Home > Trip Reports > June 4, 2017, DANGEROUS SKI TRACK ON MT BAKER COLEMAN RTE

June 4, 2017, DANGEROUS SKI TRACK ON MT BAKER COLEMAN RTE

6/4/17
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
4970
5
Posted by Eric Johnson on 6/4/17 11:37pm
On Sunday afternoon a skier went about fifty feet too far to skier's left a couple of hundred feet below Coleman Saddle and skied into the schrund just NE of Colfax Pk.  This is the long schrund farthest east below Colfax. 

So at the moment there is a sucker track where he skied off, and we had to warn multiple ski parties coming down to not go that way shortly after the accident.  DO NOT SKI ON THE SUCKER TRACK TO THE LEFT COMING DOWN, stay on the main track!

This skier was incredibly lucky.  A group of skiers with superb rescue skills was following behind and was able to haul him out of the schrund, and went for help while Alan and Jasmine stayed with the injured man and helped coordinate the Navy heli rescue.  Appears he may have been lifted off within only a few hours of the accident--huge thanks to the everyone involved in the rescue, very well done. 

Photo here:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154736120960669&set=p.10154736120960669&type=3&theater
Near the very left end of the thinner crack visible in the picture, photo taken from 7000' camp.
Thanks for posting the heads up Eric. We yelled at quite a few people that were following his tracks up to the drop. I hope nobody follows them over the next few days.
His two skis are still down there. One of them can be recovered, but the second one is waaaay down there. I don't have the expertise to even attempt to get them. The guys that pulled him out said that a 60m rope was barely enough for rescue. If anybody with a lot of experience is up for an adventure, I know Ron would love to get his skis back.

We were blown away by the amount of generosity and help given by the community up there. Many people stopped to give us their last drops of water and food while we waited for the help. Thankfully we didn't have to wait the originally estimated 8 hours for a rescue. The US Navy did an outstanding job in attending to him and getting him off the mountain quickly.
I don't have an update on his health status, except that he's been transferred to a hospital in Canada.

Ron's skis are gone, man.

Thanks for the post and warning. Glad he survived the fall.

News article with video of the rescue:
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article154517854.html

Crevasse fall is second in two weeks on Mount Baker

A 58-year-old British Columbia man was flown from Mount Baker after falling into a deep crevasse while skiing the volcano’s western slopes Sunday afternoon, officials said.

Whatcom County Undersheriff Jeff Parks said Monday that Ronald Veperts was descending the main climbing route on Coleman Glacier when he fell into a 60-foot crevasse.

Veperts, who was skiing when the incident occurred, was treated Sunday at St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham and transferred to another facility. Hospital officials didn’t know where he was taken.

"His climbing group was able to get him out of the crevasse but he was unable to move any further," Parks said in an email. "(Veperts), from Ladner, B.C., was stable when transported but thought to have possible head, rib, and wrist injuries."

A call to 911 at 3:43 p.m. alerted Bellingham authorities to the situation. Emergency radio dispatches said the caller had hiked to where cell phone service was available, and that both a doctor and nurse were with the seriously injured man.

Mike Welding, public affairs officer for Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, said the incident occurred at the 9,000-foot level of the 10,781-foot active volcano. The crew of an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter hovered above the scene and dropped rescuers with a litter to raise the patient, then flew him to the hospital.

Welding said the rescue was challenging because of its high altitude, and the helicopter crew left some equipment behind to make the aircraft lighter.

...



A few photos of the heli rescue here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=121068938476156&set=pcb.647082698817049&type=3&theater

I went for a walk here in Vancouver, BC with Ron yesterday morning and he is doing well. I told him about this thread and hopefully he will add his voice so we can all learn from this. From what I heard a marker Kingpin pre-release might have had a huge part in the story. But hopefully Ron will tell the story from his point of view. Cheers. Be safe, stay safe. THANKS to everyone involved in the rescue, it is good to have my friend Ron back.

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june-4-2017-dangerous-ski-track-on-mt-baker-coleman-rte
Eric Johnson
2017-06-05 06:37:03