At 1312 hours the Team was called to assist an injured 34-year-old male skier who had fallen in Cocaine Chute in Lee Vining Canyon at approximately 11,338’ elevation. The subject was reported to have head and leg injuries.

Rescue base was established at Lee Vining Airport. CHP Helicopter H42 was requested and accepted the mission. CHP H42, with three round trips, transported 5 field team members to the Dana Plateau near the top of the Chute. An additional field team of 3 members began an ascent of V Couloir on the way to the subject location.

The field team descended to the accident location to assess and treat the subject. After treatment, the subject was packaged in a SKED litter and lowered approximately 1,600 feet to the mouth of the couloir, and further transported a short distance to a suitable landing zone for helicopter extraction.

Building an anchor for the lowering operation. Image by M. Quiring

Lowering the subject down Cocaine Chute. Image by M. Quiring

CHP Helicopter H42 was unable to extract the subject, so assistance was requested from Naval Air Station Lemoore. Lemoore accepted the mission and responded with a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter to complete the extraction. The Lemoore helicopter was able to land below the couloir, and the subject was loaded and transported directly to the Fresno Community Regional Medical Center, a level 1 trauma center.

The second field team returned to base without subject contact, and the original field team descended V Couloir and exited the field. The operation was terminated at 0130 hours on Monday morning.

IC: Pelichowski, Rhoads, Salazar Ops Leader: Haugh Responders: Creager, Kelly, Huizingh, Carlson, Cucura, Buchanan, Senior, Lipman, Brownlee, Quiring, Anderson, Romanova