A 46 year old man from Berkeley, CA was attempting to climb a gully to the top of a ridge line above West Lake at 11,400 feet. He traversed into an area with a large amount of large, loose sliding rocks above a snow field. He was unable to move up or down without triggering a rock slide he feared might carry him onto the snowfield and severe injury. It was late in the day and he felt he could not maintain his position into the night without falling. He then called 911 for help.
His call was received by CHP dispatch and was transferred to the Mono County Dispatch Center who verified the location at 38.08617700, 119.346199 to be within Mono County near the Tuolumne Mono County Border above the Green Creek area. The California Highway Patrol was contacted for assistance and the aircrew of H-40 was briefed on the situation. The area was over 11,400 in altitude so the crew stripped their aircraft of excess weight, and flew to the area and located the victim on the steep slope, but was unable to perform a hoist operation due to the high altitude.
Eight Team members staged at Lee Vining airport. A ground team was inserted by H40 on the ridge above the victim while additional air resources were requested from California OES. The ground team descended to the subject's location and helped him down out of the hazard area with aid of a fixed rope.
Helicopter Lasso 4 from Lemoore Naval Air Station landed and transported the subject and rescuers to Bridgeport Airport. The subject was not injured in the incident. Responders were: DeGeorge (Ops and IC), Greene, Luke Hammack, Viren Perumal, Cucura, Barnum, and Brodbeck.
