This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
which required the rescue of one of my- team. This type of thing happens very rarely, which is good, but on the other hand it can be bad due to the fact that when it does happen, nobody has had the experience to deal with the situation.
[ec a trip I led had a bit of excitement,
John Collier
During Rachel had fainted. She was unresponsive to my shouting and prodding; her pulse and breathing was OK. She had been dizzy a little earlier and Blair, her friend, said this had happened once or twice before and she usually came around soon afterwards. She had been unconscious for half an hour already so
The grade of the trip was Easy and only Christine and I had any major tramping experience. About halfway along a ridge six of our party were waiting for Blair and Rachel to catch up. After waiting for about half an hour, I headed back to find them. On the way I passed two hunters who were heading to the same destination as we were. I found Blair and Rachel 10 minutes back down the hill.
we-put-seme-warm-clothing-on-herand_moved-her___ L into a sleeping bag. I told Blair to find a suitable place for a fly, as I would go and bring back some gear from the other group. We decided at that time that Blair and Rachel would stay under the fly that night if Rachel’s condition improved. Blair would call for rescue via my cell phone if she did not. Twenty minutes later I was telling the group what had happened. I decided that Christine would lead the group on to the hut, which we were heading to, and I would catch up to them later. This would deal with one problem. I gave her my Topo map, shared the water out, retrieved the fly and cell phone, and headed back down to Blair and Rachel.
Rachel had only one response when I got back — nothing. A fly was erected, complete with a ground sheet, and we placed Rachel in a sleeping bag in a comfortable _position-under it. Heft Blair instructions on how to call for rescue and to inform the Club SAR contact person if there was no improvement in Rachel’s condition before 4.00pm. Blair had brought a primus and billy with him, and regarding food, my theory is basic and practical — everyone carries the same communal food which can be used singularly or communally. Thinking and Reflecting When I got back to my pack I decided to sit down to have a think and recap of my actions. In situations like this you can rush and overlook things very easily. Some points that came to mind at that time was: 1 Blair didn’t have a Topo map so how could he tell the police where he was? — only I knew that! 2 I didn’t have a Topo map so how did I know where we were — I gave mine to Christine! What use was my compass with no map; what use was the map with Christine who probably did not have a compass? 3 What was the NZMS 260 Topo map number? — oh for GPS. 4 Would Blair behave ratiorially — he was Rachel’s friend and they had done some tramping — but how much? 5 Would he call for rescue or just wait it out? Calling 111 at home is ok, but to get a helicopter _into the middle of the Kawekas?
8 The weather — it was brilliant now — but the forecast, well, it was not going to be favourable tonight. 9 The most important point was Rachel's condition — especially the fact that she had been unconscious for this long — was unknown. What was wrong with her and how long would she be unconscious for? To me at this stage it wasn’t a faint but a coma. This sounded more life threatening and a human life could be at risk.
Decision The last two points really summed up the situation. I made a decision there and then on what to do. It would solve all of the above. I went back down to Blair and Rachel; thirty seconds later I was talking to the emergency operator.
Help I asked for the Police; they put me on to the ambulance service. I told them of the situation. They asked me for Rachel’s pulse and vitals. I asked Blair to tell them all he knew about her!
But the voice on the phone had a problem. His helicopter was up in Wairoa and the nearest one available was in Taupo, so it would have to come from there. Next question was “location please”. Oh oh. I told them the general vicinity and mentioned the nearby prominent radio mast. The operator said that didn’t mean a thing to him, then Blair came to the rescue and said he had photocopied a bit from the Topo map. Of course those bits did not have the Topo map number. However, a light appeared from somewhere and then the answer for that came to me. The trip notes I gave to everybody had the map number. I always put that down in case they have a map and/or compass, and guess who was carrying that piece of information — both of us. Brilliant! At this time the call to 111 seemed to go on and on. 6 1 also had the cooker for our party — but that was covered by the hunters who would help out there, and there was probably a fire or stove at the hut. At least the main group was safe. What would happen if I had to go out and get help? How could I tell the group what had happened? 7 The Medium party and most probably the Fits would be returning this way tomorrow.
The time was 4 o'clock now. The voice said to leave the phone on because the helicopter pilot would get in touch with us, and said goodbye.
Waiting The time was 4 o’clock now. The helicopter pilot rang 10 minutes later asking for my position, weather conditions, and if there was a clearing so they could land near us. He hadn’t taken off yet but he would give me another call when they got closer in the air. At 4.20pm the phone rang — it was the pilot speaking. “We are over Kiwi Saddle and moving along the ridge, let me know when we are directly over you.” I did that a little while later — he flew high on this pass. At this point he said to put something bright on the ground; I thought the fly, which was perched amongst the trees, would be able to be seen and told him so. This time he came in just above the canopy and again spoke when he was above us. He circled and after a couple of loops spotted us. At this stage my plastic liner was just about out of my pack in order for it to be waved so they would spot us. The pilot said he did not have a winch so he would have to find a clearing in order to rig up the paramedic and his gear. In true Arnold Schwarzenegger style he said, “I’ll be back.”
He was soon back and like an arrow, flew straight to the point directly overhead, thanks no doubt to GPS. The paramedic was lowered and unhitched. The pilot then went back to the clearing and awaited further instructions from the paramedic. The whole operation involving the helicopter and paramedic appeared to be very professional.
Doctor The paramedic tried to get some response from Rachel. He listened to what Blair and I had to say, took her vital signs and then said one word — hospital. He gave Rachel a shot of something — no not a bullet — 1 can only assume it was adrenalin — that’s what they do on the TV. But I’m no doctor! We then prepared for the lift-out of Blair, Rachel in the stretcher, the paramedic, and their gear all in one load. At 5.00pm there was a wave from Blair as they were lifted through the canopy and I was alone. The helicopter would stop again at the clearing over yonder and load on the cargo that was swinging and spinning below.
at times. The rest of the group was eagerly awaiting my arrival and had many a question. It took me a while to regain my thoughts.
Finally Rachel recovered consciousness about half an hour after arriving at hospital and did not remember anything about what had happened. The weather that night — well the wind got up and it rained so it would have been a mite cold outside; however, by late morning the weather had cleared but was still a little windy.
Thanks To Kara Lipski who ran the Basic Casualty Management Course that she and the Club organises from time to time. Some words you learn from that course are S.A.M.P.L.E and S.R.A.B.C.D. If you don’t know what those acronyms mean then you should attend a course. An important part of those courses is to know how to do the basics, and the role-plays that we performed during the course are still quite vivid for me. (I remembered some of the words for the acronyms but not all.)
Cellphones Talking to “the Colonel” afterwards, he quoted some good advice: “Tell the operator that you are on a cellphone and ask them to ring you back when they are ready” — in order to conserve batteries. The amount of time spent waiting for them to make decisions and for us to respond to their requests seemed to be a long time — in reality it was only about 20 minutes. Another 5-10 minutes was spent talking to the pilot when he was locating us.
Questions @ Would you have done the same? @ What would you do if there was no cellphone? Alone I was alone — a little emotional; I don’t whether it was sadness, happiness, both or just a big weight off my shoulders. I arrived at Kiwi Saddle Hut in extra quick time; thinking about other things helps
— Yes the hunters had one. @ What would you do if the battery ran out at a crucial moment? (I personally have a contingency for this — no, I don’t carry a spare battery.)
ch) Ss ASR RSE IM
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WIT&MC September 1998
Trip Reports
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