Mission Report by Paul Dickman
Location: Rio Grande Gorge
Mission: NMSPR2607192
The call went out for an early AM rescue of two kayakers stranded overnight downstream of the Rio Grande High Bridge, but in a known location. One had a history of a knee injury and may not be able to hike out.
At the 5:30 AM meeting of the minds at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge Rest Area, a plan was developed for a two pronged approach. One involved having Atalaya SAR repel into the gorge and make a direct descent to the subjects’ location and assess their fitness. The second was to deploy rescue kayakers to reach the subjects and float them 3 miles downriver to the easy “Powerline Trail”, then hike or litter them up to the canyon rim.
The team deployed to the Powerline Trail determined that there was not only no trail but steep cliffs that couldn’t be navigated without technical rope work. That plan was a dud.
The Atalaya MRA team dropped into the gorge and was surprised to hear and see the two individuals working their way up the scree slope towards them. This was quite a feat as the inner gorge is intimidating and at least one of them had lost their shoes the previous day. He had fashioned new footware from a PFD.
Since the subjects were able to self-extract up to the base of the rim, that left only the 200′ of vertical cliff to complete the rescue. The AtSAR team competently set up a raising system and was able to lift them out with the assistance of a bunch of rope pullers (our team). If the subjects had not been able to hike up to the base of the canyon rim, this mission would have involved many litter packers below the rim in hazardous terrain and many more hours of rescue.
A good turnout of 10-15 Taos SAR, Santa Fe teams, and LAAFB plus some local kayakers. It all turned out well and we returned to LA shortly after noon.