Part III
Current mood: blah

Finally, on a run up the ridgeline, I see someone a couple of hundred yards below, and that someone looks like Cody. I throw my arms up in the air to signal I've seen him.

He later tells me he thought I was throwing my arms up in the air in exasperation. Like I was saying 'what the fuck took you so long!'

Cody catches up to me, and I fill him in on what's going on and what's been done. He is also a Wilderness First Responder.....as I am...as most of the Sunny Cove guides are, so I want him to be on the same page as me.

He heads down and sits next to Heidi to help her be more comfortable. She has been sitting in water on rocks holding her leg for a long time and is obviously relieved to have someone to lean on.

Shortly after Cody arrives I hear a helicopter. I run back up to the ridgeline to grab the e-blanket to make sure we are visible. I stand on the ridgeline holding the blanket up in the air with one hand.....the blanket whipping in the wind. Cody tell's me later I looked like some weird patriotic scene standing up there like that......I do remember feeling foolish, but not caring.

I just wanted that damned helicopter to see us.

The bird turns out to be a medivac rig from Anchorage. Earlier S&R had asked me to scope a landing zone for the bird. The best LZ I could see is about 150 yards below us, and it's obviously rocky, but looks relatively flat. There is definitely enough room to set a bird down.

So, the bird hovers around....and circles...and hovers.

Watching the bird and seeing the wobble it experiences everytime it nears the ground it becomes apparent the wind is an issue.

And then the bird flies away.

Shortly thereafter I get a call from the pilot telling me it's too windy and rocky to land and that another bird will be there in about five minutes. Then I get a call from S&R telling me the helicopter will be there in 45 minutes.

Sigh.

So we wait. Heidi is getting more shocky and is beginning to get cold. Cody layers her up in his clothing, and we both make sure she is drinking some water.

It's been about a half hour of chatting when Cody notices a C130 flying over. He chuckles and says, "Hey look! They sent a C130 to pick you up." And I say, "Yea, it's gonna land right there on that ridgeline!" We all kind of laugh.



And then we start hearing another noise.



And we see the next bird.

It's big. And black.

It's a freaking Blackhawk from the Air National Guard!

So this bird has a better chance of landing in more rugged terrain. It flies around scoping for awhile and then I get a phone call from the Blackhawk.

Talking to a helicopter on the phone is weird cause they are on the radio. And they use radio calls and lingo.

Anyhow, the pilot tells me the wind and terrain is making it difficult to find an LZ. The pilot has decided the best course of action is to drop a basket and a medic and to scoop Heidi. So we secure the area....stow anything loose so that we don't get anything tangled up in the rotor wash and we hunker down with Heidi.


....bird coming over the ridgeline for the scoop.

Did you know the rotor wash of a Blackhawk must be at least 100mph?

Cody is holding Heidi's body and I'm holding her leg.

This helicopter begins to decend towards us.....and it's crazy windy. The winds just keep increasing until rocks are flying around. Cody is trying hard to hold Heidi still, and I'm trying really hard to hold Heidi's legs still and Heidi is yelling.

And I'm thinking, "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

And then I'm thinking, "Get the fuck outta here! She's in pain and you're making it worse!"

And then the wind is gone.

No bucket.

No medic.

Hold on.....I'll try to post more later.