Mt Whitney Webcam
Mt Williamson Webcam
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 155 guests, and 16 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
George #15315 06/19/11 10:28 AM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 52
Offline
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 52
Good point George, I sometimes go one step further and just take my pack off all together and clutch it to my chest unless I am using poles, then I will usually just let hang on my shoulders like you suggest.






“Any thoughts of guilt, any feelings of regret, had faded. The desert had baked them out.” - Stephen King


Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Steve C #15401 06/21/11 01:16 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,505
Likes: 103
S
Steve C Offline OP
OP Offline
S
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,505
Likes: 103
And here is the LA Times write-up -- An amazing story!

From latimes.com

Woman describes harrowing rescue from icy tunnel

Passersby rescue hiker who plunged through snowpack into icy waters in Sequoia National Park. Recovering from frostbite, she says she feels 'very, very lucky to be alive.'

The hard-packed snow atop Franklin Creek in Sequoia National Park appeared safe, but when Marcia Rasmussen, 51, walked across, it collapsed, plunging her into an icy tunnel with frigid water. For three hours, in freezing temperatures, she clawed at the frozen ceiling, her bare hands going numb and her body giving out before passersby found her.

Click here for article:  Woman describes harrowing rescue from icy tunnel


From the article:

Marcia Rasmussen runs in Sequoia National Park. She was training for an ultra-marathon when the accident occurred.


Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Steve C #15424 06/21/11 08:29 PM
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
M
Offline
M
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
So. Now I take on the task of correcting the story and trying to explain the details that were omitted. Even the best of news reporters manage to misunderstand a few things in a short interview. In the end, I know I cannot answer ALL the questions. Especially not in a short forum post. But I would like to make a few comments.

First, snow bridges are indeed dangerous. I knew it before. I approached with extreme caution, but I guessed wrong this time. I could see a profile of the place where I crossed. It appeared to be about four feet thick. I probed. It was packed hard, frozen solid. I carried a safety pole because I routinely do that, not because I was especially nervous about this bridge. Several other people assessed the bridge that day, and they all crossed. We all crossed it again on the way out. By all appearances, this was about as bombproof a bridge as you ever see out there. Except that it wasn't.

It's a perplexing question when you ask how to judge the safety of any feature. In the end, we make judgment calls every time we go into the mountains. We weigh the risks and give it our best shot. Sometimes we ALL guess wrong. We just hope that we don't make too many mistakes in crucial places like this.

I have had many comments about items I should have had along or things I should have done differently. Which of the "ten essentials" would have helped me? People comment that I shouldn't have been alone. What would YOU do if your buddy disappeared into a stream tunnel? Could you save him? And if you ran for help, the help would do what, exactly?

We could spend eternity batting various questions around. It's a good thing to have these discussions. We learn from each other. But we like to think that if we do all the right things, we can keep ourselves safe. Life itself is risky. In the end, we make our choices. Either we sit on the couch in bubble wrap, or we go out there armed with wits and knowledge, and give life our best shot.

Happy trails,

Marcia

Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Marcia #15435 06/22/11 01:40 AM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 45
W
deceased
Offline
deceased
W
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 45
Thanks, Marcia. There is no end to second guessing. Thanks for your post. If you feel up to it, could you tell us your experience after the bridge collapse?

I've crossed crevasse bridges a number of times. Thankfully, none collapsed, but I did have the experience of stepping through a bridge over a seemingly bottomless crevasse. A pretty scary experience, but here I am writing about it. Many climbers had walked over the bridge, and many walked after my leg-plunge through the bridge. Things happen, as you well know.

Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Marcia #15473 06/22/11 01:10 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 695
CaT Offline
Offline
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 695
Welcome, Marcia; and thanks for posting.

CaT


If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.
- Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)
Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Wayne #15477 06/22/11 01:48 PM
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
M
Offline
M
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
After the bridge collapsed...

Well, there wasn't much I could do as I was swept away except gasp a lungful of air and fight to get myself out of the water. I was swept over a small waterfall and at the bottom saw a little bush growing out over the stream. I grabbed it and dragged myself out of the water. I climbed up into a small air space above the water, just big enough to squeeze my whole body into in a fetal position.

Once in a "safe" pace, I took a moment to assess my options. There was no going back the way I came. Downstream was even worse. I contemplated sitting tight in that location, but no one would have been able to find me. Even if someone had seen me fall, there was no way to see where I was in this very long stream tunnel. I could have been washed a mile downstream very quickly.

I examined the ceiling of the tunnel, and found that the snow directly overhead had a faint blue glow, like the inside of a glacier crevasse. I knew from that this marked the thinnest point in the snowpack, so it was my best chance to tunnel my way out.

For the next three hours (yes, I looked at the time on my gps) I concentrated on digging. Snow was dense-packed. Used pencil-sized sticks from the bush to chip away at the snow at first, but very soon my hands were too numb to hold a tool.

As hypothermia set in, I broke the surface of the snow overhead and enlarged the hole to about 6 inches in diameter. I suspected that I might not have the strength to enlarge the hole enough before I lost consciousness. Clear thinking was becoming very difficult. So I wiggled out of my hydration pack and stuffed it up through the hole onto the surface of the snow. I hadn't seen another hiker all day, but I hoped that if anyone did come along, they would investigate the pack. That is exactly what happened.

Two hikers had passed over the bridge while I was hidden. They came back after I put my pack on the surface. The only reason they came back was because they had left their beer in the car. I am one EXTREMELY lucky woman.

Last edited by Marcia; 06/22/11 01:53 PM.
Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Marcia #15480 06/22/11 03:25 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,505
Likes: 103
S
Steve C Offline OP
OP Offline
S
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,505
Likes: 103
THANK GOODNESS FOR BEER!!!

( Can't believe I wrote that, since I only drink one or two a month. )

Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Marcia #15502 06/23/11 12:54 AM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 45
W
deceased
Offline
deceased
W
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 45
Amazing, Marcia. Thanks for sharing.

Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Wayne #15595 06/25/11 07:35 AM
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
M
Offline
M
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3
Seriously, folks. Use EXTREME care around the streams this year. They're running high and cold and LATE. That little "slip and dip" could be much more serious than in most years, even where snow is not involved.

Be safe out there!

Marcia

Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Marcia #15922 06/30/11 06:22 PM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,251
Likes: 1
Offline
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,251
Likes: 1
In the Fresno Bee today.

"Three Visalia men were honored Wednesday by the National Park Service for their rescue of a Squaw Valley woman who fell through a snow bridge earlier this month at Sequoia National Park."


Verum audaces non gerunt indusia alba. - Ipsi dixit MCMLXXII
Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
wagga #15932 06/30/11 08:26 PM
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,572
Offline
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,572
Marcia gave a very frank and generous interview, with photos of the scene. Quite a lady.


Wherever you go, there you are.
SPOTMe!
Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
saltydog #25267 06/20/12 11:35 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,505
Likes: 103
S
Steve C Offline OP
OP Offline
S
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,505
Likes: 103
...and here a year later, the story continues:

Remember Marcia's Snow Bridge Adventure?

Re: SeKi Rescue: Woman falls through Snow Bridge
Steve C #30364 03/15/13 11:07 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,505
Likes: 103
S
Steve C Offline OP
OP Offline
S
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 8,505
Likes: 103
Note: this is an old thread, the ice bridge cave-in occurred June, 2011.

Marcia's mis-adventure is now described in Backpacker Magazine -- March 2013:

Out Alive: Trapped in an Ice Tunnel <-(click for the article)
A solo hiker tries to claw her way out of a frozen cave after a winter pathway collapses.
by: Joshua Prestin


On the third page of the article, there is a video taken from her ice-cave shelf that one of her rescuers was able to record.

Page 2 of 2 1 2

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4
(Release build 20200307)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.4.33 Page Time: 0.048s Queries: 41 (0.043s) Memory: 0.6421 MB (Peak: 0.7594 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2024-03-28 16:37:26 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS