27th
Two days ago my brother, my dad and myself where hiking back to the car after doing some climbing in an Ice Cave outside of Aspen, when a man with one sock on, covered in mud came running into the parking lot. “There’s been an accident, my friend, she fell, from the top, call 911”. After a moment, I grab my first aid kit and start running back to the cave, while my dad gets in the Bimmer and heads down the mountain road to try to get cell phone reception. While jogging and painting at 9000 feet, glimpses of my Wilderness First Aid training come back to me, and I try to prepare myself for what is about to happen, as I follow the screams for help into the ice cave. There is a woman face-down sprawled out on jagged rock moaning, with a man holding her still screaming to the sky for help. A few feet away on another rock a 2 month old baby is on the ground in a blanket crying. First thought: This woman must have a spinal injury, we cannot let her move, or she could be paralyzed for life. Frantic conversation ensues sans any introductions, I take a moment to move the baby to flat ground. My brother arrives with a few down jackets. We agree to keep her from moving and tell the man that EMTs should be on the way. This young woman is not communicative or receptive to us at all, she must be blinded by pain. Oh Christ, there is blood coming out of her left ear. It is a miracle this woman can breath after falling 25 feet onto her chest. Odds are good she is bleeding internally. We should get a baseline pulse now, so we can tell if it starts to drop. But look at her wrists, I can’t even tell where to take a pulse because of how twisted they are. She must have used them to brake her fall, that is probably what is keeping her breathing right now. More strangers arrive in the cave to help, one a “medical professional” he takes me aside so I can brief him on what we know so far. She has a good airway, a strong pulse, no active bleeding, broken wrists, a large contusion on the back of her head, it is likely she has broken most of her ribs, spinal injury is still unknown. We cannot move this person on this terrain until search and rescue arrives. Eventually an ambulance, a fire truck and a search and rescue team arrive. The ambulance crew secures the woman on to a backboard, and puts her on an oxygen tank, while search and rescue set up a pulley hoist system to lift her out of the cave. I ended up driving the couple’s Range Rover, with their baby in the back seat to the hospital. I have not heard anymore information besides what was in the paper. I hope that Tasha is recovering well at the Level II Trauma Center in Grand Junction.
Aspen Times Article:
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090726/NEWS/907269996/1077&ParentProfile=1058
