July 12, 2018
Bigelow Range, West Peak A.T. Rescue
In the late afternoon on Thursday July 12th a Spot receiver was activated from the Appalachian Trail, on a section that traverses the Bigelow Mountain range in Carrabassett Valley, Maine.
The Spot was activated by an AT southbound through- hiker, “Double Blaze” of London, England. She had fallen on a rocky section of the trail, just south of West Peak. The fall resulted in a severely injured left ankle. Maine Warden Service initiated the search, along with Northstar EMS, Eustis Fire, and FSAR. FSAR members were paged through our “I Am Responding” communication system which notifies members of SAR incidents.
Al S. and Pat C. responded initially and were at the AT route 27 trail head command post by 6 pm. Jeff Z. responded later that evening.
Command and control was handled by the Maine Warden Service. Wardens Scott Thrasher and Scott Stevens gathered information and quickly put together a hasty team of four who were tasked with locating the source of the Spot and assessing patient injury and evacuation.
Warden Stevens, Pat C of Franklin SAR, Garrett M. – Eustis Fire and Rescue, and Greg D. – North Star EMS, geared up and headed up the trail shortly after 7 pm. The plan was to hike up to Horns Pond, gather any information from day or through hikers and locate Ms. Custer.
Darkness arrived just before we got to Horns Pond.
Only three hikers were staying at Horn’s Pond when we arrived and no one had heard or seen Double Blaze. We purified drinking water out of the pond and headed up….and up….and reached the South Horn at 10:45pm. After determining the exact location of the Spot signal we figured we were within 1 mile of the subject. Through “sound search” techniques a loud whistle was blown about every 5 minutes. After the whistle was blown we would listen for a response. Around 11 pm and found our subject. She had set up her small tent in the trail and was very happy to see the four of us. Patient assessment revealed Double Blaze’s ankle was quite swollen, bruised, and possibly fractured.
We looked at the options and decided we would splint and get our patient mobile and start working our way north on the AT, back toward the fire warden's trail where we would head down. The patient proved to be well prepared both physically and mentally. Assisting her with each and every step was slow as we anticipated and she was incredibly positive and physically tough.
The weather was clear, mild, and ideal however we still moved at a slow pace. By 3 am we were still ¼ mile below tree line at 3,800 ft., and everyone was understandably exhausted. We decided to get a couple hours of sleep and recharge before we push ahead.
On the move again by 5 am we tried piggybacking her up the trail. Where it was flat it worked fine, however the trail had few flat spots and we were once again working at a snail's pace. We contacted the command post and had them call out the resources for assistance with a carry out team. Getting above tree line it was clear it would take many hours to reach West Peak and given the favorable weather conditions for a helicopter evacuation Warden Thrasher called in for an air evacuation from the summit of Bigelow Mt... Maine Forest Service was contacted and we heard back within 30 minutes with a confirmation that they would attempt a short haul, having never landed on the West Peak of Bigelow Mountain. They planned for a rendezvous with us on the summit at approximately 8:00 am.
The helo staged at the CV airport and made a quick stop before flying up to assess the site conditions. To our surprise and good fortune the aircraft was able to set down on top of West peak with rotors still spinning. It was quite a sight to see the helicopter sitting on one of Maine’s highest peaks. The patient was safely put inside and brought down to the airport where Northstar had a transport waiting to go to Franklin Memorial Hospital.
The remaining four of us geared up and scooted down the Fire Warden's trail where we were greeted at Stratton Brook by Warden Scott Thrasher with hot breakfast sandwiches, donuts, and water!
Many thanks to the Maine Forest Service and local support teams staged and ready to assist in what would have been a long and treacherous carry out.
Account written by: Pat Cyr FSAR
