Rescued Hiker Enjoys Fireworks While Being Carried Out on New Swedish Vacuum Mattress
Story and images by Stowe Mountain Rescue
There were multiple reasons why last night’s call out was special. One was that it was the inaugural outing for our fancy new Swedish Med-Tech vaccum mattress. It’s lightweight (hooray!) and provides a comfortable, fitted and secure surface for our lucky subject. We were very impressed with it and intend to use it on every mission from now on.
Lucky Subject had injured his ankle high on the Halfway House trail, but did so with enough daylight left to make us happy. When newly injured, he had encountered a passerby who just happened to be a former Mountain Rescue member from a team in New Hampshire, who recognized the gravity of the situation and encouraged our subject to call for help.
This incredible man then tore up his plan for the afternoon and committed to seeing the rescue through, working with our team like one of our own. We were grateful and will never forget the experience of seamlessly integrating a stranger into our small team and it working so smoothly.
The extraction involved hauling the litter up 200 vertical ft on a steep, narrow, rocky trail. It wasn’t pretty, but we got him up to the ridge just as nighttime fell.
Lucky Subject was then treated to a prime view of the firework display at Spruce Peak as we set off to drive down the Toll Road. We stopped the trucks and piled out, gazing in awe until the finale. Guaranteed, no one down there enjoyed those fireworks as much as we did!
The ankle injury was unfortunate, but lots of good things happened in and around last night’s mission that made our subject Lucky. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him again in Vermont some time.