Panamint Valley Days

[Panamint Charlie]

No early trip reports yet? Andy, Where's the pics?

Any word on the condition of the folks who rolled the Cherokee off Chicken Rock?

[minam44]

Originally Posted by Panamint Charlie

No early trip reports yet? Andy, Where's the pics?

Any word on the condition of the folks who rolled the Cherokee off Chicken Rock?

Every one is ok. Driver should have been released from the hospital this morning.
The recovery of the vehicle went rather smooth considering where the rig landed.
Great job to everyone who was involved with the recovery.

[Panamint Charlie]

The update is appreciated. Good to here all will be OK. I saw pics of the Cherokee today and I've been on that hillside many a time.

Could have turned out a lot worse.

[lttlbddy]

Originally Posted by Panamint Charlie

Could have turned out a lot worse.

We can't believe that she only got the injuries that she did.

The Cherokee was a mess.

Steve G

[navy-jeepster]

She is a member in my club.
She is home now, and we have the jeep at her house too.

Her husband went down to the hospital on Sat, and brought her home today.

We all pitched in and loaded all their gear, the Cherokee on their trailer and brought it home for them.

I have pics of the rig, and will upload them later.
I did not have any at the crash site as I was helping with the vehicle extraction on Sat.

Todd

[lttlbddy]

Todd, sorry I missed you as well.

As a member of the Desert Dawgs a lot of my club members were there on both Friday and Saturday helping with the accident and I can offer up most of the names that helped:

Friday night: Matt & Beth Battaglia, Daniel and Amanda Alvarez, Matt Manzanetti, Mary ?, if there were others, I can't remember. Daniel was at Ballarat communicating with NPS, CHP & other officials. Gunner was at base camp relaying Ham Radio messages between the rescue site, base camp and Ballarat. Andy Cunningham and the Ruff Rock Cafe kitchen crew made up a bunch of burritos and chicken that was delivered onto the rescue site by John Snell.

Saturday: Gunner Taylor, Guy ? from the Gadzuks. Bob Reed (Cal 4 Wheel President), Harry Baker (Cal 4 Wheel VP, South District).

I know a lot of your Hanford Trailbusters were in on the vehicle recovery team as well.

The accident happened at about 3:30pm and the driver of the Cherokee lifted off from Ballarat just after midnight. It was a long night for all.

Most of the Desert Dawgs were either leading trails or trail crew on Saturday with 8am run departure times. All runs seemed to go off on schedule but I did see a lot of bleary eyes on Saturday afternoon.

FYI - 3 of these Desert Dawgs members just received their Ham Licenses a few months ago. All used them on this day. Many other members have had their Ham license longer and were using them on this day. The Ham communication worked very well for this emergency situation. At one point, we used Ham to relay questions and information between trail down and Ballarat and then to NPS dispatch to NPS Rangers on the trail. It wasn't direct but it got the same information to all involved.

[navy-jeepster]

Steve

Thanks for the names of the Desert Dawgs that came up to help.
They were great and did an outstanding job.
I will work on a letter from our club President to your club President, thanking them for their help.

Marsha is home now and recovering fine. She has a medical appt today to evaluate her hand that is bruised up.

The ham radios are the way to go, and as we all know, the CB's become useless in a canyon like that for long distance communications. Our club became painfully aware of it this weekend.
I am attending a ham class later this week, and it has been scheduled for a while. I am trying to get other club members into the class too.
Also, the first aid kits that were in the vehicles were useless. Not the right type of stuff to treat what was wrong up there.
We are going to buy a big trama type bag for the club. Another painfull lesson this weekend.

I personally think the requirement to carry a first aid kit is an old idea that needs to go away.
In its place, a event should have a trama style bag of medical supplies at the ready, and run leaders be first aid trained.

I know a guy that carries a back board, difibulator and oxygen in his jeep.
He may never have to use it, but he is ready if needed.
I do not think we will go to that extreme though.

But it was a wake up call for us in a situation like this.

Thanks for everyones help.

Todd
Trail Busters Secretary.

[lttlbddy]

We have some issues with the way communications worked with the "Officals" (BLM, NPS, Sheriff, CHP). We will be addressing those to see how we can improve the "system".

This is an area that has ZERO digital coverage and minimal analog coverage. We are already looking into renting a Sat Phone for the week of the event next year. It won't help the with the clueless people we call but at least we will be able to get the ball rolling a bit faster.

On the subject of Ham License . . . we do try to have someone with Ham as trail crew on every run. We can't always talk from point to point but with a relay from base camp, we haven't found any dead spots in the entire valley (so far).

[OTR]

Originally Posted by lttlbddy

We have some issues with the way communications worked with the "Officals" (BLM, NPS, Sheriff, CHP). We will be addressing those to see how we can improve the "system".

Steve. Can you expand on this ?




k.

[lttlbddy]

Kris,

I've just had a brief discussion with an involved Club Member before the raffle Saturday night. Once we have a wrap-up meeting and discuss this with better detail and fact, I will be glad to share and bounce ideas around.

Steve

Originally Posted by OTR

Steve. Can you expand on this ?

k.

[celticcross]

I was out there listening on the ham radio. There was no reason for it to take 9hrs for the lady to make down to the transport.
It also took very long to get a hold of the BLM and CHP. With no cell service there needs to be a satellite phone at the next event.
It also needs to be said that the group that was on the trail on friday was not part of a PVD event. They were out there on there own and thanks to the help of the people of PVD they all made it out.

[navy-jeepster]

Originally Posted by celticcross

It also needs to be said that the group that was on the trail on friday was not part of a PVD event. They were out there on there own and thanks to the help of the people of PVD they all made it out.

The group was out on this run on their own is a true statement.
But they were there for the PVD event to participate in organized runs on Sat.

There are many lessons for all involved from the accident on Friday.
Our club is changing the way they will do some things.

We will change something with how we lead the High Sierra event too.
We will do some extra planning in case something like this accident happens on Swamp Lake trail.

We never want to see someone get hurt.
But sometimes it brings to light little holes in our plans, and we find ways to fix them.
Enough about that.

The crew that went up and recovered the jeep did an outstanding job of getting the jeep out of the bottom of that canyon and did it safely.

Steve listed their names below.
The names from the Hanford Trail Busters are:
Clay Weed
Al Spires
Todd Ockert
Rebel Hunt
Scott ?

Then we all worked on getting their motorhome home and their vehicles from PVD event site.

Marsha is doing well. She has an appointment today to check out her getting dizzy on the way home from the L.A. area.

Our club is still in somewhat of shock.
We probably not wheel again until sometime after the first of the year.
We did have a trip planned to Jaw Bone in Dec. Not going to happen now.

Thanks for all the prayers and concern.
We have a great wheeling family that takes care of their own in time of need.
It was proven without a doubt on Friday and Sat.

From the Hanford Trail Busters, thanks to everyone out there for their thoughts and prayers.

Todd

[igofshn]

There was no reason for it to take 9hrs for the lady to make down to the transport

It took 9 hours because the rescue personnel would not go in there to help get her out. She had to be carried out using the back seat as a back board. Park service was more worried about getting the vehicle out than her condition.

[OTR]

Originally Posted by igofshn

Park service was more worried about getting the vehicle out than her condition.

Im just curious.


You are the second person in this thread to mention the Park Service.


What did NPS have to do with it ?
Chicken Rock is not within the NPS boundary.

This should have been a BLM and Inyo Sheriff/SAR issue.
CHP would be involved only in the capacity to route a mobile 911 call to the appropriate agency. I can see a breakdown happening there, that happens all the time. If the call did go to the NPS, that was wrong.

Did you speak to anyone in the park ?
Id like to know who it was in the Park that had more concern for the vehicle than the driver. Emergencies are taken very seriously there, especially in the backcountry.




k.

[cweed]

SAR was there and they were as bad as the rest. There were two young CHP officers that hitched a ride with Mike from Desert Dawgs and then hiked up to where we were waiting at the bottom of the cliff. There were two groups of search and rescue at Ballarat that turned around and went home while we were still waiting for help and we were still at the bottom of the cliff.

We didn't have a back board so we made one from the rear seat and pulled her up the side of the cliff one ledge at a time.

I was there with the injured driver the entire time from the beginning until we got her on the chopper. The rangers were very rude and didn't want to help, The rangers were at the top of cliff watching us lifting her up ledges and went back and sat in their JK while I was yelling repeadily for them to come and help us. The CHP officers didn't have to be there but I am very glad they were. Like I mentioned the rangers didn't want to help us but the CHP pursuaded them to do so and allowed us to transport her in the back of their JK (it was only 34 (f) at that time, we had been in the bottom of the cliff for 9 hours then). We didn't even have her in the ambulance at the trail before the head Ranger that was waiting for us asked if we were going back to get the jeep. I told him then ( while the drivers husband looked in disbelief) that it wasn't going to happen that night and his next question was if we could have it out by Monday.

The paramedic's on the ambulance got mad and shitty attitudes because the CHP medic wanted to air lift her out becuase Ridgcrest wasn't capable of handling the trauma.

In listening and watching what was transpiring between the agenies that were there it was like watching a bunch of school kids fighting and bickering.

I for one will never rely on or expect any help from the so called emergency services. Two guy's even drove to Trona at 110 mph to get the fire and rescue and they said it was to far away and they wouldn't help. I'll have all the EMT equipment with me next time and can promise you we won't sit and wait for 9 hours to have to pull ourselves out anyway.

[lttlbddy]

Neither of the helo teams were night certified or mountain certified and would not rescue in the canyon. The only night/mountain cert team was the military and they wouldn't come, I don't know their reasons.

We will be finding out exactly what resources we can rely on and the best ways to use them at our upcoming meetings.

Steve G

[OTR]

Originally Posted by cweed

SAR was there and they were as bad as the rest. There were two young CHP officers that hitched a ride with Mike from Desert Dawgs and then hiked up to where we were waiting at the bottom of the cliff. There were two groups of search and rescue at Ballarat that turned around and went home while we were still waiting for help and we were still at the bottom of the cliff.

Which county was the SAR from that "turned around and went home" ? Inyo or Kern ?
Did SAR make it to Chicken Rock, or only Ballarat ?

Originally Posted by cweed

...The rangers were very rude and didn't want to help, The rangers were at the top of cliff watching us lifting her up ledges and went back and sat in their JK while I was yelling repeadily for them to come and help us. The CHP officers didn't have to be there but I am very glad they were. Like I mentioned the rangers didn't want to help us but the CHP pursuaded them to do so and allowed us to transport her in the back of their JK...

Were these BLM or NPS rangers ?

Originally Posted by cweed

We didn't even have her in the ambulance at the trail before the head Ranger that was waiting for us asked if we were going back to get the jeep. I told him then ( while the drivers husband looked in disbelief) that it wasn't going to happen that night and his next question was if we could have it out by Monday.

Did you catch his name ?




k.

[cweed]

I may have the rangers names on some of the paperwork that was being filled out at the time. I'll check. There were two teams that made it to Ballarat, none of the SAR teams showed ever showed up at chicken. I heard about the choppers not coming. The CHP officer was relaying information to us on the status. First they were coming, then they weren't, then they were, then they weren't. This went on for some time.

We had her stable within a few minutes of the roll over. The rest was waiting for help to get her out without the potential for additional injury to her or the people helping. A basket and more help would have reduced that time we were there.

[cweed]

As an update Marsha the driver is doing well, we just talked with her. She won't need reconstructive surgery on her thumb but it won't be the prettiest digit on her hand. She ended up with 40 staples on the cut on her head. Outside of that she is in higher spirits and resting at home. Both boy's are doing well with just minor bruises and scrapes.

[igofshn]

You are the second person in this thread to mention the Park Service.

Rangers/Park Service??? What ever they were.

[jeep937]

What happened?

[navy-jeepster]

Originally Posted by jeep937

What happened?

Read part of the thread.

It is up near the top.

[Panamint Charlie]

Great job to all those involved! You guys pulled through and did what needed to be done.

We will be finding out exactly what resources we can rely on and the best ways to use them at our upcoming meetings.

I'd be interested in hearing what you guys come up with.

I re cert with the Red-Cross every few years for first-aid and CPR. I figure it's the least I can do to be somewhat prepared for a medical emergency. Maybe some of the clubs out there should get their members together and do the same. Can't hurt.

A Defib machine would also be a good thing to have at some of these events that take place so far from civilization. Something to think about...

Again, Awesome job pulling together. All of us at panamintvalley.com are glad to hear the accident victims are going to be alright.

[Rocksurfer]

As a standard user here I am unable to post attachments, I was with the Pleasant run and took a lot of pictures of the recovery. I have posted them on MC if anyone wants to view them.


http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=63650.0

[mywillys]

So what happened? Did the XJ come down and get off camber and roll or what?

Or were they going up? Glad to hear everyone is ok and they got the XJ out.