entirety, we decided that it was time for lunch. So, we descended about 30 feet downhill
from the edge of the schrund, took off our packs and began to eat lunch. We were roped
together, but sat down next to each other, with the rope coiled beside us.
We had just began to eat when our entire region of the glacier calved-off and collapsed
into the schrund. We fell backwards through the air and I recall feeling completely certain
that we were dead, as the schrund had no apparent bottom when we had earlier examined
it. However, the blocks of ice somehow jammed in the schrund and formed a basin about
30 feet down.
When I landed I was flat on my back amongst large blocks of ice. I couldn't see Joe and
assumed that he had fallen into the depths of the schrund. Then, I heard a very loud
groan and cautiously rolled over to find Joe draped over an ice block, screaming in pain. I
prepared to go to Joe, but realized that we were still roped together. So, I got out my jack
knife to cut the rope, which went from my waist under the surrounding ice blocks. I quickly
realized that the falling ice had completely sliced through the rope.
Happily, my radio, which had been sitting on top of my pack during lunch, was still sitting
on my pack, which had been transported, intact, to my impact spot. I called for assistance
and Joe and I were extricated from the `schrund and Joe was transported, by helicopter, to
a hospital. He suffered a fractured pelvis, fractured ribs and a collapsed lung as the result
of puncturing by a rib.
xxxviii
When asked about the final disposition of the missing climbers, Errington reported that, "They
walked out, unharmed, later in the day of our accident. They had gotten lost in bad weather and
descended the wrong side of the mountain."
Ice fall kills rescuer
On March 24, 1998, two rescue mountaineers from Las Vegas Metro Police Department Search
and Rescue had just descended from a frozen waterfall where they had been engaged in an ice
climbing training. They were on Echo Face near the Cathedral Rock area. Suddenly, thousands
of pounds of ice fell on them, narrowly missing a rescue team volunteer, and killing Russell
Peterson, an eight-year veteran of the police department and the Search and Rescue Team.
Peterson, who had been on countless SAR missions for LVMPD over the years, was killed
immediately. His partner hiked two hours to notify authorities.
Rock fall injures rescuers, again during lunch!
On March 7, 2001, a group of rangers from Arches National Park were performing technical rock
rescue training. A report from the Park indicates that a rock estimated between 30- and 40-feet
fell nearly 300 feet from the top of a cliff. It broke into smaller pieces on its way down, causing a
loud noise.
The noise alerted six people who were directly below, sitting down to take a lunch break.
They scattered just before the rock hit the ground a few yards behind the lunch location
and exploded. Two park employees were injured. Andrew Fitzgerald was knocked to the
ground by flying debris and suffered a head injury and multiple lacerations; Lee Kaiser,
who was not among the six, injured his leg slightly while trying to get away from the flying
