The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Search and Rescue comes to the rescue again…
By Mark Reaman
A Careflight helicopter out of Montrose was called in to rescue an injured mountain biker from Reno Divide Ridge Saturday afternoon. That action could have been the difference of the 39-year-old male living to ride another day.
The Australian mountain biker from Vail was heading off of Reno Ridge toward Flag when he apparently took a nasty crash. Someone in his riding party rode out to Cement Creek Road and was able to get a signal on their phone and called 911.
Mt CB Police Chief Nate Stepanek said officer John Turco was on duty Saturday and accompanied Search and Rescue Team Leader Ric Ems to the scene at the top of Reno. “Based on the report notes it appears they got the call about 1:30,” said Stepanek. “The immediate assessment was that he had broken ribs and some internal injuries. Based on that report, we called put a call in for a helicopter.”
Ems said when he and Turco got to the top they saw the injured rider sitting on the ground. “He was responsive and said he didn’t feel too bad and had walked up from Flag but his ribs were hurting him,” said Ems. “I told him we had a helicopter on the way and he said there was no way he wanted to pay for a helicopter ride. He said he wanted to ride down in his friend’s vehicle.”
Ems told the biker that a physician assistant was on the way up and he wanted him to evaluate the injuries. The biker agreed to wait if the helicopter was called off. Ems sent out a call to cancel the chopper.
About 20 minutes later, physician assistant and Crested Butte Search-and-Rescue team member Jeff Isaac responded to the scene. Ems said that made all the difference.
“He was showing signs of serious injuries,” Isaac explained. “I am not a fan of always calling in a helicopter but this time I am really glad we did. I think he would have been in very, very serious shape had he been transported back down that rough Reno Divide road.”
Isaac and the team treated the biker’s injuries as best they could with what they had. The biker was convinced of the seriousness of the situation and Search-and-Rescue called the helicopter back in.
“The air is pretty thin at 11,200 feet up there so they dropped off one of the flight crew at Buckhorn because of weight issues,” said Isaac. “But the top of the ridge has a really great landing zone area. It is a good place for a chopper to land.”
The chopper got on the scene about 4:30.
The patient was loaded on board, the flight crew picked up and he was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction.
“It was one of those cases where having the helicopter really made a difference,” concluded Isaac.
Ems agreed. “I am glad the biker agreed to wait for Jeff to evaluate him,” he said. “It resulted in a positive outcome. It would not have been a good ride down on that road. By the time the bird flew out, even he was glad he flew out on the chopper to Junction.”
