|
Denali Rescue – Alaska
 |
Rodney, Terry, Jim (left to right) at Camp 1
on the Kahiltna Glacier below Denali, May 2002 |
Also called Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America (20,320 feet) is known for its brutal cold and vicious storms. In May 2002, Terry Parker, Rodney Ley and Jim Davidson began their 13,000-foot ascent towards the top. On their twelfth day, they left high camp at 17,000 feet and made their summit attempt under cold conditions. By late morning they had reached 19,000 feet (see photo) and were just a few hours from the summit when they came upon a band of three European climbers struggling to save a young American climber. The young man was a solo climber who had reached the summit the day before, but collapsed alone in the snow. Having spent the night outside and unconscious, the climber was in critical condition with altitude sickness and frostbite.
 |
Rodney melting snow to water
and Terry assisting stricken solo
climber (yellow hood) inside a bivy bag
at 19,000 feet above Denali Pass
|
Jim and his teammates abandoned their summit attempt to help save their fellow climber. After helping revive the stricken climber, they radioed in a Park Service helicopter, and assisted a rescue ranger ground team. Like their fellow rescuers, Jim’s team was commended and awarded with the coveted Denali Pro Pin for their voluntary rescue efforts. The sick climber was flown off the mountain and eventually recovered.
Click here to read US National Park Service letter
Longs Peak Rescue - Colorado:
The seven-mile long, 5000-foot ascent of Longs Peak is exhausting and exhilarating. As Jim and his wife, Gloria, completed their scramble up Longs in October 1991, the journey became even more arduous than expected.
They were first responders to the vicious fall of another hiker. The young man was alone, and slipped off the two-foot wide Narrows Ledge at 13,800 feet. He tumbled 70 feet down a sheer rock cliff, and was severely injured. With his training and experience, Jim rallied a small team of tired hikers in an effort to sustain and treat the critically injured hiker until professional help could arrive.
 |
Longs Peak (14,225’) in Rocky
Mountain National Park, Colorado |
Jim placed a Mayday radio call from near the summit of Longs and this started a massive technical rescue effort under harrowing weather conditions (see news article). After Park Service medical experts arrived, Jim and the other volunteer rescuers stayed on the job for another eighteen exhausting hours to help carry the hiker off the mountain. After a lengthy hospital stay, the hiker recovered from most of his many injuries.
Click here to read Denver Post article about rescue
|
