken. Redman said she tried to keep Lynn calm, telling her they would be rescued soon. Redman was rescued from her dangling rope when one of the guides came alongside and attached her to a separate rope and brought her to the side of the mountain. Hall's hand was crushed when the rope was pulled taut by falling climbers. A doctor at St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood told her she had two fractured fingers and would need surgery. Lynn was treated at Madigan Army Medical Center Madigan Army Medical Center located in Fort Lewis, Washington, is one of the largest military hospitals on the West Coast of the USA. The hospital was named in honor of Colonel Patrick S. Madigan, an assistant to the U.S. ; Redman had a neck strain. Chad Kellogg, a climbing ranger at Rainier, said unusual weather likely contributed to the tragedy. After two relatively cold days that deposited new snow on the slope, temperatures rose as high as 50 degrees at Camp Muir, a staging area staging area n. A place where troops or equipment in transit are assembled and processed, as before a military operation. Noun 1. at the 10,000-foot level. Climbers descending late in a sunny day run a higher risk of avalanche, said Loren Foss, education manager for the mountaineers. About a dozen guides and rangers made their way to those who were hurt by the avalanche, and rescue teams from Seattle and Tacoma were preparing to hike in. Rescuers were concerned that darkness might fall before the injured people could be taken on litters to an area where a Chinook Chinook, indigenous people of North America Chinook (shĭn  k`, chĭ–), Native American tribe of the Penutian linguistic stock. rescue helicopter from Fort Lewis could land. After the most severely injured were loaded onto litters, it took about an hour to cover the half-mile to Ingraham Flat. Progress was slow because on the rocky and steep terrain, litters can't be slid, but must be moved step by step on lines attached to stakes. Sgt. Joseph Sands and Sgt. Terry Eldridge, two Army medics Med´ics n. 1. Science of medicine. aboard the helicopter, brought the injured aboard just after 8 p.m. Fifteen minutes after they left the mountain, a climber with hypothermia hypothermia Abnormally low body temperature, with slowing of physiological activity. It is artificially induced (usually with ice baths) for certain surgical procedures and cancer treatments. motioned for Eldridge and Sands to come near her. Eldridge leaned over, pulled the flap of his helmet back and removed his earplug ear·plug n. 1. An object made of a soft, pliable material, such as cotton or rubber, and fitted into the ear canal to block the entry of water or sound. 2. An earphone, especially one that fits into the ear. . Above the roar of the chopper blades, she shouted, ``Thank you. Thank you.'' ``That's why we do it. That's our reward,'' Eldridge said. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos PHOTO (1--Color in SAC Edition only) A news helicopter hovers over the broken ice and snow churned up in a deadly avalanche on Mount Rainier in Washington state. Peter Haley/Tacoma News Tribue (2--Ran in SAC Edition only)Tacoma Mountain Rescue member Jim Lewis Jim Lewis may be a short form of James Lewis, or may refer to:
Elaine Thompson/Associated Press (3--Ran in SAC Edition only) At left, the 14,410-foot mountain rises above Tacoma, Wash. Peter Haley/Tacoma News Tribue |
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