Climber with Broken Leg
May 28, 2023
Northwest of Long Valley
2023-019
Written by: Richard Yocum
On Sunday, 5/28/2023, at about 2:15 pm Richard Yocum and Donny Goetz were hoist inserted by Riverside County Sheriff’s Aviation’s Rescue 9 helicopter on the upper portion of Skyline Trail to search for a rescuer’s backpack that had been left behind during a mission in mid-March. That rescuer suffered major trauma in a fall of nearly 500 feet down a snow-filled couloir at about 8,000’ elevation.
This season’s very heavy snow had finally melted enough for a second search and after scrambling up a couple very loose dirt and rocky couloirs and a bit of rope work, they located the backpack and other items that were scattered about.
Almost immediately after their hoist extraction at about 5 pm there was a call for help by a climber who was bouldering in an area northwest of Long Valley. We immediately diverted our return flight to assist and were able to locate the person in need of help. A Rescue 9 medic was inserted by hoist, placed the patient in a hot seat, and he was brought on board where his ankle was splinted.
We were all dropped off at the Keenwild Helicopter base where the patient was transferred to an ambulance.
RMRU Members Involved: (Donny Goetz and Richard Yocum)
Other Units Involved: (Riverside County Sheriff’s (SERT, Aviation Rescue 9)