Snohomish County Search and Rescue teams have reached two men with leg injuries high in the Cascades, one near the summit on Three Fingers and the other on Buck Creek Pass, east of Glacier Peak.
The man on Three Fingers was taken by helicopter around 2 p.m. to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. He wasn’t able to walk when rescue crews loaded him into the helicopter, Snohomish County sheriff’s Lt. Rodney Rochon said.
The injured man on Buck Creek Pass was being carried on horse back to safety, Rochon said. That man told officials he broke his leg when he slipped on a wet rock.
Both calls came in Sunday, Rochon said.
By this morning, rescue teams had reached both men. Bad weather prevented helicopters from reaching the men Sunday.
Crews were combining cutting-edge technology with horses and Morse code to mount the rescues.
Mountain rescue teams used a pulley system to hoist the man on Three Fingers off a glacier and onto the trail, sheriff’s Sgt. Danny Wikstrom said.
They were going to try to carry the man to Tin Can Pass to attempt a helicopter rescue if the cloud cover lifts. The weather on the mountain is terrible, Wikstrom said.
He slipped on a glacier just below the lookout cabin at the summit and fell up to 200 feet. He reportedly has a sprained ankle and knee.
The man is an experienced climber and had equipment to spend the night in the bad conditions.
The man on Buck Creek Pass was reached by rescue crews last night, Wikstrom said. Teams on horseback arrived this morning and packed the man out before noon.
The injured man used a radio to send Morse code signal to a ham radio operator in Bozeman, Mont. The Montana man in turn called 911.
Crews plan to carry the man along the Trinity Trail on the east side of the mountains.
In total, about 50 people were involved in both rescue attempts, Wikstrom said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
