By Peter Porco
Anchorage Daily News
Copyright 2007 Anchorage Daily News
All Rights Reserved
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska Air National Guard helicopter crew on Wednesday morning rescued a young hiker who spent a cold, wet night stranded on a steep mountain slope in Denali National Park.
The 20-year-old Californian was uncomfortable but uninjured, said Kris Fister, a Denali park spokeswoman. His name and hometown were not immediately available.
The man and a backpacking partner had camped for two nights in a region of the park south of Polychrome Pass, a place they hiked to from the park road with a plan to stay four nights altogether, Fister said.
On Tuesday the two were moving through rugged terrain north of Mount Pendleton, she said. Pendleton is roughly eight miles southeast of the overlook at Polychrome Pass.
They were hiking along different routes but within sight of each other when the victim climbed down on a “pretty steep slope, and he couldn’t get back up because of the scree,” or loose rocks and gravel, Fister said.
The man felt the slope was too steep to move safely in any direction, she said, so “he scrambled himself to this little rocky outcrop.
“He couldn’t go either up or down.”
The man’s partner, whose name also was unavailable, hiked out to the Teklanika Campground, some 18 miles north of Mount Pendleton, where he notified park authorities.
Denali officials sent a park helicopter to where the hiker was stranded. The chopper, with ranger Mike O’Connor aboard, landed on a saddle -- a low, flat spot on a ridge -- about 300 feet above the hiker, according to Fister.
O’Connor climbed down about 150 feet but could not descend any farther because of the steepness and looseness of the slope, she said. He could shout to the hiker but could not help the man.
The helicopter returned to its base while O’Connor remained to monitor the man’s condition and bolster his spirits, Fister said.
The weather was wet and windy, and some snowflakes were blowing around, she said. The hiker wore rain gear but “was pretty soaked. His jeans, all of his gear was wet. He was not injured, but our big concern was hypothermia.”
About 8:15 p.m., the National Park Service called for help from the 11th Rescue Coordination Center at Camp Denali on Fort Richardson.
Members of the 210th, 211th and 212th rescue squadrons, including pararescue men, or PJs, flew to the park a little after 11 p.m., the Air Guard said.
They stayed near the mountains for several hours but had to return to Kulis Air Guard Base in Anchorage without the hiker.
“Weather and clouds wouldn’t let them get in there,” said Fister.
While O’Connor stayed the night to watch over the hiker, Denali officials made plans to fly their own rescuers to the site come Wednesday. They hoped to lower rangers by ropes to the hiker and bring him up, Fister said.
But the PJs were back at the site by 7:15 a.m., said Capt. Guy Hayes, a Guard spokesman. The crew of a hovering Pave Hawk lowered a PJ, who fastened the hiker into a harness, and the crew hoisted them into the helicopter, Hayes said.
About 45 minutes later, he said, the helicopter dropped off the man at the airstrip at the park entrance where he was examined by National Park Service medics.
The hiker was rejoined by his partner, who had spent the night at park headquarters, according to Fister. The spokeswoman didn’t know where the two hikers were Wednesday night.
This was the second rescue of a hiker in Denali Park by the military this week.
On Monday, a helicopter crew from Company C, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks airlifted an injured woman to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, according to the U.S. Army Alaska.
The National Park Service identified the woman as Schuyler Fishman of Crestone, Colo., a 39-year-old interpreter working for Denali as a volunteer.
Fishman stumbled while walking on a river bed and fell face first on the rocks, according to Fister. She broke her glasses and cut her face, and it was feared she might have a more serious head injury. Park officials asked the military to make a medical evacuation, Fister said.
Fishman’s condition was unavailable Wednesday. A nursing supervisor at the hospital said she may have been examined but was not there Wednesday.