By: randosteve|Posted on: March 30, 2008|Posted in: Broken Link to Photo/Video, TCSAR | 6 comments

After skiing Albright and Wimpys on Friday, I had just gotten home and was trying to stay motivated to attend the “Steep” showing at the Village when the call-out came for a broken leg on the west side of Glory.

 Taylor mountain

We used the heli to shuttle rescuers to a safe LZ above the patient on the west slope of Glory, above some steep trees going down into Coal Creek.

 The tree

We found the patient on his back, head towards us, and his left leg obviously broken, and wrapped about this tree. We packaged him on a backboard. He was a trooper dealing with the pain…meds only go so far.

 Ken lines it up

Negotiating a toboggan though the tight and steep trees would have been very difficult and time consuming, and it was probably already about 6pm. We decided to use a short haul to extricate the patient. The location in the tight trees was definitely a major concern.

 Here comes the line

When the heli came in to deliver the littler and haul out the patient, the rotor wash would shake all the snow from the trees…making caring for the patient a little more difficult.

 Lift off

Props to Ken for his expert flying skills and our short haul team for helping avoid what could have been a very long night. I was still pretty tired after waking up on Saturday and took the day off.