Snowmachiner saved on Gulkana Glacier
Published Wednesday, March 26, 2008
A Fort Wainwright medevac unit rescued a 48-year-old Fairbanks snowmachiner on Monday after an accident on the Gulkana Glacier near Summit Lake left him with serious leg injuries.
Sgt. Gerald Winchester, a medic with Company C of the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, said the man appeared to have a fractured hip and two broken legs after he drove off a cliff and fell about 50 feet.
“(His friends) told me he landed on the snowmachine at the bottom,” Winchester said.
The unidentified snowmachiner, one of four riders in the party, was transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. The extent of his injuries was unknown, though they were not life threatening.
The accident took place at approximately 3 p.m. and occurred at about 6,500 feet elevation. Winchester had to be hoisted down from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter because the aircraft was unable to land near the injured man, the medic said. After Winchester was hoisted down, another snowmachiner gave the medic a ride to the injured man.
The helicopter crew, meanwhile, flew about 2,000 feet back down the glacier and unloaded all unnecessary equipment to get the maximum amount of power from the helicopter. The helicopter then flew back to the injured snowmachiner and lowered medical gear needed to stabilize and transport the man.
The crew then returned and reloaded the equipment they had off-loaded before landing approximately 2,000 feet below the injured snowmachiner.
With help from two of the man’s friends, Winchester dragged the injured snowmachiner about a mile down the glacier on a sled to reach the helicopter.
“I couldn’t have done it without their help,” the 40-year-old Winchester said of the two unidentified men.
The medevac unit received a call from Alaska State Troopers at 3:05 p.m. requesting assistance and arrived on scene at about 4:20 p.m. The entire rescue took approximately 2 1/2 hours and the injured snowmachiner was dropped off at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital at about 7:45 p.m.
While the rescue on Monday had a happy ending, similar rescues will no longer be possible once Fort Wainwright’s air ambulance unit is deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq later this summer. The Army’s medevac service is scheduled to end on July 1.
State officials are still scrambling to figure out a way to continue providing aerial emergency rescues without interruption.
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Thank you Sargent of Fort Wainwright Company C for coming to Summit to get my buddy out of there safe, sound and delivered to the hospital. I'm glad everything worked out for the good. One more reason why you always ride with buddies and never ride alone. You never no what may happen. Everybody working together for the good made this rescue easier. I bet even a caveman could've done it with those little elf helpers you guys had!!!
Good Luck to guys overseas. May God be watching over you all and Bless you all daily. Thanks again for your help!
Salute
My friends and I used to ride at Summit Lake every weekend for years, when there was only 10-20 cabins on the lake. Was always told to never ride by yourself or go off on your own. Know a few people that are still up on the glacier and have never been found. He was a very lucky man that there were such wonderful people to save him. Hope he counts his blessings.
Hey you guy's be careful this year at Arcticman.We don't need to be lifting any bodies out this year.Seem's like we alway's think it will be the other guy that will be shiped out.Let's just all of us use a little more common sense this year.Just remember the more sober you are the more fun you'll have.Your buddy doesn't want to babysit you.We all like to remember the good time's we had.Drink,eat,and be merry....
Still another reason why the Fort Wainwright's medevac unit should come back home to Alaska after their deployment. People will die if they do not come home here and what are we going to do while they are gone.
Sobering thought, one of us could be next.
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