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Sgt. Bryan Lane (Dive Team and RimSAR coordinator), Lynn Rivera (National Ski Patrol) and Donna Newlin (Snow Valley Mt. Resort Risk Manager)Over Memorial Day Weekend, the Snow Valley Mountain Resort was host to the 2011 SoCal Tough Mudder, an endurance event billed as “a cross between Ironman and Burning Man”. Entrants run/walk/crawl over a 10-mile course completing a series of pretty insane obstacles, including lake swims, ice baths and even running through a maze of charged electrical wires (not for the faint of heart, zapped Mudders were being knocked to their knees). As a Snow Valley employee, I was asked to coordinate the rescue team for this event. Anticipating that we might need assistance extricating injured Mudders from inaccessible sections of the course, I asked members of the Rim of the World Search & Rescue Team, as well as the Dive Team, to “stand-by” in case we needed them. The folks from RimSAR and the Dive Team did a lot of things this past weekend but the one thing they did not do, especially on Sunday, was “stand-by”.
On Saturday, 5000 Mudders attempted the course. One of the biggest challenges was dealing with the hundreds of Mudders who did not have their “listening ears” on when advised that they needed strong swimming skills prior to leaping 15' of a platform into a freezing lake (duh). Instead of waiting in their warm vehicle for our lifeguards to lose someone, members of the Dive Team jumped right into the mix and physically man-handled dozens and dozens of panicked swimmers out of the water. Had they not done so, they most certainly would have gone into “recovery mode” that day. Meanwhile, members of RimSAR were being used to transport cold and injured Mudders off the mountain and backing up the Snow Valley patrollers. The weather was clear on Saturday but it was also cool and breezy. We treated at least 42 mudders suffering from various stages of hypothermia.
Sunday had half the number of entrants but if we thought it would be easier to deal with, we were sorely mistaken. The weather on Sunday was, well, to say it “sucked” would be an understatement. The temp at the top of the mountain in the morning was in the teens with ice coating many of the obstacles. It even snowed. The “slip and slide” at the reservoir became an ice chute. Mudders were completely unprepared for the extreme conditions. I was dressed like I was about to hike Baldy in February yet most Mudders were in wet shorts and t-shirts. Did I mention that one of the obstacle at mile 3 was swimming through a tank filled with ice water? Ultimately, the situation we faced was one in which literally hundreds of Mudders turned into human popsicles and we had a righteous mass-casualty incident on our hands. Snow Valley became a sea of silver mylar heat blankets, the warming single, small warming tent was filled to overflow with trucks and barricades erected to try to shield huddled and shivering mudders from the winter wind. We had calls from aid stations all over the mountain reporting hypothermic victims requiring immediate assistance and at least 350 Mudders were physically unable to get down to the base area on their own. Every available vehicle was called into service. Snow Valley's dirt acccess road was clogged with vehicles, heaters cranked, like circus cars filled with mylar-blanketed clowns. Despite the severity of the situation, thanks to the teamwork and quick action on the part of all the responders, we were able to provide care and transport to everyone. The fact that no one required ambulance transport is proof of that.
Tough Mudder is designed to push entrants to their physical limit. At Snow Valley this Memorial Day Weekend, hundreds pushed a little too far and Mother Nature threw a knock-out punch. When this happened, they were lucky they had an incredibly skilled group of responders ready to save their frozen Mudder-butts. RimSAR and Dive Team....YOU ROCK!