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Pyramid Peak Rescue
July 1999
On Monday morning, July 26, 1999 Search and Rescue teams were called out to look for two hikers on Horsetail Falls, one of whom had reportedly injured both ankles.
Originally, the pair had set out to hike to the top of Pyramid Peak the previous day, but had gotten a late start getting back. By the time they reached Horsetail Falls it was dark. (Horsetail Falls is a steep, rocky, 800-foot descent that normally requires both hands and a cautious technique. Several people have lost their lives there.) While descending in the dark, one of the hikers fell and injured both ankles.
One of the hikers had a cell phone, but rather than call 911 (because they were afraid of public embarrassment), they called some friends. When the friends arrived, presumably after driving several hours, they were unable to find the lost pair. Darkness, hunger, and weariness took their toll, and the friends finally contacted the authorities early the next morning.
SAR teams from both Tahoe and the West Slope set up a command post at Twin Bridges, on Highway 50 just west of the falls. CHP helicopter H20 and a Blackhawk helicopter from McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento also responded.
One of the choppers soon located the lost pair on a ledge about one third of the way down the falls. The best option was to airlift the hikers off the ledge, but neither craft was ideal for the job — H-20 had no winch aboard, and the Blackhawk's downdraft might blow the pair off the ledge. At first, the plan was to send H-20 in with a long line attached to the bottom of the aircraft. But after some discussion, it became clear that the Blackhawk had enough cable on its winch to safely winch the subjects aboard. The Blackhawk flew in, successfully retrieved the two and flew them to Tahoe Airport where an ambulance picked them up and transferred them to Barton Memorial Hospital. The callout was cancelled 3:00 in the afternoon and the incident was concluded shortly after that.
However, concluded doesn't always mean forgotten. Ideally, every mission is a training mission, and this one provided a particularly vivid lesson. As Blackhawk landed and took off at the Twin Bridges parking area, people actually took cover behind their vehicles to avoid flying debris. When they came out, several found that their cars' paint jobs showed the effects of the downdraft. "Sandblasted!" was the word heard most often. In the noblest SAR tradition, the vehicles had sacrificed themselves that others might live.
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