The Ouray Mountain Rescue Team responded to two backcountry accidents recently that required technical rope rescue.
On Feb. 12, rescuers responded to a man who had fallen 20 feet from a cliff on Log Hill Mesa near Ridgway in Ouray County, said Tim Pasek, search and rescue volunteer and public information officer.
The victim, who suffered a head injury and was semi-conscious, was loaded onto a litter then hauled up the cliff by a boom and winch attached to a rescue truck.
He was taken by ambulance to a meadow then flown to a hospital by a Care Flight of the Rockies helicopter. The man reportedly fell while sightseeing.
On Jan. 29, the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team responded to a woman ice climber at the Ouray Ice Park who was struck on the back by a falling block of ice in the Uncompahgre Gorge.
People at the ice park had wrapped the woman in a sleeping bag, and she was loaded onto a search and rescue litter, Pasek said. A rope and pulley system lifted her to the top of the canyon rim.
The woman was loaded onto the Ouray Mountain Rescue tracked utility terrain vehicle and transported to a county road to a waiting ambulance. Ouray County EMS also responded to the incident.
Each rescue was assisted by 10 to 12 trained volunteers, Pasek said.
A waterfall ice climbing and rescue workshop with Rigging for Rescue is scheduled for Feb. 21-25 at the Ouray Ice Park.
The workshop focuses on the techniques and subtleties of ice climbing and waterfall ice rescue practices. Rigging for Rescue has been a commercial guide operator in the park since 2007, and trains park staff. To register, visit the Rigging for Rescue website.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
