MERVIN MECKLENBURG Rawlins Daily Times | Posted: Sunday, February 22, 2004 12:00 am
RAWLINS (AP) - When Saratoga Search and Rescue member Pat Waliser heard a plane had crashed atop Elk Mountain, his immediate reaction was to ask if Brian Bensen was going to help with the rescue.
"Out of everybody in our group, Brian and I were the only ones who have been up there in the winter," he said.
Waliser knew how fierce Elk Mountain could be. He wanted another person on the team who knew the mountain's winter moods.
The single-engine plane was on a ridge about 1,000 feet below the 11,152-foot summit. Two passengers were in communication with the Carbon County Sheriff's Office by phone. They were still alive and alert. Pilot Stephen Venable had gone into cardiac arrest shortly after the crash and would not survive.
The east slope of Elk Mountain is about the worst place in Carbon County to be stranded during the winter, according to those who assisted with the rescue of Alan Stewart and Zattirudeen Premji.
"I can't think of any place that would be more difficult to reach," Sheriff Jerry Colson said.
The prevailing west winds curl over the peak, laying huge drifts on the mountain side. The slope is not only difficult to reach from the ground, it is dangerous to approach from the air, according to Rawlins pilot Dwight France, who circled the crash scene from about 4:30 p.m. until rescuers arrived at 9:30 p.m.
"I can't think of any place where you have worse downdrafts and continual turbulence," France said. "You could watch those clouds off the mountain, and they would flow to the bottom just like a waterfall."
While France circled over the crash with Sheriff's Sgt. Kyle Rosentreter, his plane dropped about 1,000 feet per minute in the downdraft off the mountain each time it circled. France speculated that's why the plane crashed.
"He was probably well above the mountain, and then they got in the downdraft," he said.
Before Venable died, he provided important information to the sheriff's dispatcher that later helped France, who was flying for the sheriff's office, find the crash location, Colson said.
What Waliser and Bensen knew about Elk Mountain, the six other snow machiners in the rescue team learned firsthand. It took them seven hours to travel four miles.
"It was Elk Mountain," Waliser said, as if no more explanation was needed.
Other snowmobilers on the team included Chuck McVey, Randy Sikes, George Allen Jr., Randy Parrie, Martin Huntley and Cory Oxford.
Powder drifts ranged from 3 to 20 feet deep. In powder, snow machines become bogged easily, requiring the snow machiner to pull the 500-pound machine out manually. Snow machiners who stepped out into the snow sometimes found themselves sunk in powder up to their waists, or deeper.
Add to this the cold and wind, which blew 30 to 40 mph.
Clouds were thick when the rescue team left the base camp about 2:30 p.m. At about 4 p.m., the clouds cleared, allowing France and Rosentreter to watch the searchers' progress from above.
The rescue team was only half a mile from the wreckage, but progress was slow. The two spoke with the rescuers on the radio, directing them toward the crash survivors, who were huddled under one of the crashed plane's wings.
"We'd go a little ways, and they'd say 'go this way,"' McVey said.
Another piece of luck was a C-130 from the Wyoming National Guard which happened to be in the area. The C-130 provided assistance before the clouds cleared.
According to a National Guard press release, the crew was scheduled to fly training missions at Camp Guernsey when Denver air traffic control asked them to follow an emergency beacon from the downed plane.
Using military radio and cell phones, the crew kept in touch with rescue personnel on the ground and the crash survivors to narrow the coordinates of the downed plane.
"We coordinated by cell phone with one of the people at the scene and told him to tell us when he heard us fly over," said Maj. Pat Baron, the C-130's navigator. "Elk Mountain was shrouded in clouds so we couldn't see the surface."
About 9:15 p.m., the snow machiners decided to leave their machines and proceed on foot. France and Rosentreter continued to guide them from the air. As France's plane circled over the crash, he flashed his flashlight at the searchers to show what direction to proceed.
"I'll bet we didn't go 30 feet, and we heard their voices," Waliser said, adding the sound was "wonderful."
The men were flying from Longmont, Colo., to Jackson on a ski trip, so they had winter gear. The temperature, however, was close to zero, not counting the wind-chill factor.
The survivors were cold, but they could walk. One of them had lost some blood and was, perhaps, in the early stages of hypothermia.
Each member of the rescue effort was presented with a special plaque commemorating the rescue.
But the best reward came from those who received the most benefit. In a phone interview, Stewart said he was "totally grateful" for being taken off the mountain.
"It was amazing that they got those snowmobiles up there. I was totally amazed they could do that," he said.