Brave rescue by local response team
Several members of the Carlsbad Fire Department played a critical role in an unbelievable rescue attempt this past April that sounds like something out of a movie. The story below is based on the incident report and an article printed on the website “Gearjunkie.”
The issue began at 6 p.m. April 29, when a call was received from a hiker stranded on a cliff face off of El Capitan, a sheer formation located at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The hiker reported being stranded on an area the size of a sheet of paper with one handhold. His hiking partner had already fallen 500 feet to his death. The caller reported being extremely fatigued and did not believe he would be able to hold on for much longer.
It was already dark, and rescuers scrambled to develop a plan to locate and rescue the stranded hiker. The wind was also picking up, with gusts reported of up to 50 miles per hour.
Blackhawk helicopters reached the area, but the wind was so bad that only a single team of three (Battalion Chief Scott Maxwell with the Carlsbad Fire Department, Engineer Brandon Lee with the Carlsbad Fire Department, and Nick Castille from Eddy County Fire and Rescue) were dropped about 1,000 feet from the hiker. The helicopters had to return to the visitor’s center. Maxwell and Lee rappelled in and, after about an hour of climbing down, Lee was able to reach the victim at around 5 a.m.
The foothold was so small that there was no way to put a harness on. Instead, Lee rigged a webbing harness and secured the man. Lee, Maxwell and Castille overcame numerous setbacks, but over the course of three hours, managed to haul themselves, and the trapped hiker, back to the top of the mountain.
Meanwhile, another rescue team was sent to recover the body of the fallen hiker. This effort was every bit as difficult, with rescue teams having to hunker down and wait until daylight. Communications went out during this effort at one point, and the litter was damaged. A member of the team assigned with finding a landing spot for the helicopters injured her leg. The deceased hiker’s body could only be moved in small increments at a time.
Carlsbad Fire Department employees also involved in the rescue attempt were Jesse Ramirez, Jeffrey Bishop, Burke Headrick, Mark Johnson and Michael Trujillo, who coordinated the rescue attempt.
Other agencies involved in the rescue effort were the Texas Department of Public Safety, Aircrews from C Company 2-227th MEDEVAC out of Fort Bliss, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Eddy County Fire and Rescue, the Dell City Fire Department, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the Culberson County Sheriff’s Office and the Culberson County Ambulance Service.
You can read a more extensive account of this harrowing effort at https://gearjunkie.com/news/el-capitan-guadalupe-rescue-hiker-dies
Thank you to all of the men and women for their incredible courage in participating in this successful rescue attempt.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Brave rescue by local response team
