BY KAREN BOSSICK
Firefighters rescued a woman who was injured while walking her dog on Hang Tight/Hang Loose Trail this week.
BC South Fire & Rescue was dispatched to a report of a woman who slipped on a path of ice while walking her dogs 1.2 miles up the trail from the Hang Tight/Hang Loose trailhead in the Cutter’s Subdivision of Hailey. The call came in about 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29.
BC South Fire Protection dispatched a “Hasty” two-person team on foot to make contact with the patient while a formal rescue team was assembled. A Life Flight Network helicopter was also dispatched to help with the rescue.
Once the initial rescuers reached the patient, they determined she could be moved down the trail using a wheeled littler, which resembles a stretcher on a bicycle wheel with rescuers in front and back.
The patient was taken by ground ambulance to the hospital upon reaching the Cutters Park parking lot.
The lack of snow on the valley floor south of East Fork Road has tempted Hailey and Bellevue residents to hike and bike the trails in their backyard. An old farmer from Twin Falls who rode up a Bald Mountain chairlift with Eye on Sun Valley last week said he’s been skiing Sun Valley since 1965 and had never driven to the resort in January when there was no snow in Hailey.
But BC South spokespeople said that Thursday’s incident is a reminder that, while trails in the South Valley are mostly bare and dry, shaded aspects can still be snow-covered and even icy.
This is the second backcountry rescue that BC South Fire Protection District was called to during January. Firefighters also rescued a person on Jan. 18 who texted them about 5:50 p.m. that they were unable to move after their four wheeler overturned 8.5 miles east of Hailey near the Quigley Road/Cove Creek Road junction.
That rescue involved rescuers from BC South, Ketchum Fire District, Sun Valley Fire Department and Blaine County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue. It took about four hours due to the location snow drifts, rutted roads and downed trees.
Life Flight Network’s helicopter was able to locate the patient, who had turned on the headlights of the four-wheeler. Blaine County Sheriff rescuers who arrived on the scene by snowmobile helped load the patient into the helicopter, which took the patient to the hospital.
Keviin Crawley, chief of BC South Fire Protection District, said the Blaine County Emergency Communications division was a vital lifeline, relaying text messages between the victim and responders in rugged mountain terrain where voice communication was impossible: “Their persistence provided our only connection to the patient during these critical hours.”
Although there is little snow in town, there are mid-winter conditions in the backcountry, he added. Anyone recreating there should have warm clothes, extra food and a way to contact emergency services, if need be.