Mono SAR Incident 1/24 Laurel Mountain

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Mono Co Sheriff's Dept:

On Monday afternoon at approximately 1313 hours the Team received a request for assistance via an Inreach notification of an injured skier on Laurel Mountain. The initial indication was that the location was near the outlet on the Mendenhall Couloir, but later turned out to be in the Pinner Couloir just south of Mendenhall.

The Team responded to Convict Lake, and CHP helicopter H40 was requested, and they accepted the mission. Three field teams left the Convict Lake Marina, and one field team was held in reserve for possible air insertion. CHP H40 arrived on scene, and located the subject and one companion. H40 landed in the closed campround, and loaded on field team 3, and dropped them via a one-skid landing near the subject.

CHP H40 returned to the campground, then made one more round trip to drop gear to the subject location. The subject was packaged, and H40 was able to complete a hoist extract, transport the subject to the Mammoth-Yosemite airport, and then he was transferred to the care of the Medic 3 unit for transport to Mammoth Hospital. All field teams hiked out, and the subject's companion joined Team 3 on the exit. The operation terminated at 1839 hours.

The subject's partner stated that they took a conservative approach, and did not ascend as high into the couloir as planned. The partner was not entirely comfortable and was side-slipping, but the subject attempted some turns, and fell after 2 or 3 turns. He had a Whippet, but was unable to arrest his slide, and he slid/tumbled for an estimated 1,800'. It was reported that he had an ice axe in his gear, but it was not deployed.