Should one attempt to rescue a stranger from a crevasse or wait for mountain rescue?
Imagine the situation. You are somewhere in the montblanc massif crossing a glacier and you come across a pair of climbers. You/ I are well trained in crevasse rescue, but are not a certified guide.
One of the pair has fallen into a crevasse but is conscious, and is being supported by his partner in self arrest. The victim is unable to climb out.
You call mountain rescue and they say they will be there in 30 mins. Should you attempt to hoist the victim out with a 3:1 system or just wait for the pros?
At the very least, I would attempt to build an anchor to take the load off the self arresting climber. Assume sufficient but basic equipment: prussics, karabiners, axes, screws, maybe a petzl micro traxion...
Please qualify answers with experience or repeatable references. No personal opinions.
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The most important point in any emergency is to avoid making the situation worse. The situation you describe is dynamic and may have several outcomes. Its not really possible to make a decision without seeing the details of the situation. If you attempt to help and mess up there may be more casualties to rescue and the injuries may be worse. Alternatively even if you can't pull the guy out of the crevice you might be able to help secure the partner and prevent him from going in too (self arrest might be unstable, or tiredness could kick in).
I would do as you suggest, assist the partner while taking minimal risk. Once they are secure (and whoever is in the crevasse isn't going in any further) I would reassess what else, if anything, could be done.
Doing nothing is not acceptable, at the very least you should check that rescue services have been informed and offer to call them, even if you can provide no material help to the pair. Its possible that the partner can't get access to a phone or radio due to literally holding on for their life.
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Yes, you absolutely should rescue the climber when the situation allows.
The reason that matters most is suspension trauma: Prolonged motionless hanging in a harness can lead to loss of consciousness and eventually even death. Of course you say the victim is conscious, so he might be able to move or even install a foot-loop to transition weight to his legs. You also state that he can't climb out, so it is likely he is injured so he might not be able to do this. In any case, even if he is not in immediate danger for suspension trauma, free hanging in a crevasse is not a comfortable position to be in (personal experience). So assess the situation together with the climber in the crevasse and take a decision.
I am not saying you need to get him out in every situation, but if the situation permits it, you should. So as usual contact the victim to evaluate his condition and position. If he is unhurt, able to get weight off the harness, but for some reason can't ascend and rescue is hard to do due to an immense snow lip at the crevasse border - by all means wait for the professional rescuers. They have material like tripods to solve such a situation.
There might even be a legal argument about denial of assistance if the victim comes to harm due to the prolonged stay in the crevasse and it can be proven, that you were able to help but didn't. However I doubt this can happen unless you are a professional yourself. Still this is also morally relevant: Do you want to be in the situation where you need to ask yourself the question: What if?
As I raised legalities I assume the following argument comes up: But what if the climber is injured during rescue?
The premise is that the climber is conscious. So you can communicate during the entire rescue and you should. Then the risk is minimal.
Addendum:
I specifically didn't go into details of the rescue, as that was specifically not what the question asked: They are experienced in crevasse rescue. So when I say you should help when applicable, I obviously mean to the extent that makes sense given the situation (I specifically said so) and under the number one principle of any rescue: Keep yourself safe.
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Additionally to @imsodins brilliant answer, I'd say the same applies to almost any mountain rescue situation:
- if you are able to contribute to the situation while maintaining your own safety, do it (and if you're not able, stay out of the way of the rescue team)
- securing your position takes precedence over the next steps (you don't want to be the next task in the rescue teams list!)
- securing the victims position takes in most situations precedence over immediately starting to get her/him out
If someone gets injured while being rescued, it depends on the local laws. In Europe it's mostly that you are protected unless you've been extremely reckless. (That would be a question for another stackexchange site)
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I'd like to add one point to the other good answers:
You call mountain rescue and they say they will be there in 30 mins.
As you are in communication with rescue, once you have answered all their questions, ask them how to proceed meanwhile (tell what knowledge and equipment you have).
Side note: plausibility check for the scenario: You meant to say that your team comes across another team that just had an accident, right? You are not on your own in a crevasse area!? (Otherwise, rescue would probably tell you to anchor yourself and stay where you are and not move until they pick you off the glacier after the other guy is rescued...)
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/18595. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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