Black Tusk Injury |Wanderung| Aug 20th

A few weeks ago a Wanderung member hiked up the Black Tusk with a group of about a dozen non-Wanderung people, who were experienced hikers but with varied scrambling experience. After passing the viewpoint the group split up and proceeded to climb the crux chimney in groups of 1-3 hikers. On the way back down two hikers made a route-finding error after the main chimney split into two and instead of staying to the right proceeded down the chimney to the left, which is still climbable but more difficult and has a small overhang. One of the hikers made it down safely, but the other one had difficulties climbing down, slipped and fell 20-30 ft.

The victim had some hairline fractures in some vertebrae, some cuts and bruises, two missing front teeth and a broken toe. Fortunately one member of the group was a doctor. They had a cell phone and called for help. The emergency services sent a helicopter (it was a 3 hour wait) and evacuated the hiker off the mountain. The rest of the group was taken by another helicopter to the parking lot from where they followed the injured hiker to the hospital.

Lessons learned:
Always wear a helmet for this section. In the case of the above group, only three people out of a dozen participants had helmets despite prior advice (and ironically hikers who carried helmets were the ones who needed them the least). Choosing a correct route is crucial in the Black Tusk chimney, especially on descent. There are many chimneys that lead from the top of Black Tusk down, but there is only one relatively safe way up and down. Trying to descend down the wrong chimney may result in a fall, as other chimneys either end in steep drops or are difficult to down-climb. Also, most chimneys have loose rock, and trying to proceed down most of them would precipitate a rock fall potentially injuring anyone below. The two hikers who ran into trouble allegedly had no prior scrambling experience yet they proceeded to the summit on their own. Their route finding errors might have been avoided had the group stayed together. If you have never done this section of the route before, stick close to someone who has, and make sure they agree to lead you both up and down again and not abandon you at the top. Finally, out of 5 people who stayed with the injured hiker, allegedly only one had a first aid kit and emergency blanket. Lots of the items that are recommended as survival essentials become crucial if something happens, so be sure your group has at least one first aid kit.