Rescue incident on Mt Whitney Trail

The third and final UPDATE: A week after writing it, I can confirm that this writeup has dissuaded several novice hikers with no mountaineering experience in doing Whitney until the switchbacks open up. In that, I believe the account has served its purpose (and hope it continues to). However, recently a news piece came out on the incident and it, among other things, revealed the identities of the hikers. With that development, I have received requests to change this and that details (some ridiculously minor), or to choose different words which would subtly change the narrative to make some of the people involved appear in different light. The reasons (which were so obvious to me I didn't think of mentioning them) I preserved the hikers identities were 1. Not cause them more embarrassment/ humiliation than they already went through 2. Not have their background (for example, their affiliation with an exceptionally famous university) generate unnecessary and irrelevant biases among the readers. 3. Most importantly, even though the incident is about these particular hikers, it is not really about them! It is about the hiker personalities they represent. I wanted to emphasize this point so that the account has a time-invariant relevance to it.

With that in view, and the fact that I am not used to getting so much social media attention and it has been distracting me from things I hold dear, I am putting an end to making updates to the writeup. I obviously do not intend to cherry-pick personal accounts, and if you were involved in the incident and wish to be heard, please feel free to add a comment.
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UPDATE #2: I have added more account of H3 with regards to the rock H1 was carrying, and more details on how H2 and H3 spent the night. H3 asked me to feel free to add these to original account, but for now due to lack of time, I am adding them as statements towards the end.
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UPDATE: I have added an account from Bruce- one of the backpackers who helped with the rescue- towards the bottom. It provides insight on the happenings while descending down the chute (of which I was not a part of). I decided to include his entire account, including the judgemental parts.
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We all make mistakes. However, some can be more consequential than others, and to one’s own self as well as to others. And we can learn a lot from the mistakes of others, so that we can avoid doing them ourselves. With that objective in mind, this report concerns three day hikers (H1, H2, and H3) who got stranded up at Mt Muir (H1) and on Trail Crest (H2 and H3) and ended up overnighting with minimal resources on May 3-4, 2019. Along with some backpackers (about 6 from a ‘group of 12’ from Gonzaga University stayed to help at various stages), I helped support H2 and H3 until extraction, and -along with H3- communicate with H1. I have tried my best to be unbiased, restricting the report to objective, factual information which I gathered from H3 (who was the least affected), two national park rangers who landed from a recce helicopter, 4-5 backpackers from the ‘group’, and my own observation. As of this writing (5/6/2019), I have confirmation that all three are doing well. This account has been verified by H3 (through email). 

The hiker H1 was the more experienced, and had previously summited Mt. Whitney and was very familiar with the trail.  H2 and H3 were novices - neither of them had used an ice axe before; H2 did not have crampons- just microspikes on hiking boots; H3 was in jeans with a thermal layer underneath. They started off from Whitney Portal trailhead around 7:30 am. Their plan was to summit Mt. Whitney until around 2:00 pm. Considering their pace, H1 adjusted the plan to turn back at 5 pm even if they didn’t summit. H2 and H3 had no idea how difficult the hike would be and trusted H1, who had done Mt. Whitney and the chute (99 switchbacks are inaccessible due to snow) before. Hiking in the darkness was expected. Only when H3 talked to another hiker going down the chute and found out that 1) icy conditions were approaching and 2) the summit was 3 hours away from the trail crest did it become apparent that the plan was completely unrealistic. To lighten their load, H2 and H3 kept their backpacks at the bottom of the chute. The backpacks had food, water, layers, and headlamp. H2 also had a thermal blanket in the pack. H3 also had a radio in the pack and was a licensed radio operator. These packs were left behind with the idea that they would be turning around within an hour (5 pm). H2 and H3 carried only ice axes and a bottle of water up the chute. H1 carried his pack and had food, water and layers. Upon reaching the trail crest, H1 advocated for climbing Mt. Muir and took off, leaving H2 and H3 to bargain with him to turn back at 7 pm. 

After H1 departed from the Mt. Whitney trail, H2 and H3 discussed what should be done. H1 called for both of them to follow, but H2 decided immediately not to continue (H2 kept voice contact with both H2 and H3 as they disappeared out of sight and continued calling for a few minutes after that). H1 said that he needed H3 to join. At this point, H3 asked H2 what he should do and H2 suggested following H1 and making him turn around at the agreed upon time of 7 PM. With this, H3 tried to catch up to H1 who had almost passed out of view by the time H3 started. H3 followed H1 up the scramble, but upon seeing the difficulty of the route that H1 was leading, decided not to continue, announcing that this exceeded his climbing ability. At 7 pm, attempts to get H1 to turn around were fruitless. H1 then passed out of view behind a cliff. After a couple minutes of waiting in place, H3 realized that to his left there was a simple class 3 climb and found the summit to be very nearby. On the summit, H3 heard H1 asking where he was and responded saying that he was at the summit, but the route taken was much less challenging. Upon hearing H1 straining, H3 warned of taking risks (actual words: "It's just a fuckin' rock, man, don't worry about it”. H1 had a tradition of carrying rocks to the summit as a memento and signing them upon return. On this occasion, H1 was carrying a 10-lb granite slab). H1 screamed in pain and communicated his situation to H3- He had dislocated his shoulder and requested H3's assistance to relocate it, but H3 said that he did not have the climbing skills to reach H1 and that he neither had medical skills to treat the injury. H1 called via an Inreach with an SOS signal and to friends in the area, around 7:45 pm. H3 left view of H1 with H1 hearing no response from SOS signals (his friends received the message around 11 pm and contacted a rescue team. H1 was in contact with the friends throughout the night and was aware of a helicopter extraction planned for the morning). H1 instructed H3 to take care of H2 and suggested descending the chute to reach the trail camp. 

photo credit: H3

Waldo = H1. photo credit: unknown (recce helicopter?). source: H3

H3 returned to the Mt. Whitney trail to find that H2 was not present. H2 had panicked after not seeing H1 and H3 and decided to return to the trail camp, despite having no experience in descending a snow chute. H3 spent 10 minutes calling and searching for H2 before estimating that H2 may have returned to the trail crest. H2 and H3 continued calling for each other for the next half hour and when H3 returned to trail crest, encountered H2 and explained the situation. H2 was in shock and felt nausea and a need to vomit. After some time of calming, H3 and H2 decided to attempt to descend the chute.They had no glissading experience and had only seen videos of it on youtube. It was also past sunset, and the chute had turned icy. H2 remained uphill of H3, with both using ice axes to arrest. However, after about 10 feet, H2 lost control and slid into H3, leaving H3 hanging on to the ice axe (NOTE: H2's recollection differs on this particular moment- he maintains that he barely descended and at no point made physical contact with H3 that could cause him to lose stability). H3 was able to stabilize with crampons and they immediately returned to the top of the trail crest. As they were in immediate need of shelter, they started calling out for help in the direction of Trail Camp. (It was dark and my wife and I were half asleep in our tent at Trail Camp- but we did hear a few calls echoing. I dismissed it as some hikers communicating with each other. Though my wife wondered if someone was calling for help). With no response from the Trail Camp, H2 and H3 decided they had no option but to spend the night on Trail Crest. They tried to find a spot in a notch by the trail so that they could see hikers the next day. Their socks and boots started icing. They removed them and wrapped their feet with a cap. H2, growing up in the tropics had little tolerance to cold, and was worse off. H3 had spent the last few years in a colder climate and was less affected. Thankfully, there was little to no wind that night. They couldn’t sleep and tried shifting positions against the abrasive granite. At one point they tried sleeping right on the trail hoping that it’d be softer than the rocks. But H2 judged that there was more exposure to the wind from lying on the trail, so they reverted back to their spot. H2’s condition worsened progressively and nearing sunrise, he started showing symptoms of hypothermia- uncontrolled shivering and onset of incoherency. H3 embraced him to provide some warmth. H3 found us (some backpackers with the ‘group’, me and my wife) shortly after sunrise (6:30am). Henceforth, my perspective. 

I went with H3 to get H2 (who was ~ 200 yards away but was very weak) while one of the ‘group of 12’ backpackers tried calling 911. He was awake but shivering uncontrollably. But he was conscious and panicked. He was barefoot and I helped him walk to the Crest where it was now sunny. Other backpackers immediately started warming him up with layers and warming his feet by holding them in their armpits. I gave my gloves and outer layer to H3 who was shivering but was showing remarkable presence of mind and awareness, likely due to adrenalin. He took me and two other backpackers to see the status of H1. After reaching the approach diversion to Mt Muir, the other two hikers decided not to proceed up since it was Class 3. So H3 and I proceeded further. We stopped climbing after a while once we were able to make contact with H1 and found a sunny patch to stay warm. H1 was conscious, and was doing okay with food and water. After a while, Adrian, who was leading the ‘group’ came up near to us. He was in contact with his team, was the most experienced among us, and initiated several back-and-forth communications: H1 to us (H3 and me), us to Adrian, and Adrian to his teammates who were looking after and sending updates on H2. (Since there were enough people helping, half of the ‘group’ and my wife decided to push for the summit). H1 told us a helicopter was coming for him by 9:30 and given the dire condition H2 was in, efforts were made to see if he could get extracted as well. We finally heard that the helicopter would come for H1 and then ‘work’ towards extracting H2. With that somewhat ambiguous confirmation, we decided to head down from our point on the scramble; there is nothing we could do for H1 anyway. Adrian decided to look after some of his team mates while H3 and I headed back to Trail Crest to H2. Since we assumed both H1 and H2 would be extracted, I promised H3 that I would stick with him until all the way down. On the way we saw a helicopter come by Mt Muir and by Trail Crest, but thought it was impossible to rescue them so soon. The helicopter was just recceing, but dropped off two SEKI park rangers near Trail Crest.

H2 was doing very well and appeared cheerful and was holding conversations, despite occasional shivering. He was well taken care of by Trevor and Bruce from the ‘group’. However, he was not confident of going down (I believe- apologies from diverting from facts- it was a combination of him realizing the limit of his ability to descend the chute, unsurety of how he felt, the prospect of heading all the way down the mountain after the chute, as well as a bit of overreaction from the group who expressed doubt on his condition to descend, probably adding to his self-doubt) and was banking on getting extracted and somewhat assumed his insurance would cover it. The rangers dismissed any possibility of extracting H2 by a chopper (actual words: “This is not a taxi service”, though they patiently explained the bigger picture of efforts that go into extraction) since H2 was doing well, and that the spot where H1 was stranded was so tight that they would have to call for a Chinook- one would have to be flown from Seattle and was on its way, and H1 being the main priority for the extraction, which would be an ‘all day operation’. So it was decided that the only viable option for them would be to descend the entire mountain by foot. Around this time, several hikers were coming and passing us by the Trail Crest. Two day hikers (Dave and Jon) who are with the Air Force- offered to take H2 and H3 down. One of the rangers, Rob, gave H2 and H3 a quick demonstration in holding and using an ice axe on descent- while stepping and glissading. Bruce and Trevor decided to go with them and so did Rob. Laura, the other ranger, decided to go up to H1. She already knew his exact location, having seen him from the chopper. Adrian joined us as he decided to wait for the rest of his team at the Trail Crest. I had promised H3 that I will be with him, but him and H2 were in ‘more’ and ‘more  capable’ hands- the Air Force duo took responsibility of taking them all the way down. One of them had Spot which he was willing to use if needed (The ranger warned him that doing so would send an auto distress signal to his family, to which Dave just smiled and said "that's okay, they know I am here"). So H3 and I mutually decided that he would go with them while I wait for my wife ( who was with members of Adrian’s ‘group’, and did not have a prior experience of going down a chute) at the Trail Crest. I saw them start the descent down the chute, and they were very slow. They were still descending even after 2 hours (about the same amount of time it took me to climb it). My wife had been ‘adopted’ by the ‘group’ and summited and was well taken care of by them (she had no food with her. I was carrying our food and I gave most of it all to H3. I’m thankful to Adrian and Trevor for feeding me in turn). With all the ‘group’ and my wife back at Trail Crest, we started descending the chute. I met Rob who was on the way up- he expressed concern over H2 and H3 as the weather was turning bad and they had made very little progress (they were still near the bottom of the chute.) He took my Inreach email and sent me a message so that I could reply to him with ‘Okay’ or ‘Help needed’ when I came across them. I did not receive the message, but it didn’t matter- to my surprise, I did not see them when I reached the bottom of the chute, or at Trail Camp. We started wrapping up our camp. As we left the camp, I saw the Chinook arrive atop Mt Muir, send down a person. I didn’t stop for long since it was now snowing.  We headed back as fast as we could (going down steep shortcuts, we were down in less than 3 hours) and were relieved to hear that H2 and H3 and the Air Force duo had reached the trailhead before us. That rush also allowed us to get down just in time to sneak in to Mt Whitney Burger as it closed at 9. I regretted parting with Adrian without saying "Zot Zot Zot" (he studied at UC Irvine two decades before I did).

H2 and H3 descending the chute helped by Air Force duo, ranger Rob from SEKI, and Trevor and Bruce from the 'group of 12'. photo credit: me

The Chinook rescuing H1. photo credit: me

H3 confirmed later that they all were doing well. H1 was delivered to Lone Pine Airport and refused medical treatment. He then walked to a nearby clinic and was diagnosed with a sprained shoulder, with a prognosis that recovery would occur over a few days. H2 continues to have symptoms of shivering, despite not being in a cold environment. However, all are in stable conditions with minor worries.

BONUS: The sunrise was beautiful that day!

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Account from Bruce from the 'group of 12'
"Great report, only Dave from the Air Force was experienced and ultimately they along with Trevor and H3 glissaded down the chute. Rob left me in charge of H2 and I tried to get him down quicker by glissading with him. He was panicky and we resorted to me kicking in steps for him to follow which took a very long time and also exhausted my supply of water which H2 was in dire need. Close to the bottom of the chute, Air Force Dave relieved me and continued to escort H2 and H3 down the mountain along with his AF colleague. That was a godsend because Trevor and I and our colleagues still needed to break camp to descend to the Portal parking area. We also descended in about 3 hours. My observation is that H2 was in advanced stages of hypothermia shakes, chills, disorientation, lack of judgement, eyes rolling back in his sockets, etc. Had we not ascended as early as we did, it is quite possible H2 could have lost his life. The good weather clearly was the other contributing factor to the survival of all three.
My takeaways:
1. Be prepared - this not only involves the physical preparedness of equipment, clothing, and Skills, but;
2. The willingness to exercise common sense and god judgement, especially if you are the steward of others less experienced (for example, when the two Air Force hikers learned that part of the trail to the summit was still quite “sketchy” the more experienced of the two immediately said to his companion, “we’re not going to the summit” even though they were well equipped and obviously fit.). This seemed like an almost perfect juxtaposition of two types of leaders, one who was mostly concerned with the welfare of who he was leading and the other more concerned with achieving his own personal goal. Hubris has been the downfall of many leaders but is especially egregious when it effects the safety or lives of others. Knowing that the mission or vision is “not to summit, but rather to return safely to the bottom of the mountain” is to fully align the highest value, human life, with any adventure."

"I should also say that the assistance of almost every member of our team from Gonzaga University, alumni and faculty, contributed in meaningful and life saving ways, including but not limited to: first aid, equipment, clothing, food, water, emergency communication, inter-personal communication, comfort, encouragement and the physical assistance on Trail Crest and on descent.  My Gonzaga cohorts were tremendously generous, compassionate, and expert in dealing with this situation, led by Department Head Dr. Adrian Popa.  And of course, many thanks to Hrishi and our colleagues from the Air Force (Dave based at Los Ángeles Air Force base and John from Edwards Air Force Base who helped with  this successful “rescue.”  It was also clear from the Wilderness Rescue Ranger, Rob, that he was grateful for our comprehensive assistance which allowed he and his wife Laura, also a ranger, to assist H1 who was in dire need of extraction.”
"

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H3's additional comments:
20-lb granite rock (NOTE: later found to be about 10-lb)
H1 carried a 20-lb slab of granite throughout the hike, fixed in his jacket. While stopping at Mirror Lake along the hiking trail, the group ran into multiple groups of hikers, including one which had turned back, and a contingent of the 'group of 12'. It was much to the amusement of the group that H1 was carrying a 20-lb slab of granite.

On the way up Mt. Muir, H3 observed that the rock was in his pack as he helped H1 zip it up after taking off his crampons.


More details on how H2 and H3 spent the night:
After their failed attempt to descend the chute, H2 and H3 made several calls for help, yelling "SOS" and "help" at the top of their lungs towards the trail camp. At the time, it seemed imperative that H1 receive help before the onset of the night, due to his exposed position on top of the mountain. After this failed, H2 and H3 resigned to staying the night at the trail crest and hoping to signal to the trail camp at dawn. H2 expressed his concern with dangers he had researched - avalanches, lightning, mountain lions, lizards, and bears. A snow foxhole was briefly considered, but due to the calm winds, abandoned in favor of a small rocky alcove, settling in around 8:30 PM.

Throughout the night, H2 expressed concern over their survival. Most of the night was spent shifting positions, searching for rocks to sit on, and adjusting clothing.H3 had a liter of water and H2 and H3 shared this overnight. Initially, the greatest danger was frostbite at their feet. Both H2 and H3 had to remove boots and socks, which were wet from snow and sweat and started to ice over. H3 took H2's feet against his abdomen to warm them up. H3 tied off his sweater around H2's feet, to which H2 added his cap, and H3 used his own cap and gloves for his own feet. Time passed slowly, and at 12:30 AM, the temperature of the night was sufficient to keep H2 and H3 shivering constantly. H2 made H3 promise to him repeatedly to stay with him unconditionally.

The most dire part of the night came at 4 AM. In about an hour, daylight would come and serve as a psychological sign that the worst had passed. H3 noticed that H2's head had started to bob backwards and embraced him and cradled his head. H2's lips were quivering and he would not respond to H3's words. His eyes were in a squint, with only the whites of his eyes showing. H3 proceeded to furiously warm H2 up and he managed to recover after about a half hour. After this point, H2 and H3 changed to constantly embracing. Around 5 AM, the sun started to rise, the temperature very gradually got warmer, and H2's demeanor improved and changed to anticipation of how to exit the mountain. Although doubting his survival throughout the night, H2 at 6 AM was now in much better condition, stating that he could make it throughout the day, but if he was forced to spend another night on the mountain, he would not survive. But H3 assured him that the Mt. Whitney trail was one of the most popular in California.

At about 6 AM, H2 and H3 decided to check the trail crest, anticipating that the hikers camping at trail camp may start their ascent at sunrise. However, both H2 and H3's socks were frozen along with their boots. They proceeded to warm up the socks by sitting on them and pressing them against the skin of the abdomen and at around 6:30 AM, H3 had managed to get both of his boots on. As soon as he stepped out, he noticed the shadow of hikers at the trail crest.

With the generous and expert care of the group of hikers at the crest, H2 recovered quickly. Although he was assessed by the hikers initially as requiring helicopter evacuation, by the time that the rangers arrived, they assessed that he was capable of descending with the assistance of volunteer hikers and without the use of a helicopter.
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