Alive in Alaska (5 page)

"I don't think that the bear will bother us again.
 
We had just gotten between her and her cubs, and she wouldn't let that happen again since she knows we're around.
 
In fact, we are fortunate that we ran into a female with cubs and not a lone female grizzly or worse a male grizzly.
 
We would be dead."

“This is not what I wanted to come to Alaska for,” Said Bill.

“Bill, this is not what I wanted either, but I sure have a lot to write about.”

It was noticeable that the painkiller was working.
 
Bill could have used a Valium, but no such luck.

~~~

The three had not heard such a beautiful sound in a very long time.
 
Thwok, thwok, thwok…, the sound of helicopter blades beating the air.
 
The sound was off in the distance, but at the rate the sound was getting louder ,it wouldn't
 
be long before they would be heading for home.

Soon they not only heard but saw chopper headed directly for their location.
 
The satellite phone came on.

"We see the phone's location on our scope but do not see you, what is your status?"

"We are doing well.
 
The older female has a possible cracked hip but can move with crutches.
 
The male has bruises, but is mobile.
 
I am bruised and sore but otherwise OK.
 
We will try to make it to a clearing," Said Danielle.

"We see a clearing; it is tight but doable.
 
Maintain your position; we will find you when we're on the ground."

"Roger that."

Soon the copter was directly above through the trees then moved sideways for about a hundred yards.
 
The three could hear the machine hovering getting ready to land.

"Hooray!" Said Betsy.

"Let's let them come to get us so we can have help," Said Danielle.

There was an awful sound suddenly from the direction of the helicopter; then a long thin projectile slashed through the woods over their heads.
 
It hit a tree trunk several yards behind them putting a large gash on the tree, then fell to the ground.
 
They looked to see what now was obviously a piece of the copter's rotor laying on a the base of the tree.

"Stay here," Yelled Danielle.

She took off in as fast a run as she could toward the now crashed helicopter.
 
No records for a hundred yard dash today, but she got to the downed vehicle in a little over a minute.
 
The copter fuselage had not broken up, but the tail rotor and the main rotor were gone.
 
The pilot sat dazed in his seat.
 
The rescue team was outside laying on the ground.
 
The chief was hanging by his safety strap attached to his belt.
 
He was dazed.
 
His right arm hung down with a severe bend in it.
 
Probably broken or dislocated.
 
When Danielle got to him, she realized that he was Jake Jameson.
 
Jake had been her lead on several rescue missions by Alaskans on Call.

 
"Jake, can you hear me?"

"What happened?"

"Not sure, but it looks like you caught a tree with the main rotor then augured in.
 
Most of the team look like they have been knocked out, but I don't see any visible injuries other than that."

"Is that you Danielle?"

"Yes, it's me."

"I wasn't given a name just a location for you.
 
Ohh, the arm hurts like hell."

"I will try to get you down.
 
Let me get under you left arm so you can hold on while I release your safety strap."

"OK."

"There, put your left arm around my neck, I going to hold on to your left arm with my right and release the strap with my left.
 
I'll go on three."

"Understood."

"One, Two, Three."

Danielle braced hard as his weight shifted to her.

"Aah." Jake groaned as his arm moved with the maneuver.
 
Then Danielle's strength allowed Jake get to his feet.

"Knew you were strong, but not that strong.
 
So glad you were here."

"Probably a little adrenalin Chief."

"We came to rescue you and your friends, but it looks like your going to have to rescue us all," Said Jake.

"That's no fair."

She smiled when she said it, but he had been her crew chief on several occasions, now the responsibility was falling on her.

"Danielle, I know you can do it."

With that, Jake Jameson passed out.
 
She let him down as slowly as she could.
 
Danielle checked his pulse and respiration and realized he had probably passed out from the pain.
 
Now she needed to check thoroughly on the others then she needed to get Bill and Betsy and the satellite phone here as soon as she could.
 
Everyone else seemed to have only minor scrapes and contusions.
 
The pilot had come to and was OK.

"I need to get my two friends then we"ll be back as soon as possible."

"I'll be alright," the pilot said.
 
He climbed down from the destroyed machine and sat down against a tree.

She began to jog as fast as she could and soon she could see the pair sitting on a rock.
 
They waved when they saw her coming closer through the woods.

"The rescue crew seems to have only minor injuries except my old Chief."

"So now there are…"

"Eight of us needing rescue," Said Danielle.

"That is not good news," Said Betsy.

Danielle picked up the satellite phone and change it to talk.

“This is Danielle Eagleton, Alaskans on Call, CRR# AK5267,” She said.

"What is the situation Danielle, we lost contact with Rescue One about a half an hour ago."

"Apparently, a wind gust pushed them into trees around the clearing they were trying to land in and the vehicle lost its rotors and hit hard.
 
Chief Jameson sustained a severely injured arm, but everyone else seems to have gotten through with only minor injuries.
 
There are now eight souls that need your help," Said Danielle.

"Copy that.
 
Unfortunately, we have no other aircraft in the vicinity.
 
We will need to send a land rescue party.
 
It will take some time to get to you.
 
Please keep the phone on Transpond."

"OK."

Danielle put the phone into her backpack, and they started out for the helicopter crash site.
 
It took about twenty minutes to work their way to the site.
 
When they arrived, everyone was conscious.
 
One of the medics was tending to Jake, who seemed to be under some pain medication.
 
The medication made him not quite himself.

"Hi Dani, it's so good to see that beautiful face."

He looked up into the medic’s face.
 
"Doesn't she have a great bod."

"Sir, you need to be quiet now the pain medicine is talking."

"It's OK corpsman, I understand, the Chief is an excellent gentleman," She said.

The Chief looked like he was thinking
why did I say that
.

Betsy and Bill were smiling.
 
The Chief's men were controlling themselves, but there was a very slight smile on their faces.
 
They were silently in complete agreement with the Chief.

~~~

The clearing provided an opening to see to the west where an airplane could be seen rising from the airstrip at Pump Station 5.
 
That was their destination, and now Danielle had to take the lead to get everyone down the mountain to safety.
 
It was not going to be easy, and there was not going to be another rescue aircraft coming soon.
 
They needed to start moving to the base of this mountain so that a ground vehicle could get to them.

“We need to work our way down now.
 
It should take only the rest of the day to get there if we start now,” She said.

“Betsy is still in pain…”

"I don't want to be the holdup, Bill.
 
We need to go with Danielle,"

"We'll be careful, but we need to start now.
 
I want to be at the bottom before dark."

"Folks, Danielle is excellent and I agree with her," Jake said.

Everybody was now up; they collected the minimum from the broken copter they thought they would need.
 
Like water, medic kit, and each took a coil of rope.
 
Now the group, not three but eight, started the trek to the west following an untested leader but a leader with new resolve.

It was about a half mile further to the west and the level trail began to change into a more challenging surface.
 
Stonier and slippery with moss.
 
The talk of the north-side of the trees was coming into play on this north side of the mountain.
 
Danielle searched ahead for the most level parts, but she could only see that below her about a hundred feet.

"I would like to tie one of our ropes to this tree and then we can descend to the easier trail down there,"
 
She said pointing to the more level path below.

One of the crew took off the coil of rope and tied it to the tree.

"Thanks, Bob, Jason will you start down, and when you're at the bottom, Jim will you start down and spot Mrs. Bigelow as she goes down backward.
 
Go slow.
 
Betsy, keep looking at me as you work your way down.
 
Be careful with each step and make sure it is as solid as you can.
 
Jim is right behind you to steady you."

"Ok, Danielle, I know I need to do this, but I do not like it."

“I know Betsy, but we need to do this.”

All was well until the halfway down point.
 
Not a good time to cross a moose, indignant of intruders.
 
But there was the moose, and he charged at Jim and Betsy.
 
Betsy lost her grip.
 
The moose hooked Jim as he ran between them sending him rolling down the slope.
 
Betsy teetered and started to fall.

“Drop to the ground Betsy,”
 
Danielle yelled.

She must have heard Danielle or instinctively fell and rolled down the hill.
 
Almost to the path, she hit a tree trunk.

"Aaah!"

 
She screamed in pain.
 
It was her other leg.
 

The EMT grabbed the rope and in a repelling motion got down to where Betsy was.
 
She was holding her leg; the pain was showing all over her face.

“Lay back Mrs. Bigelow, let me see what has happened.”

Bill filled with adrenalin had gotten to Betsy in remarkable order.
 
But he knew the EMT could help better than he at the moment, so Bill reached for Betsy's hand, which she grabbed with a force he had not known since the birth of their baby.
 
That memory was not welcome.

"It's fractured not broken.
 
But, she can not put any weight on it."

Danielle had gotten down to them at this point.

“Ok,” She said.

She looked around for any sign of the moose.
 
None.

"Charlie, Ben, I need for you two to go back to the helicopter and bring back the Stokes litter,"
 
She called.

“Got it,” They called back and immediately headed back toward the copter on the trail above.

Jim was working his way back up to the lower path, a bit shaken.
 
He had rolled down beyond the lower trail and had come to a stop just short of a much steeper drop off, down another hundred feet.
 
Danielle looking for him saw him and started to call.

“I’m good,”
 
He called.

“No injuries?”
 
She called back.

"Nope, just a little pride."

"Ok, now we wait for the Stokes litter,"
 
She said.

The EMT had given Betsy pain relief and was propped up against the tree that had stopped her.

They all now realized that the tree was the last thing between Betsy and the drop off that had Jim had almost gone over a little further away.
 
So bad as it is, it could have been much worse, if not fatal.

Bill got to his wife and kneeled by her.

Betsy squeezed his hand, this time with affection.
 
He could not stop weeping.

“We’ll get through this Will,” She said.
 

It wasn't too long before Charlie and Ben came to the top of the hill and began letting down the Stokes litter with the second coil of rope.
 
As soon as the carrier was down, they untied the rope from the tree at the top and tied it to the second rope so that when Charlie and Ben got down they could retrieve the line.
 
Danielle could see that Betsy was not feeling as much pain.

"Ok, Betsy are you up for riding in the carrier?"
 
Said Danielle.

“Don’t see another way,”
 
She said.

It was slow going but this path, such as it was, allowed the four crewmen carrying the litter with Betsy.
 
Jake, Bill, and Danielle followed picking their steps carefully westward on the more gradual slope.

~~~

Danielle had decided to make the most of the remaining light of day two and pressed the survivors on; now eight came to the bottom of the mountain to a clearing looking out over the valley toward Pump Station 5.
 
The carrying of the litter basket required several rest stops to maintain the safety of carrying Betsy, and the four capable crewmen were relieved for short periods by Danielle and Bill as they were able.
 
Jake was not in a condition to help but happily encourage the crew with all the marching songs he knew.
 
Medication was keeping the pain at a distance and his usual serious attitude at bay.
 
Not quite in tune, and occasionally funny, he did his part to keep up morale.