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search and rescue  

Culinarymassage 43M
9 posts
6/7/2020 11:16 pm
search and rescue


This is another one of my many adventures, if you read my last one you might recognize some of the names. Our crew of merry men are as follows D dreadlock rasta, J wanger, C chucky, G fook, R fallguy and yours truly me (my nickname is Conan, dont ask why, that is a hole other story). Then there are a few other people whos names I cant remember, so for the sack of argument, I will call them Gi Joe, jane, and the many fireman.

The day starts of like any other day, a few of us got together and decided to go spelunking (which is cave exploring). It also involved a little bit of some rock climbing and repelling. We had 6 explorers, 2 harnesses, 2 walkie talkies, and limited gear. This should have discouraged us, but being the warriors that we are, we proceeded anyway. From what chucky was explaining to us, the cave was on the side of a cliff. In order for us to gain access to the cave, we had to repel down about 50 feet from the top of the cliff. It was another 300 feet from the cave to the very bottom, give or take some. The cave is located some where up in the Colorado mountains, dont ask me were, I was not driving. The road that leads to the unauthorized camp site, is off the main road, which was off another small highway, that lead to I-70. The road was all dirt and grass, but mostly tall grass that goes passed your knees.

We get to site around 12 noon, the weather is nice, and a cool breeze is keeping us from breaking out into a sweat. We hang out for a few hours, searching for the location of the cave, drinking a few beers. We dont find the spot until about 4 o clock, and a case of beer later. Chucky is the 1st one to investigate what kind of atmosphere we will be ascending into. When he returns, we are informed that its not far from the top of the cliff to the entrance of the cave, but we have a lot of room on the ledge of the cliff. So it should be fairly easy, with the only 2 harnesses, chucky helps fook and fallguy suit up. Its now about 5pm, before fook and fallguy reach the ledge. The plan is going as well as expected.

They shed there harnesses, and were suppose to tie them onto the ascending rope. But somehow for some reason, this doesnt happen. From what we understand, fook was a little on the incoherent side (due to the case of beer we drank) and tries to free climb back up to the top of the cliff. Fallguy for some unknown reason, thinks he can do it too. I am sure you can see the disaster just waiting to happen. Fook gets about 25 feet up, when he steps on a lose rock, which heads straight for fallguys head. The rock hits fallguy, and he loses his grip and of course falls. (yes this is how he got his nickname) The rest of us, at the top, cant see him, but we can hear the rocks crackling down the cliff face, and fallguys ear piercing scream. The rest of us are clueless to what has just happened, so we are yelling to try and get some idea of the situation. Fook has now noticed that fallguy, has just plummeted an estimated 50 feet down and gets stuck in between some rocks and tree branches. In the process of climbing back down to check on fallguy, fook has managed to drop the harnesses, out of reach for them.

The situation is now crucial, since we have no harnesses to climb down, we have no service for cell phones, and no idea of the condition fallguy is in. Fook did remember to take the walkie talkie with him, which helped us create a game plan. Fallguy is hurt pretty bad, and can not climb back up, so chucky and wanger elected themselves to go on a rescue mission to help retrieve the lost harnesses and get fallguy some medical attention. They planed to traverse back and forth and find another way to reach the location of fallguy and fook. Chucky being the solider he is, has promised to find a way to get them out. We load up 2 backbacks with water, warm clothes, and first aid kit. It is now about 7 o clock, wanger and chucky set out on there mission.

Time appeared to have slowed down, minutes seemed to have passed like hours. The night creeping on us, and the temperature was starting to drop. Rasta and I who happened to be the only 2 black guys in our group, start a fire to keep warm. About 2 or 3 hours pass by, and we have not heard any word from chucky or wanger. We start to get worried, since they have not checked in with us.

Then all of a sudden, I noticed a truck headed down the grassy road, towards our location. I am hoping is not some crazy hunter looking for some human game. When the truck reaches our site, and tall white male covered in Camo gear, steps out. He motions for his passage Jane to stay in the truck, while GI Joe investigates. I tell GI Joe the unfortunate events that have taking place. A little suspicious, he walks over to his truck, says a few words to jane, then asked us to show him were it happened at. Before we get to the location on the cliff edge, the walkie talkie buzzes. Yes, its chucky, and he has made it to fallguy and fook. Fallguy doesnt look so good, he has lost some blood, and the cold weather was taking its toll on him. After hearing our conversation, GI Joe goes back to his truck, says something else to jane, who now has exited the vehicle. GI Joe grabs, a rope, and a bag full of gear and heads back off to the cliff side.

GI Joe is going to attempt to repel down to our friends in the pitch darkness, and see with his own eyes what is needed. When he climb down, jane had started up a conversation with me. She explains, that they heard fallguys screams, and came to see what was going on. If it wasnt for the fire we started, they would never have found us. She also informs me that when they 1st pulled up, they we a little scared to see 2 black guys out in the middle of now where. Now I know I am not that scary looking, but I cant say the same for rasta (just kidding). I tell her about my friends, and how it was luck of the draw that our group was made up of 2 white guys, 2 Asians and 2 black guys. She thought this was amusing to her, and felt more at ease after having a conversation with me. shortly after our talk, GI Joe comes up and grabs his long distance radio phone. Which was a sweet tool to have, it looks like those old phones with a long antenna. He radios in to the search and rescue department, and informs them on our situation. He gives them our position, and lets us know that we should not try and move fallguy, without help. He bandage up fallguy the best he could, and was too scared to attempt a manual pull up.

Less then 1 hr later, I see the flashing red and blue lights coming down the grassy road. 1 fire truck, 1 ambulance, 1 search and rescue truck, 2 regular cars, and 1 fire chief SUV. It must have been at least 20 other guys, and the only thing running trough my mind is how much this was going to cost.

It must have a taking another 1 for them to get set up, mean while rasta has gone off to the truck to get some sleep. I stay close to the side of the cliff watching the firemen work. It was really cold by that time, and I had giving my jacket to chucky to take down to fallguy. One of the firemen was cool enough to lend me his jacket, which was the warmest coat I have ever worn. Now I know why fire suits keep them from getting burned, and super cold n wet.

4am comes around, and I am so tired, but these guys are still working, after spending some time devising a plan. Fook is the 2nd one up, a round of cheers all around. Then up comes wanger, another round of cheers, by then its almost 5am, and I am ready to pass out from all the stress. The Firemen suggest that we go back to the truck and try to get some sleep, rasta is already stretched out sound asleep in the truck. The 4 of us pile truck, and slept for a little while. Then chucky appears at the truck, hops in and tries to sleep as well.

It is now morning before they pull fallguy up on a stretcher, we are all so tried, and drained. They advise us to follow the fire chiefs SUV back to the fire station. We comply, even though fallguy was on his way straight to the hospital. When we get to the fire station we fill out a brief report on what happened, Gi Joe and Jane are both there. The 20 something search and rescue people turned out to be a group of volunteers, that live in the town. They fix us all biscuits and gravy, with coffee, and juice. While we sat there and ate our long deserved meal, this group of volunteers, recaps the rescue. It was actually amusing, as they talked about what could have been done differently, and this and that. After a while of this it was time for us to go to the hospital and check up on fallguy. We shake all there hands, thank them for all there effort, and part ways. We also thank GI Joe for finding us, and Jane for not telling him to go the other way on the grassy road. A Womans instinct should never be taking for granted.

We get to the hospital to see what the damage was, and fallguy, received 12 stitches in his head, suffered 2 broken ribs, a broken finger, sprained wrist, and a bunch of miscellaneous cuts and bruises. He was feeling pretty good, when we got there, since they gave him a shot of morphine. He also told us of how they asked him If he wanted to be airlifted off the side of the cliff, and of course he had no insurance. So he had to make choice, the air ride at 7k, or the truck ride for 2k. It didnt take him long to decide.

Fallguy made a full recovery, and the rest of us have yet to adventure back to that location. We have explored many other caves since then with only one other incident, that was very minor. To all of you I can only suggest one thing, always be prepared

lindoboy100 61M
23969 posts
6/8/2020 7:00 am

I was getting tingly toes just reading this.....the fall was inevitable!

Glad everyone walked away in the end!

I'm enjoying your stories McCul.


pocogato12 71F  
37235 posts
6/8/2020 4:22 pm

I found this blog by accident and am so glad I stayed to reach this. What an adventure!! Happy you are all safe

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