Content by Bego Gerhart (1T836) --- HTML by Barbara Fincham (1T810) using Microsoft FrontPage

Winter Stuff:  Current avalanche advisory-- phone number is 259- SNOW
La Sal Avalanche Forecast Center: 
http://www.avalanche.org/~lsafc.index.htm
Weather Forecasts: 
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/data/forecasts/UTZ028.php?warnz
http://iwin.nws.gov/iwin/ut/zone.html
Snotel graph from weather station in the La Sal Mtns:
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/snoX_graph.pl?LSMU1

GLEN CANYON DAM UPDATE                           November 5, 2002

  **Drought conditions persist in the Colorado River basin. The basin has received some drought relief during the months of September and October, however. Basinwide precipitation in September, 2002 was 185 percent of average. This was the first month with above average precipitation in over a year. Precipitation in October was 110 percent of average. These autumn rain storms have dampened soils in the basin and have erased some of the soil moisture deficit caused by the drought. This is important for next spring's snow melt runoff. Soil moisture deficits reduce runoff efficiency causing greater amounts of water to be lost to the soil.
  **Water year 2002 will be remembered as one of the driest years on record in the Colorado River basin. Unregulated inflow to Lake Powell in water year 2002 was only 3.06 million acre-feet or 25 percent of the 30 year average. This is the lowest unregulated inflow ever recorded since the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. The previous low occurred in 1977 when inflow to Lake Powell was 3.66 million acre-feet.
  **Inflow to Lake Powell continues to be significantly below average. Unregulated inflow into Lake Powell in September, 2002 was 58 percent of average, and unregulated inflow in October was 309,000 acre-feet or 56 percent of average. Inflow as of November 4, 2002 is about 7,500 cfs. Average inflow in early November is generally about 10,000 cfs. Inflow to Lake Powell is expected to remain below average through the fall and winter. Snowpack in the Colorado River basin is 90 percent of average as of November 5, 2002. It should be noted that early season snowpack figures are usually not indicative of runoff volumes the following spring.
  **On April 24, 2002, members of the Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Work Group (AMWG) recommended to the Secretary of the Interior that a two-year experimental flow test be made from Glen Canyon Dam beginning in water year 2003. The recommendation addressed the decline of two key resources in the Grand Canyon: sediment and population viability of endangered humpback chub. Reclamation, the National Park Service, and the United States Geological Survey have jointly prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) under the National Environmental Policy Act to document the impacts of these proposed experimental flows. The EA can be found at: http://www.uc.usbr.gov/envdocs/ea/gc/gc_release.html
  **A total of 476,000 acre-feet will be released from Glen Canyon Dam during November, 2002, which is an average of 8,000 cfs. On Mondays through Fridays in November, daily fluctuations will likely vary between a low of about 5,000 cfs (during late evening and early morning off-peak hours) to a high of about 10,000 cfs (during daylight hours and early evening on-peak hours). On Saturdays during November, releases will likely vary between a low of about 5,000 cfs during off-peak hours, to a high of about 9,500 cfs during on-peak hours. On Sundays, releases will likely vary between a low of about 5,000 cfs during off-peak hours to a high of about 8,000 cfs during on-peak hours.
  **Releases in December, 2002 will likely be higher than November. Unless there is a very high flow event on the Paria River during November (in which case the December volume would be 492,000 acre-feet), the release volume in December will be 600,000 acre-feet.
  **Drier than average conditions have now prevailed for the past three years in the Colorado River basin. Total unregulated inflow into Lake Powell in water year 2000 and 2001 was 62 and 59 percent of average, respectively and only 25 percent of average in 2002. These low inflows have reduced water storage in Lake Powell. The current elevation of Lake Powell is 3,624.4 feet (75.6 feet from full pool). Current storage is approximately 14.2 million acre-feet (58 percent of capacity). The water surface elevation of Lake Powell will likely continue to decline for the remainder of this year. The current projection shows that the water surface elevation of Lake Powell will be about 3621 feet (79 feet below full pool) on January 1, 2003. Hydrologic conditions often change, however, and the actual end-of-year elevation of Lake Powell will depend, in large part, on weather conditions in the Colorado River basin from now through the end of the year.
  **Because of the draw down condition of Lake Powell, releases from Lake Powell in water year 2003 are being scheduled to meet the minimum objective release of 8.23 million acre-feet. This is consistent with the requirements of the 1970 Criteria for Coordinated Long-Range Operation of Colorado River Reservoirs.        This release courtesy Tom Ryan

02- 71     11- 10- 02     Biker down     SRBT
     Way out there, just west of Shrimp Rock.  And on a rainy, cloudy, dank day. So, Mandy and her driver lead the troops out parts of the SRBT and Hell’s Revenge Jeep Trail and beyond to a point as far from the parking lot as you can be.
     MattEMT splinted the leg in question.  Then the guy sat in the front seat of the Ranger with his leg sticking out over the dash.  The most comfortable way.
Comments:  No coffee from Zane so Jim D went to fetch some up.
Responders:  TBerry the tile setter, Jim G, Shawn, Matt, Lee, Dick,
Sam, Jim D, Bego, Summer

     During this event, we heard Nancy and Shalla check out to go to the Needles District for a search. The update from this search effort is a FIND for Nancy and Shalla.  Congratulations.  Read on-->

02- 72     11- 9 and 10- 02     Search Dog     Needles District, CNP
     Canyonlands Nat’l Park search personnel called Nancy and Shalla to join the search. 
     From Nancy’s report:
Arrive Needles Sat 1700 hrs, helped with planning.  Sun:  searched area around subject’s vehicle, then helo (Arches) to Chessler Park.  Started having alerts soon after starting to search.  Requested that helo search ridge above alerts and to the west (up wind).  Subject located by helo .57 miles west (up wind).”  IC was C420. Ops Chief had to be Gary Haynes.
Comments:  Nancy and Shalla are danged happy about this one.
Responders:  Nancy and Shalla


Canyonlands National Park (UT)         Extended Search; Suicide

        On November 4, ranger Kevin Moore contacted Keith Barna, 34, of Tooele, Utah, in the park’s Needles District. Moore issued Barna a warning for speeding after stopping him in the Squaw Flats Campground. The following day, rangers found Barna’s truck parked at the Elephant Hill trailhead. A search of backcountry permits revealed that his vehicle was not associated with a permit, although Barna had visited the park previously.
     An  investigation revealed that Barna had been depressed and that he had discussed suicide in general terms in the past but had offered no specific information as to his plans.
     A search was  begun on November 9, with hasty teams sent out on trails and to other high probability areas. Deteriorating weather hampered search efforts the first day and precluded use of a helicopter.
     The weather conditions improved on the following day and a helicopter, a Grand County SAR dog team, and additional searchers were placed in the field. Acting on a request from park rangers, officers from the Tooele PD entered Barna’s unsecured residence. They found numerous firearms and a ten-page note that discussed his struggle with deteriorating mental illness, specified his intent to commit suicide in the wilderness, and expressed his fear that he might harm others.
    The search dog alerted to a scent in the Chesler Park area just after noon on November 10. Spotters from the helicopter located Barna’s remains a short time later. He apparently died from a self-inflicted .44 magnum gunshot wound to his head. His body was removed by helicopter later that day and turned over to the San Juan County coroner. A second note near the body indicated that Barna probably committed suicide the day after he was contacted in the campground. Barna’s pack contained a loaded Glock .40 semi-auto pistol and several knives. Ranger Kevin Moore handled the initial response; district ranger Richard Perch was IC for the search. [Peter Fitzmaurice, Chief Ranger]

02- 73     11- 14- 02     Local Lads get Stuck answering a question    
Poison Spider Mesa
     Paged at 3:30 am.  Re-paged too.    
     The story is too much.  It’s Sadie Hawkins dance Saturday night and these 3 girls asked these 3 boys to the dance.  Well, the boys told the girls to go to Moonflower Canyon and look up at Little Arch up on the Poison Spider Mesa rim. 
     The girls did go there and looked up to see the boys holding up a “yes” sign.  They were under the arch.  They were also stuck in the sandstone pot hole they were in.  They couldn’t pull themselves up the thin cotton rope that they had shinnied down. Besides, the rope was anchored to basically nothing. 
     So GCSAR hand pulled them up outta the hole using Rex’s ropes he had in his jeep.
Comments:  For the locals, a good chuckle
Responders:  Rex, TBerry, Lee, Doug  (22 man hours)

02- 74    11- 16- 02   Standby by  during a possible suicide in Canyonlands NP
     From late afternoon till about 9:30 pm, NPS Ranger Paul Downey sat on a ledge with a gal who wanted to jump.  She decided not to jump.
     GCSAR Rock Rescue Team was put on stand by for two reasons.  One was to retrieve the body had she jumped. The other reason was for “tactical belaying.”  The idea was to put several law enforcement rangers on the ends of ropes tended by belayers so they could “pounce” on the subject suddenly without fear of falling off the cliff.
     Just as we were about to leave for the park, we received a welcome phone call advising us that we were not needed. 
Comments: Secret agent Young was out scouting in the moonlight, silently.
Responders:  Rex, Matt, Bego, Kevin, Frank, Sam, Jeff, TBerry, Shawn,
Dave and Barbara, Levi, Jeremy, Jennie, Frankie


Canyonlands National Park (UT)  Ranger Intervenes in Attempted Suicide,
   Saves Life

        At 11:30 a.m. on November 16, a visitor with a cellular telephone notified ranger Paul Downey that there was a distraught visitor at Green River Overlook in the park’s Island in the Sky District. The telephone connection was very poor and Downey was unable to recontact the reporting party for additional information.  
     He searched the Green River Overlook  area and located a woman on a narrow and precarious ledge at the top of a 500-foot cliff at 3 p.m. She said that she intended to commit suicide and told Downey, who possessed a radio and satellite telephone, that she’d jump if anyone else came to the scene to assist him.
     ICS was put into effect; rangers, a Grand County technical SAR team, psychologists, and San Juan County deputies were mobilized and staged. Downey, who is a critical incident stress debriefer, gained the woman’s trust and was able to negotiate a walk-away solution at 9:05 p.m. The woman was then entered into the behavioral health care system. DR Steve Swanke was incident commander. [Peter Fitzmaurice, Chief Ranger]

02- XX     ll- 21- 02 The Roasting of Gary Haynes     Sunset Grill
       Going away for the SAR Czar.  Off to Grant subdistrict,
Yellowstone.  800 degrees below zero !!
Comments:  Pretty fun
Responders:  70 some roasters from all departments

02- 75    11- 30- 02  Back Problems after a fall    Delicate Arch Agency Assist
     Julio fell off Picture Frame Arch and sustained a back injury.  A cell phone call got 911.
     Arches Rangers responded and had GCSAR paged out for assistance on a carry-out situation.  Care Flight was put on stand-by at first but then released to go elsewhere.
     We drove the 6 wheeler up the trail to the start of the long slickrock incline.  Then the Stokes litter with wheel up from there.
     This event concluded with a short debrief with soccer coach Webster.
Comments:  Intense blue sky this afternoon.
Responders:  Nancy, Sam, Bego, Frank, Dick, Jennie, Jeff

02- 76     12- 6- 02     Manhunt     Yellow Cat
     Some individual  stole 258’s ride and took off.  Quite the manhunt ensued, pounding out a lot of ground in the Yellow Cat area.  Haycock, in uniform, chased the subject over hill and dale for 6 miles.  He was caught and transported to the Courthouse by Terry in the DPS helo. 
     GCSAR was requested to bring the 4 wheelers out to the Command Post, just in case they were needed.  Our guys were 10-22d shortly after leaving town when the guy got caught.
Comments:  No one with a scanner got any work done all afternoon for listening to the chase.  Imagine the roasting 258 will get at the office party.
Responders:  Rex, Frank


02-637     Arches National Park (UT)   Pursuit and Arrest of Armed Felon

        On December 6, the pursuit of an armed man who had stolen a Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) cruiser was resolved when he was arrested less than a half mile north of the remote northeast boundary of Arches. Over 30 officers and two aircraft from seven agencies, including two Arches rangers, were involved in the pursuit and  ensuing manhunt. After crashing the patrol car on a rugged two-track road, the handcuffed suspect, Lorenzo Searcy, stole an  assault rifle from the trunk of the car and fled on foot. An Arches ranger was dispatched to secure the eastern flank of the search area and evacuate a 15-person NPS exotic vegetation crew working in the Lost Spring Canyon part of the park. The ranger was the first officer to make contact with Searcy, who was near the NPS work crew vehicles. A minute later, two UHP officers with a police dog arrived. Searcy was arrested without incident following a short foot chase. The rifle was recovered several days later about a mile from the arrest site. [Submitted by Jim Webster, Chief Ranger]

Christmas Lights Parade     12- 7- 02
     Not so cold as last year and more stuff on parade.  Alicia Cooper decorated one of our 6 wheeler Polaris Rangers with lights and drove it along.  The big show was the NPS rescue boat.  Bunches of kids.  And a lot of folks just having fun.
Comments :  A wonderful Moab event
Responders:  Rex, Jeff, Jim, Bego, Alicia, Dick, Dave, Barbara, Jennie,
Dean, Shawn

Canyonlands National Park (UT)     Park Staff Provide Transport for Visitor to    Town Parade
 
         On Saturday, December 7, park staff provided transportation and logistical support for an official visit by S. Claus at the city of Moab’s annual "Parade of Lights." The park vessel Bates Wilson was lighted and equipped for sleigh duty and staffed with a team of elves and a support crew. Thirty-eight  brightly-lighted floats participated in the parade, during which the city turned off all street lights and closed Main Street. An appreciate crowd lined the streets along the entire parade route. Personnel clerk Geni Ainge was incident commander and coordinated sleigh decoration and elf recruitment.  [Submitted by Peter Fitzmaurice, Chief Ranger]
 

02- 77     12- 9- 02     Search  for 258’s stuff     Yellow Cat
     The subject of the manhunt managed to toss a bunch of stuff out the window as he careened along the dirt roads.  A bunch of folks, including GCSAR, went out to search for it all.  And found it all.
Comments:  Who were those 2 other guys that were hanging out??
Responders:  Rex, Frank, Sam, Nancy, Brad, Dick, Dave

02- 78     12- 17- 02      10- 80    Semi Truck coming thru town
     So this trucker gets a log book violation in Cortez, CO,  then he gets fired, then he gets in his truck and heads for home come hell, high water, even death.  Quite shocking.  Uh- oh.........
     Everyone got involved.  Everyone knows the story.
     Haycock shot out his airlines and the truck went off the road near the Bar M.
Comments:  Whew....
Responders:  Rex, Nancy, Jeff, Dave, Levi, Jennie, Dean


02-638    Arches National Park (UT)   Pursuit and Arrest of Tractor-Trailer    Operator

        On December 17, five Arches and Canyonlands rangers assisted local law enforcement agencies in securing Highway 191 through and near Moab, including the Arches entrance road, when a semi tractor-trailer driver led police on a dangerous high speed chase through two states and down the main street of Moab. The operator, Mark Perry of Salt Lake City, had driven through two roadblocks and had his tires flattened by road spikes. He told police via telephone and CB radio that "you guys will have to kill me, I’m not stopping." The truck was finally stopped four miles north of the park entrance, but only after the trailer’s air brake lines had been disabled by gunshots fired by a Utah Highway Patrol supervisor, causing the rear wheels of the trailer to seize up. Perry was finally arrested after officers broke the truck window to get to him. [ Jim Webster, Chief Ranger]

New Wind Chill   --- as of 11-01-01

You will not freeze below the still air temp, you will just get there faster.

Heat Loss: Below the thermoneutral zone there lies 2 actions:
reduce heat loss, increase heat gain

Heat is lost from the body in 3 non evaporative ways (radiation, conduction, convection) and 2 evaporative ways (perspiration, respiration)

**Hopping around in your non-winter world, 50- 60 % of your heat is
lost by radiation.  Most of the rest thru evaporation.  Most clothing
available does not effectively reduce these forms of heat loss.
**However, when the big Brrr comes, convection is often the major route
of heat loss, especially in the wind and more so in a strong wind.  The
new chart makes winds above 25 mph warmer than the old chart. 
**Conduction is the winter heat loss route in cold water immersion. 
Convection and conduction can be reduced by modern layered clothing. 
Convection is blowing on your soup.  The amount of heat lost by convection
is determined by the temperature difference between the air and the
body surface... and the speed of the air.  The greater the temperature
difference, the larger the heat loss.  Quite low temps of still air can be
tolerated, just ask the 4 American climbers who bivvied at 28,000 feet
on Mt. Everest in 1963, pre Gore and fleece.
**It is the wind that kills.  The amount of heat loss increases as the
square of the wind velocity, not in direct proportion.  A wind of 8 mph
removes 4 times as much heat- not twice as much- as a wind of 4 mph. 
The trend begins to fall off as wind speed passes 25 mph.  By then most
folks will be indoors.
**The original heat loss studies were done by Paul Siple, the Eagle
Scout that Admiral Byrd took with him to Antarctica in 1939.  His was the
wind chill chart de jour until Nov 2001.  The new chart corrects some
of Siple’s assumptions.  New charts use wind speed measured 5 feet above
the ground (human face height), not 33 feet (standard anemometer
height); be based on a human face model; incorporate modern heat transfer
theory (heat loss from the body to its surroundings, during cold and
breezy/windy days); lower the calm wind threshold to 3 mph; use a consistent
standard for skin tissue resistance; assume worst case scenario for
solar radiation (clear night sky).
**Wind chill does not affect your car’s antifreeze protection.  It will
have an impact on how quickly your home’s exposed water pipes freeze,
but has little impact on whether they would freeze.
The importance of wind chill index is as an indicator of how to
properly dress for winter weather.

Frostbite:  starts with hypothermia and the shell core shunt making
extremities vulnerable to cold. Naked at rest we need air to be 82 degrees, skin temp is 91, core temp 98.6 is hypothermic below 95.
Treat early, at the first signs of coldness.  Get out of the wind, windmill arms and legs.  Warm it up on someone else’s belly.  Put a hat on duh.  Eat.  Drink.
     Two conditions critical to outcome of frostbite:
         How it is rewarmed  and
         Whether refreezing occurs.
     Treatment of choice is rapid rewarming in 104 to 108 degree water,
not easily done in the field.  Also need pain and anti-inflammatory
drugs.  If spontaneous rewarming is inevitable, do not prevent.
Do not use: car heater, heating pads, fores or other direct heating
source for rewarming. 
     Do not use alcohol or tobacco, they worsen the problem.
Children at greater risk cuz they lose heat from skin more readily,
don’t recognize early symptoms.

Avalanche  Terrain-

The party whom you are with is your only chance of making it out alive. 
70% of avalanche victims die by trauma.  90% of the rest will last but
15 minutes.  So practice with your transceiver.

Avalanche Triangle:
 - TERRAIN:  steepness of slope, shape of slope (concave or convex), terrain traps (road cuts, gullies), terrain anchors (trees, rocks), aspect (relation to sun and wind)
 - WEATHER:  Temperature (rate of change- long periods of cold weaken, large and fast changes bad), snow (how much, what kind), WIND
 - SNOWPACK:  Dig a pit, find the weak layers

Snowmobilers are now the largest fatal user group.

 

...Rules of Thumb...  for winter backcountry travel       
By Ron Perla

1. Consider the general rules NEVER TOUR AFTER A STORM.  The question is how soon after the storm are conditions safe? One hour? One day? One month? A whole season?
2. When conditions are unstable, the wise travel only for the rescue of fools.
3. When it comes to judging slope stability, the rule of thumb is: That there are no rules of thumb.
4. A ski tour disaster is triggered by someone’s intuition that a slope is stable.
5. Next time you come to an avalanche slope, ask not  only "will it slide?", but also, what will happen if it does slide?
6. While crossing an avalanche slope, he who hesitates is lost.
7. The family that tours close together gets buried close together.
8. The weekend ski tour begins with a Friday night call to the snow ranger or ski patrolman.
9. Carry a probe as you would have others carry a probe for you.
10. A fact for what it's worth: No one wearing an avalanche cord has been recovered dead.

    Send comments, suggestions and field observations to:
lsafc@lasal.net


 

#01-5 (Sept-Dec, 2001) -- Three cheers for Nancy, more fun on the rocks, broken bones
#01-4 (July-August, 2001) -- Mock muck, river claims victims, aMAZEing survival
#01-3 (May-June, 2001) -- Group heat exhaustion, Zane flies, boys get stuck
#01-2 (March-April) -- Rocks fall, bones break, bikers get lost
#01-1 (Jan-Feb., 2001) -- Doggie Bagged; Pilot dies in Book Cliffs crash

#00-5 (Sept.-Oct. 2000) Brad finds a son; a relatively quiet couple of months.
#00-4 (July-August2000) -- Airplane crash, a note from Colin, the search for Jeff Firak
#00-3  (Apr-June2000) -- Stuck on the Tombstone, the usual lost and dried bikers, Chris's Mill Creek adventure, Clinton stabilizes Frank's porch
#00-1,2,&2.5 (Jan-Apr2000) -- Nathan jumps, Matt splats, waiting for high water, confluence disappears, Mill Creek wall strike

#99-5 (Sept-Dec99) -- The "Mari" incident, Westwater drowning, Jeeping off Gemini, Stuck on Fine Jade
#99-4 (July - August 99) -- NPS Whitewater Rescues; Prepare Fair; Tracking by Sgt.Green; Credit for responding, finishing the job; Air Life's preferred radio freq; The Puke Frog returns; Lightning
#99-3 (May-June 99) -- Cataract High; Web rescue; Disaster Brothers; Search Training; Short Haul at altitude; Leadership; Rescue: Who pays
#99-2 (Mar-Apr 99) -- River Peak Flow Forecast; Arches Rock Rescue; Lift Evacuation Team; Huge Fund Raiser; Thanks Brad; Knotcraft
#99-1 (Jan-Feb 99) -- Adventure; "Too Short"; Gary Haynes; Evac Team Paid Now

#98-6 (Nov-Dec 98) -- Thanks Yous; Tramway and rescue plans; Cellular Phonefinder; Practice Safe Response; Pipeline Go BOOM
#98-5 (Sept-Oct 98) -- Credit for Responding; Colin Smith @ NPS SAR; Response Statistics; Old Men Do Cliff ResQ; Documentation; SLTrib: $ for SAR
#98-4 (July-Aug 98)
#98-3 (May-June 98)
#98-2 (Mar-Apr 98)
#98-1 (Jan-Feb 98)

#97-6 (Nov-Dec 97)
#97-5 (Sept-Oct 97)
#97-4 (July-Aug 97)
#97-3 (May-June 97)
#97-2 (Mar-Apr 97)
#97-1 (Jan-Feb 97)