Easter Rescue - Mt. Whitney, California

"I spent my night huddled in a snow cave that I hastily built around 11am on the side of Mt. Whitney.  I was soaking in the hot springs contently out of my mind, when my pager went off.  Next thing I know, I'm in a Bell 460 en route to save a guy that had fallen 1,000 feet.  You should have seen him, he was still alive, it was a miracle.  We tried to keep him warm and stabilize him, but we ran out of oxygen and he got combative.  At 2am, two US Army Blackhawk Helicopters with night vision crazy technology, set a new parameter for the operations of helicopters.  One landed for us at 13,000 feet on a snow patch at night.  It was insane, I've been inside a number of helicopters over the last couple years, but this thing was off the hook.  So powerful it's scary.  They give you a Snickers bar when you get on.  I loaded our patient into the life flight helicopter and proceeded to collapse.  The adrenaline was going so good, I forgot about my sprained ankle and bum knee."

"After an extraordinarily long drive home from Mt. Whitney, it was off to Denny's and into bed at 6am.  Happy Easter."

MK Ambassador Jonathan Willy is a grade-school teacher, climbing coach, accomplished mountaineer and member of the local Search and Rescue team in Bishop, CA.  Jonathan enjoys the MK Cottonwood Cords for their warmth and high comfort level.

Comments

[Brendan]

Yep, it was quite a night for all of us.
B

[Ross]

wow. that's incredible. thanks for the service guys!

[Theodore]

Just a correction: It was a CH-53E Super Stallion, brought to you courtesy of the Marines.