Flagstaff, AZ – Coconino County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue responded to four calls involving six people in need of help over the weekend.
On Saturday, May 31st at approximately 4:30 pm the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a lost hiker on the Kachina Trail. Initially the adult male hiker only requested directions to get back on to the trail and back to the parking lot at Snowbowl. As the afternoon progressed the hiker became exhausted and was not able to locate the trail. A Deputy and the Search and Rescue Unit were dispatched to the area to help locate him. While SAR was en route the hiker made his way to Snowbowl Road and returned to his vehicle.
While the mission above was underway the Sheriff’s Office received a report of three stranded canyoneers in Water Holes Canyon near Page. A Sheriff’s Office Page area Sergeant and a National Park Service Ranger responded and made voice contact with the three female canyoneers. It was determined that they were off the route, became stranded on a ledge, and needed to be rescued. The Coconino County Sheriff’s Mountain Rescue Team was dispatched out of Flagstaff and arrived on scene in Page just after midnight. A technical rope rescue was conducted and the three subjects were brought to safety out of the canyon by 4:30 am on June 1st.
At approximately 5:30 am on June 1st the Sheriff’s Office was notified by the Arizona Division of Emergency Management of a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) alert in Coconino County. The SAR Coordinator determined that the PLB was located on the Hance Trail in Grand Canyon National Park. The information was relayed to National Park Service Search and Rescue which responded. A female with heat illness was located and transported out of the canyon.
On June 1st at approximately 11:30 am the Sheriff’s Office received a report of an injured hiker on the Humphrey’s Trail above the Humphrey’s Saddle. Search and Rescue responded along with Guardian Medical Transport and Summit Fire District. Rescuers assisted by Arizona Snowbowl, were able to drive up to approximately 10,200 feet on the Snowbowl Midway Catwalk and then hiked the rest of the way to the patient’s location. The adult male patient had suffered a knee cap dislocation and was unable to walk. Rescuers secured the patient into a basket litter and conducted a litter carry that included several low angle rope lowers from the Humphrey’s Trail into the Snowbowl Ski Area. From there the patient was driven to the Agassiz Lodge on a Utility Terrain Vehicle that had a patient transport unit. The patient was then transported to the Flagstaff Medical Center via ambulance.
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