An amazing rescue

There was a praying . . . as the critically injured man was brought down from the sky, dangling 150 feet below the big red copter. It was a tense time as the ALERT crew skillfully . . . daringly . . . plucked the bear victims from a narrow cliff ledge below Grinnell Glacier last Thursday.

From when the first emergency helicopter arrived in the morning until the grizzly mauled girl was lifted off to the Kalispell hospital after 4:00 in the afternoon, I kept track of the time of each step in the amazing helicopter rescue operation at Many Glacier; however I can only make an educated guess regarding time of the primary events. My first news came after 10 a.m., when I met a distraught young man hiking back toward the trailhead. I was just moseying along toward Grinnell and he said I should turn around because two people had been attacked by grizzlies at Thunderbird Falls and rangers were herding everyone out and closing all trails.

I asked the fellow how long ago it had happened and he said, "about half an hour," but I felt it had to have been longer. There must have been some time from the attack until Rangers even knew, let alone took action, and we were at least two and a half miles away. I estimated the attack must have been closer to 9. Went back to the trailhead and found a rope barricade with a sign saying the trail was closed. Checked for attack verification at the "Snowed Under" Ranger Station. Decided the best place to be was at the Keyhole copter pad on the north shore of Swiftcurrent Lake. That proved to be the right place for a reporter.

Basic details of the mauling of a California man and his teenage daughter have been reported. They almost collided with the female and two cubs at close range, were attacked too fast to use bear spray, were badly mauled then went down a steep slope and over a 30 foot cliff. The fall added to their already grievous injuries and they had to be plucked from a narrow ledge by the ALERT crew using the "short haul" system. Park Rangers and fellow hikers rendered valuable first aid before the ALERT crew arrived. For this column I am just going to deal with the time frame and add personal observations, which may not have been picked up by other reporters.

Probably the first person to observe the victims perilous situation was an unknown woman hiker "who saw what happened," yelled for help and first aid kits. One of the closest people was Dick Kavagnol from Farmington, Michigan. He located and cleared a useable copter "landing zone" near the scene. Later I asked him where he had acquired the knowledge to do that and he said, "Two tour with the Marines in Vietnam." Kavagnol estimated there were close to a hundred people scattered out along the Grinnell Trail between Lake Josephine and the Glacier when the attack took place, and he is the one who told me about the Rangers directing everyone down to the boat dock at Oestler Shelter then ferrying them back to Swiftcurrent on the boats. He said it took two trips to haul all of them.

The Minuteman copter was active in the area of the attack around 11:30 and its activity included coming down to Keyhole to get some rescue personnel. By that time there were probable ten Park people up at Thunderbird Cliffs, including veteran Ranger Gary Moses.

The ALERT crew arrived at the Swiftcurrent base at 1:20, stayed six minutes and left. Came back at 1:30 after scouting the victim's situation and said the best way to get them out was with a "short haul." There was pilot Ken Justus, Senior Flight Paramedic Jerry Anderson, and Flight Nurse Travis Milcutt. They carefully laid out the sophisticated equipment, including a 150-foot Kevlar logging line to suspend the rescuer and victim beneath the copter. One door was removed form the copter so the pilot could observe the paramedic dangling from far below as they pulled off the precise mission. At 1:55 Anderson was lifted into the air to "go do it."

Later he told me it was especially difficult getting the man off the ledge because he was under a partial overhang, but in 20 minutes the intricate tie-in was done with the copter hovering above. Skilled flying lifted them out and away. Five minutes later the man was carefully lowered to the ground at Keyhole. He was placed in the "standby" Babb ambulance because it was an excellent base for ongoing medical treatment while the copter went back for the girl.

Again it was a tense wait by a small group of observers at the Keyhole and we were jubilant, but subdued when Jerry Anderson again came out of the sky with the young and gently placed her on the ground. The door was replaced on the copter and at 3:30 it left with the injured man for Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Came back in less than an hour to get the girl, and I headed home.

If I was emotionally affected I thought, "What about Jerry Anderson, Ken Justus, Travis Milcutt, Minuteman Pilots and devoted park people who joined together to pull off a virtual . . . miracle?"