Snohomish County Search and Rescue were forced to split up on simultaneous rescue missions in the Cascades.
The team received two reports of two hikers injured in two separate spots. One man fell near the summit of Three Fingers (pictured above). And the other was injured on Buck Creek Pass, east of Glacier Peak (pictured below).
The man injured on Three Fingers slipped and fell 200 feet on a glacier. He suffered a sprained ankle and knee. He was said to be a very experienced climber and had all of the equipment to stabilize himself and stay warm until rescue arrived.
Rescuers used a pulley system to hoist the man from the glacier to the trail. Aerial rescue was out of the question with weather passing through. Unfortunately the man may have to wait until Tuesday when the weather clears to be airlifted out.
On Buck Creek pass, a man fell and broke his leg. The cause of the accident is unknown. He had a radio and used morse code to signal for help. A ham radio operator in Montana picked up the distress call and called 911.
Rescuers on horseback responded to the scene and carried the man out on the horses.
A total of 50 rescuers were involved in both missions.
Read the story here.
Per the King TV website:
Two hikers rescued from Cascade wilderness
02:50 PM PDT on Monday, September 22, 2008
KING5.com Staff and Associated Press
GRANITE FALLS, Wash. – Snohomish County Search and Rescue on Monday rescued two hikers in distress in the Cascades.
One team dispatched Sunday was with a hiker who hurt a leg in a fall on Three Fingers Mountain, about 11 miles east of Granite Falls. The man was airlifted to a hospital on Monday afternoon.
A second team helped another hiker with a leg injury in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.
The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office says he used a HAM radio to call for help Sunday. The signal was picked up by someone in Bozeman, Mont., who called Snohomish Search and Rescue.
The Search and Rescue team located the second victim and he was loaded up on horseback for the ride out.
The condition of the two hikers was not known.