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“I often think about how I can't climb a mountain without a team;
rarely do I think about how we'll descend the same mountain while
dealing with an emergency situation like this.”
As both an
experienced climber and U.S. Marine, Capt. Nick Anthony has learned
how to effectively “plan for the best and prepare for the worst.”
Together with his team, the Seattle-based recruiting management
officer was thrust into an emergency response situation while
climbing in North Cascades National Park, Washington.
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September 10, 2016 - Capt. Nick Anthony, a U.S. Marine Corps
recruiting management officer based in Seattle, assisted in the
rescue of an elderly man while climbing in North Cascades National
Park, Washington. After encountering an exhausted 77-year-old Norman
Petty on a hike with his wife Barbara, Anthony and fellow climbers
led the couple visiting from Dunwoody, Georgia, to safety by
carrying Norman Petty more than three miles using an impromptu
support system. As the executive officer of Marine Corps Recruiting
Station Seattle, Anthony is the second-in-command for recruiting
operations spanning Washington, northern Idaho and Montana. Anthony,
32, is from Norman, Oklahoma. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt.
Reece Lodder)
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After an early wakeup, Sept. 10, 2016, Anthony and
teammates Colin Ayers, Melanie Stam and Ben Stilin arrived
at the Boston Basin Trailhead at 4:30 a.m. Leaden clouds
shielded all but a few stars. Behind them soared dark,
lithic silhouettes of mountains touched lightly by snow.
The climbers checked their gear and affixed headlamps,
shaking off the frigid morning air biting into their warming
layers. Stepping onto the trail, they maneuvered through a
soaring old growth forest for three hours. The first rays of
morning sunlight greeted them as they exited the tree line,
peaking over the mountaintops as they approached a glacier.
While Anthony and his team roped together in preparation
for their ascent, 77-year-old Norman Petty and his wife
Barbara, avid hikers visiting from Dunwoody, Georgia, began
a 7.4-mile round trip hike in nearby Cascade Pass. The two
groups would soon cross paths.
Ascending the glacier,
Anthony and his team navigated a slew of crevasses while
climbing to more than 7,900 feet in elevation. As they
looked toward their teammates, they could barely see beyond
the 30-meter length of their rope, said Ayers, a 21-year-old
University of Washington chemical engineering student from
Spokane, Washington.
“The visibility was as bad as
I've ever climbed in,” Ayers said. “We were able to pick out
the people on our rope team, but not much other than that.
Looking up, there was no distinction between the slope of
the glacier and where it met cloud cover.”
Forceful
gusts of wind shifted the cloud coverage up the glacier,
negating the team's ability to distinguish between the
clouds and snow. They cautiously moved forward, eventually
coming within 600 vertical feet of the summit. Despite being
near it, they decided to turn back, agreeing in the wisdom
of not continuing in whiteout conditions.
“I've
turned around at other climbs, but never that close,” Ayers
said. “The summit seemed like it was right in front of us,
but with the sketchy traverses, sheet of ice and snow
softening up, we decided against it. We felt like it had
been a bit of a wasted day.”
Given the conditions,
the team decided to complete their climb using an alternate
route that was better maintained. For four hours, they
crossed a talus field littered with small boulders,
descending more than 1,000 feet in elevation and
subsequently ascending another 600 feet to reach the Sahale
Arm, a prominent ridgeline that protrudes from Sahale
Mountain. Nearly 12 hours into their climb, the weary
climbers stopped for a quick break and to capture photos.
“We were shwacked,” said Anthony, a 32-year-old native
of Norman, Oklahoma. “All we were thinking about at that
point was having cheeseburgers at the end of the climb.”
As Anthony's group neared Cascade Pass an hour later,
Catherine Mitchell, a content project manager for Microsoft
in Redmond, Washington, waved them down. She was hiking
through the pass when she came upon Norman and Barbara
Petty. The couple was well into their 7.4-mile trek through
the pass when Norman Petty's breathing became labored and
his legs began to give out.
“Before they came to help
us, I was praying and thinking, “How will I get Norman down
off this mountain?”” Barbara Petty said. “Once Catherine
said they weren't going to leave us, I wasn't afraid
anymore.”
With Stam ahead of the group and Stilin having departed to find a
park ranger, Anthony and Ayers tended to Norman Petty, who they
learned served as a U.S. Army Chemical Corps officer in the 1960s.
Anthony checked his vital signs and began establishing a brief
medical history.
Piecing the info together with the couple's
answers, Anthony learned Norman Petty had Parkinson's disease and
hadn't taken his daily medication for it – nor did he have it with
him. When he tried to stand up, he lost motor control and couldn't
maintain his balance.
“We felt a sense of duty to care for
him,” Anthony said. “Ethically, we couldn't leave someone who needed
medical attention, especially knowing we had the ability to help.”
As Norman Petty rested, Anthony, Ayers and Mitchell provided him
with food and water while discussing what to do next. Daylight was
closing in and the temperature would soon begin dropping. There was
no time to waste.
“I couldn't have been more relieved and
impressed with how Nick [Anthony] quickly jumped to action,
assessing Norman's medical state, itemizing our gear, and
brainstorming ideas on how to successfully navigate the trail during
day and night, which soon approached,” Mitchell said.
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September 10, 2016 - Colin Ayers (right), Melanie Stam (center) and
Ben Stilin escape whiteout conditions on the Quien Sabe Glacier in
North Cascades National Park, Washington. After encountering an
exhausted 77-year-old Norman Petty on a hike with his wife Barbara,
photographer Capt. Nick Anthony, the pictured climbers and Catherine
Mitchell (not pictured) led the couple visiting from Dunwoody,
Georgia, to safety by transporting Norman Petty more than three
miles using an impromptu support system. Anthony, from Norman,
Oklahoma, is a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting management officer based
in Seattle. Ayers, from Spokane, Washington, is a University of
Washington chemical engineering student. Mitchell, from Seattle, is
a content project manager at Microsoft. Stam, from Atlanta, is a
Microsoft data analyst. Stilin, from Seattle, is a ski instructor at
Husky Winter Sports. (Photo courtesy of USMC Capt. Nick Anthony)
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Drawing from his Marine Corps and wilderness survival
training, Anthony worked with Ayers to create a support
system using trekking poles, jackets and gloves. The duo
braced the poles on their shoulders, enabling Norman Petty
to drape his arms over the poles, lessen the pressure on his
legs and shuffle along.
As they laboriously navigated
approximately three miles of Cascade Pass's switchbacks for
the next three hours, the trio of rescuers each played their
part in returning the couple to safety. Mitchell lit up the
trail and encouraged Barbara Petty. Ayers helped Anthony
support Norman Petty, conversing with him the entire length
of the trail.
“This helped take Norman's mind off the
situation at hand, and let him know he was truly cared for
and would make it back safely to the trailhead,” Mitchell
said.
The group plodded along but Norman Petty's legs
continued to give out. Every 50 meters, he needed to stop to
catch his breath. Eventually the breaks became longer and
the distance between them shorter.
“Knowing you have
a mission to complete and having gone through training that
makes you mentally tough and able to adapt – even when
you're cold, hungry and tired – you buckle down and get it
done,” Anthony said.
The time crept past 9 p.m. as
they pressed forward. Anthony and Ayers agreed they needed
to find a better way to carry Norman Petty. The trail of the
switchbacks was so narrow that it prevented them from being
able to stand side by side to do so. Their best option was
to devise an improvised litter on which he could lay,
placing the brunt of his weight on the two litter bearers.
“Their ingenuity, creativity and perseverance was
incredible,” Norman Petty said of Anthony and Ayers. “I was
worried I might fall off the cliff, but they took hold of
the available materials and prevented that.”
The duo
was nearly done building a litter when a new, large group of
climbers descending the pass approached them on the trail.
After reinforcing the litter with a hammock carried by one
of these climbers, Jay Hergert, Anthony, Ayers and six
others lifted him up and continued their descent.
They soon encountered Ranger Travis Baldwin, who evaluated
Norman Petty and asked if the group needed relief. Ayers
said he and Anthony were determined to finish what they
started, and the group set off to complete the last quarter
mile to the trailhead.
“We made the call we knew we
had to make, regardless of how we felt physically, mentally
or emotionally,” Anthony said. “We had to keep pushing to
get him safely off the mountain.”
Finally, at 10
p.m., they arrived at the trailhead and were greeted by
Ranger Scott Schissel and medical personnel. Anthony, Ayers,
Mitchell, Stam and Stilin remained with the couple while
Norman Petty was evaluated and treated. Fortunately, he was
released to his wife to be transported home.
Had
Anthony and his team continued their descent as initially
planned, they would've arrived at the trailhead around 6
p.m. Despite the extra four hours, each of the teammates
expressed thankfulness for the opportunity to help the
couple in a time of need, which Norman gratefully received.
“This was a life-changing event,” Norman Petty said. “We
were so fortunate to encounter Washingtonians who, without
any hesitation, decided to help us get down the mountain.
They were giving, caring people and weren't looking for
accolades. Their reward was in successfully working together
to bring all of us back safely.”
Though the rescuers
didn't arrive at the nearest open restaurant until nearly
1:30 a.m. the next morning, the wait created by unexpected
circumstances was well worth it, Anthony said with a smirk.
“Denny's has never tasted so damn good!”
By U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Reece Lodder
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
The U.S. Marines
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