Rescue Near Monkeyface Falls

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Two hikers were attempting a climb of San Bernardino Peak via a ridgeline between Frustration Creek and Monkeyface Falls. One of the hikers fell several feet into some dense brush, and his partner hiked two hours out to summon help. The RP could not identify the exact location of the fall, so in the afternoon of September 13th members of San Gorgonio SAR and Valley of the Falls SAR (Team 1) were inserted at the 6800' level to begin a search downhill. Later that evening additional SAR teams responded to assist in the search, and a second team (Team 2) composed of members of the Cave & Technical Rescue Team began the climb up the hillside from Highway 38.

After an arduous climb, uphill through the heavy brush, Team 2 made voice contact with the missing hiker, and arrived on scene about one minute before Team 1, to find the missing hiker alert, but injured. A litter was ordered, and the teams began the search for an LZ for evacuation. At approximately midnight, the hiker was moved to the LZ making use of a number of tree belays. Team 2 spent the night with the hiker, and assisted in the helicopter evacuation at approximately 0700 hrs that morning. Rather than waiting an hour for the helicopter to return, they decided to hike the 40 minutes back to the highway.

In Memory of Scott Johnston and Phil Calvert

On July 17, 2004 five members of the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team were enroute to assist in a search in Joshua Tree National Park when a horrific traffic accident occurred on State Route 62. Please visit San Gorgonio SAR's website to read a fitting memorial for Scott and Phil.

Tom Harrison Maps UTM Reader

Larry Reinhart from San Gorgonio SAR recently shared a UTM reader that is useful for the popular Tom Harrison 1:4750 maps. As with the other readers, I recommend printing on overhead transparency media then laminating them. 

As mentioned at the last IESARC meeting, please send any forms or other tools that you find helpful in your SAR efforts. I post them in the "Documents" section of the website.

Update on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 10:43 by Jeff Lehman

Larry has updated the file to contain readers for most of the popular map scales in this series of maps. The file now contains readers for the San Jacinto, Angeles, Baldy, and Whitney regions in addition to the San Gorgonio region.