What happened in the Black?

Faust and Wheelock put the Gully Team and Becca on a lower system. They raced down the first rope to its end, passed the first knot, raced down the second rope, passed the second knot, and began down the third rope. Finally they were at the pickoff point. The Black Hawk flew in, lowered the hoist cable, and one of the techs clipped himself and Becca into the cable. They were hauled up into the Black Hawk, which departed for Montrose airport at about 7 p.m., with not a minute to spare. 

Where Things Stand Currently

From the Montrose airport, Becca was transferred to a CareFlight helicopter, which took her to Saint Mary’s hospital in Grand Junction. She was still unconscious, but alive.

Since then, her condition has improved slowly, but continually. She is no longer technically in a coma. She has begun to show signs of consciousness, and the ability to move digits and limbs. In spite of multiple broken bones, her doctors do not think any would require surgery to repair.

As of Monday, September 18, Becca had begun to “respond periodically when asked questions,” according to her parents. “For example… she has responded to the nurse to signal two fingers and then three fingers when the nurse showed her that many fingers.” She is still on a ventilator, but largely as a precautionary measure in case of any situation that might necessitate an emergency surgery. At this point, the ventilator is providing very little support, and she is breathing mostly on her own.

Becca’s parents expressed their profound gratitude to the 25+ employees and volunteers who participated in the rescue. “We want to thank all the members of the search and rescue team and acknowledge that we know a number of those people risked life and limb for her. Also her climbing partner, Skyeler. He did all the right things, took care of her, secured her, got down and got help. He was a hero himself.” On Sunday, they drove from St. Mary’s Hospital to the North Rim ranger station to meet with the SAR team and express their gratitude in person—a rare gesture that was deeply appreciated and heartfelt by the entire SAR team.

“Becca is a well-known, liked, and respected member of the tight-knit Western Slope climbing community; and a loving, intentional, and generous friend,” one friend commented. “Her drive to push self imposed boundaries is contagious, and her eagerness to accept and meet challenges—in climbing and life—is an inspiration.” Another friend referred to Becca as “a badass with a huge heart… a person who feels deeply, loves climbing, her partner, her amazing dog, travel, her friends, self-improvement, yoga, and so much more. She is a great climbing partner—smart, safe, and competent. It is unimaginably tragic that this happened.”

The family has established a GoFundMe, and is kindly asking for donations to help defray the cost of Becca’s mounting medical bills. 

A Program in Peril

Climbing rangers Schaefer, Wheelock, and Zeilman all described Monday’s rescue as one of the most difficult, complex, and risky of their careers. All of them have more than a decade of SAR experience under their belts—with more than 25 cumulative years of experience in the Black Canyon. 

“Having the time to train and work with this team and the camaraderie and friendship is what inspires confidence in being able to pull off a rescue like this,” said Schaefer. “Everyone played a role. We don’t do a ton of rescues like this, but because of how dedicated everyone is—all the years of working together and planning for something like this—we were able to get the job done.”

Wheelock agreed that this was a team effort, made possible not only by many years of hard work by all parties involved, but also support from the park’s previous administration. Unfortunately, that support has been increasingly absent under the park’s new superintendent, Stuart West, who announced himself to park employees (and later to Wheelock and Schaefer) as someone who was “there to trim the fat.” 

Under West, the climbing rangers and SAR program have undergone a variety of concerning changes. Around mid-August, Schaefer, Wheelock, and the rest of the park staff (including Law Enforcement Officers) were locked out of the North Rim Ranger Station where all EMS and Climbing Patrol equipment had been located for decades. The locks were changed while Wheelock was on his days off, and when he showed up for his next shift, he was unable to get in. Wheelock was then informed that he and Schaefer would need to return their emergency response vehicles to headquarters, remove all their personal effects from the ranger station, and begin traveling to the North Rim in their personal vehicles. At that point he took sick leave, during which he met with West and “begged him to change the locks back so that he and the rest of the staff could access emergency medical equipment.” Schaefer made the same urgent request, and a week later, the locks were finally changed back. 

But the damage at that point was done. For years, Wheelock, Schaefer, and other rangers had relied upon a functional system that included storing their personal patrol gear, as well as emergency response go bags, at the North Rim Ranger Station. Suddenly, they could no longer rely on that resource, and were forced to figure out a new system on the fly. All of the above added unnecessary stress, anxiety, and confusion to the initial stages of the rescue that occurred on Monday.

“Our morale is dependent on getting support from the administration,” Wheelock said. “This isn’t fat you’re trimming. You’re cutting through muscle and hitting bone. We feel incredibly undervalued right now, and are really struggling to maintain a vision of the future that resembles what we saw on Monday—an incredibly diverse, highly skilled group of individuals coming together to solve a really complex and dangerous problem, and succeed. To have that disappear at the expense of policy is a tragedy. Not just for us, but also for the public.”

Wheelock and Schaefer agreed that at the rate things are going, it’s likely there won’t be a climbing ranger program or volunteer SAR team at all at Black Canyon National Park next year. “And I know none of us want that at all,” said Schaefer, “but that’s the direction our superintendent and administration has chosen to take. And we’re trying really hard to come up with solutions to combat that, because at the end of the day, visitor and rescuer safety is completely dependent on those elements.”

While the future of the Black Canyon Climbing Ranger and SAR program is uncertain, what can be said with one hundred percent certainty is that without their expertise and bravery, Becca would now be dead, not recovering in a hospital in Grand Junction. That is a fact. It’s not just the climbing rangers who deserve better—it’s climbers like Becca, too. Any tax-paying American who wants to visit our national parks deserves better. We all do.

GoFundMe for Becca, mentioned above - https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-becca-climb-back-to-health 

amariuswrote:

GoFundMe for Becca, mentioned above - https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-becca-climb-back-to-health 

Thanks for sharing this. Wishing her a peaceful recovery.

amariuswrote:When Congdon arrived at the ranger station, he was surprised to find nobody was there. So Congdon got in his car and “hauled ass another 15 minutes to cell reception,” where he called 9-1-1. After a frustrating run around with Montrose dispatch transferring him to Delta, then Delta transferring him back to Montrose, and Montrose trying to transfer him back again, he “lost his shit and told them ‘this girl is going to die, I need rescue support now.’” Montrose relayed the report to Black Canyon district ranger Ryan Rees, who called Congdon, told him to stay put, and that rescuers would soon be on their way

This is infuriating.

Edit: Amazing work from SAR despite the circumstances.

Holy shit. This is the most incredible rescue account I have ever read.

Thanks so much to the SAR team and everyone involved, sorry for the administration frustrations. 

Thank you very much for the detailed account of a truly incredible rescue. Congratulations to all involved in the effort and best wishes to Becca for a full recovery.

Along with everyone else on here, I am very disturbed by the ‘political backstory’. Can anyone provide some more background information? Is this extreme cost-cutting at the price of essential services something systemic throughout the Park Service, within that Region, or just the actions of one bad Park bureaucrat? If  such attitudes and policies are more widespread, then is it the result of overall or local funding shortages, general policy changes, or other factors? Whatever the reason, it is clearly something that needs to be addressed and reversed. I believe that there are still a number of climber/climber-friendly members of both chambers of Congress, who should be made aware of this situation ( both the circumstances of the rescue—especially the unnecessary delays, including the closed Ranger station—and what is happening administratively in the Black) and their assistance sought in correcting the situation there before it becomes worse and the next accident results in a tragedy because the resources were no longer available.

Thanks Amarius for sharing the story here for folks who might be struggling to get past Climbing's 5 article per month limit.

I really encourage folks to chip in to Becca's GoFundMe. They actually set a really conservative funding goal, and I am sure they will need much more than they are asking for.

I can't stress enough how easily this could happen to any climber, any time. It does not take a lot to completely alter (or end) your life. Climb safe, folks, and support your fellow climbers when and how you can.

Huge shout to Black Canyon SAR / Climbing Rangers on this incredible effort.

Mailto: stuart_west@nps.gov

Subject: Black Canyon Climbing Rescue

Dear Mr. West,

I have been climbing in the Black since 2012 and have spent over one hundred days navigating the challenging vertical terrain within those walls. It is my favorite place in the world.

It is my understanding that one of the top priorities of your new tenure as park superintendent is to "trim the fat," which includes cutting the budgets of the climbing rangers and restricting SAR access to life-saving emergency equipment at the North Rim. I urge you to reconsider.

The near-fatal accident on Great White Wall last week would have been certainly-fatal if not for the monumental rescue efforts of the climbing rangers and SAR. If these groups are restricted any further, they will not be able to provide adequate life-support measures.

If you have ever dropped down one of the gullies for even a casual hike, you will realize the formidable magnitude of any rescue efforts staged there. This increases exponentially for rescuing a climbing party on fifth-class terrain. The climbing rangers need to trust that they have administrative support in all ways so that they can do their job of saving lives. Please don't cripple them.

Regards,

970-xxx-xxxx

Quick response, but it doesn't add up. If Ranging Climber from response #3 is who I think he is, I would take his word for the "trimming the fat" situation.

Dear

Thank you for your recent email. I am sorry to hear (but happy to reply) that much of the information you have received is inaccurate.

My top priority is not "trimming the fat." We, however, are forced to realign our priorities because we recently received what amounts to a $260,000 cut in our funding. Despite the need to adjust to those dramatic cutbacks, the climbing ranger program remains fully funded, and there has been no restriction of life-saving SAR equipment at the North Rim.

I'd be interested to hear how you received such misinformation.

Please feel free to forward my response—which is an accurate representation of the financial situation--to your colleagues in the climbing community. Together, I'd like to set the record straight. 

Sincerely,

Stuart West

Absolutely amazing work from the rescue team. Monumental achievement - good job!

I found that superintendent Stuart West was appointed by Dir Lisa Carrico <Lisa_Carrico@nps.gov> and so I wrote her a personal note bringing her attention to this matter. Here's what I wrote to her:

Hi Lisa,

Black Canyon of Gunnison is an incredible gem of Colorado especially amongst climbers but also tourists and Colorado locals. It offers similar scale recreation opportunities to Yosemite of California, with 2,000+ ft cliffs and the best climbing opportunities in the country.
While climbers attempt to be fully self-reliant and use systems for their protection, sometimes accidents happen. Last week the SAR team of the Black Canyon pulled off an incredible rescue of a climber that would otherwise have been dead right now. However, reading through an article in Climbing magazine raised some serious concerns about Stuart West's administration and the direction that the SAR program of the Black Canyon is heading. Please find the excerpt from the article attached.
I understand the reality that NPS faces significant budget constraints and sometimes you're faced with a very real need to cut costs. There's nothing wrong with that. What's wrong is the way that this challenge has been approached by Stuart West with highly professional SAR climbing rangers: instead of bringing them in and figuring out ways to reduce costs together they've been made feel not appreciated, expendable, creating barriers to do their jobs.
These climbing rangers are a very rare breed: it's hard to find people with the same level of professionalism, expertise, and knowledge of the area that are willing to risk their lives for other people.
I truly wish this direction can be changed by your actions. Please let me know if there's someone else I should talk to.
Best,-Albert

I'm curious to hear other ideas on how to get proper attention for this matter.

-Albert

PS. Donated via GoFundMe - it's the least I can do. I encourage everyone to participate as this could happen to any of us.

F r i t zwrote:

Quick response, but it doesn't add up. If Ranging Climber from response #3 is who I think he is, I would take his word for the "trimming the fat" situation

Should have cited your source as “some random month old account on mountain project that I believe to be someone we can trust.”

F r i t zwrote:

Quick response, but it doesn't add up. If Ranging Climber from response #3 is who I think he is, I would take his word for the "trimming the fat" situation.

Dear Mr. Nuffer,

Thank you for your recent email. I am sorry to hear (but happy to reply) that much of the information you have received is inaccurate.

My top priority is not "trimming the fat." We, however, are forced to realign our priorities because we recently received what amounts to a $260,000 cut in our funding. Despite the need to adjust to those dramatic cutbacks, the climbing ranger program remains fully funded, and there has been no restriction of life-saving SAR equipment at the North Rim.

I'd be interested to hear how you received such misinformation.

Please feel free to forward my response—which is an accurate representation of the financial situation--to your colleagues in the climbing community. Together, I'd like to set the record straight. 

Sincerely,

Stuart West

I think “realigning priorities” is just gov-speak for “trimming the fat”.

Curmudgeon Donwrote:

Should have cited your source as “some random month old account on mountain project that I believe to be someone we can trust.”

Use the climbing.com link provided above: https://www.climbing.com/news/major-climbing-accident-rescue-black-canyon/

I read the climbing mag report & after hearing the new superintendent's response on cutting the fat, I was shocked.  I worked 18 years as a mountaineering ranger in Denali National Park in Alaska & we had great support from the several superintendent's I worked with over the years. I always have felt that climbers have a duty to stay self-sufficient but like many accidents sometimes things happen. I only climbed once in the Black Canyon on the "Scenic Cruise" & bailed after 6 pitches as it was more than I had prepared for.  In all my climbing years the Black Canyon is one of the most  intimidating climbing areas I have visited.  I cannot understand why the NPS would not have a Climbing ranger team (like on Denali) trained & dedicated to help educate climbers & also be available for rescues. It is a well known fact that many parks that have climbing have teams that are trained & staffed. .Yosemite National Park, tetons, and Rainier National Park to name some.  This article in climbing made me super sad for the climbers & rangers, & volunteers.  I hope that this new superintendent gets some advice from real climbers that tends to steer him in another way to forget about cutting the fat in the in the climbing program as it is not fat but more like the real deal!  Daryl Miller, retired Denali Mountaineering Ranger.   

The funding cuts to NPS are a tragedy among tragedies. The way the SAR members were once locked out from using the medical equipment and are now required to store their own equip and use their own vehicles is totally gut-wrenching. I am blown away by the circumstances and the monumental effort of the rescue unit. I will definitely also write an email to the Superintendent and to Lisa to express my concern. Thank you for taking the time to find their emails, Albert and Fritz.

It seems absurd that the NPS would be cost-cutting across the board when Congress just pumped billions of new dollars into it via the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020. This sounds to me more like shifting priorities.

James -wrote:

It seems absurd that the NPS would be cost-cutting across the board when Congress just pumped billions of new dollars into it via the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020. This sounds to me more like shifting priorities.

I don’t know the details of this particular bill but have extensive experience in government funding. The issue is often that money is either a) categorically restricted or b) one-time apportionments and usually both. So the headline says “400MM for schools” but the focus was actually facilities, so a massive portion can only be used for construction, and then the remainder is one-time, meaning you can’t actually use it to hire teachers or give them raises because that stuff is on the books for years and this money isn’t guaranteed beyond this one.

Legislative bodies *love* headline generating one-time apportionments, lobbies like construction and engineering firms love them, and those of us who actually have to keep services running get worn out by them. 

Haha, funny seeing the emails from Fritz and Albert. I also gave Stuart a call today - and somehow got him on the line. He expressed the same sentiment. But - at least he is now aware WE SEE YOU.

This thread has somewhat drifted from its original intent - and I'd like to remind all who read it that there is a really rad member of our community who is now recovering from an incident and they could use any and all help. Get on that GoFundMe and donate what you can - their journey will not end once they leave the hospital.

Without straying too much - I'd like to highlight the amazing effort from her climbing partner. Without their knowledge to properly escape the belay, secure their partner to the anchor, and get help fast, the situation could have been much much worse (and the amazing effort from the SAR team and rangers). If you are venturing into multi pitch climbs, sport or trad, seek out a mentor, your local guide company, LCO, and take a self-rescue course to learn similar skills. They are valuable and save lives.

In fact, the West Slope AAC is hosting a FREE half-day self-rescue event in GJ next Friday, September 29. Below is the link to register - it is open to AAC members only. If you'd like to attend and are not a member, shoot me a DM and we will figure it out. 

Sending love to Becca, Parker, and their loved ones,

Mitcharoo

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/recreational-rescue-with-vince-anderson-and-skyward-mountaineering-tickets-707434705247

M Dwrote:

 I'd like to highlight the amazing effort from her climbing partner. Without their knowledge to properly escape the belay, secure their partner to the anchor, and get help fast, the situation could have been much much worse (and the amazing effort from the SAR team and rangers). 

+1 to this. Skyeler Congdon successfully deployed all of his training, persevered in the face of monumental adversity and literally saved her life.

 It's hard to express what it's like to be down there when things go wrong and you're trying to get help. The isolation that makes the Black so beautiful can also be suffocating. 

Thank you, Skye, for remaining true to the bond of the shared rope, and overcoming seemingly insurmountable hardships to bring Becca safely home.

I know he's no fan of hagiography, but Skyeler is a real hero in my book.

F r i t zwrote:

Quick response, but it doesn't add up. If Ranging Climber from response #3 is who I think he is, I would take his word for the "trimming the fat" situation.

Dear Mr. Nuffer,

Thank you for your recent email. I am sorry to hear (but happy to reply) that much of the information you have received is inaccurate.

My top priority is not "trimming the fat." We, however, are forced to realign our priorities because we recently received what amounts to a $260,000 cut in our funding. Despite the need to adjust to those dramatic cutbacks, the climbing ranger program remains fully funded, and there has been no restriction of life-saving SAR equipment at the North Rim.

I'd be interested to hear how you received such misinformation.

Please feel free to forward my response—which is an accurate representation of the financial situation--to your colleagues in the climbing community. Together, I'd like to set the record straight. 

Sincerely,

Stuart West

So, is he lying, out of the loop, or are we missing something?