NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT

Day/Date:   Monday, January 8, 2001

01-004 - Rocky Mountain NP (CO) - Rescue

On January 4th, Brian McMahon, 23, of Boulder, Colorado, lost control of his descent while boot-skiing down Lambs Slide near Longs Peak. McMahon slid 300 feet before striking a rock and sustaining a compound fracture to his right tibia and fibula. An attempted helicopter evacuation was unsuccessful due to high winds. This necessitated a five-mile carryout by a 34-person rescue team comprised of park staff, Larimer County SAR volunteers, and Colorado Mountain School guides. McMahon was transferred to an ambulance at the trailhead around 1 a.m. Lambs Slide is an 800-foot, 70-degree-slope snow and ice field named for Reverend Elkanah Lamb. In August, 1871, Lamb attempted an uncharted descent down the east face of Longs Peak and had an experience similar to McMahon's. Although Lamb was able to arrest his fall and therefore was uninjured, he later wrote about his harrowing experience: "Quicker than I can tell it, my hands failed to hold, my feet slipped, and down I went with almost an arrow's rapidity. An eternity of thought, of life, death, wife and home, concentrated in my mind in those two seconds." [Joe Evans, CR, ROMO, 1/5 ]