By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — A volunteer ran 1.5 miles in the treacherous Linville Gorge to fetch whole blood needed to stabilize a badly injured rock climber, according to Burke Rescue Inc.
The climber fell around 9:30 a.m. Sunday near Shortoff Mountain, and struck a rock pillar on the way down, Burke Rescue Inc. and SAR wrote in an Aug. 30 Facebook post.
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A five-hour rescue operation followed, and it included Charlotte firefighters who are part of the state’s Search and Rescue System.
The high-angle fall happened as a climbing party was ascending a 350-foot cliff that becomes a “dead vertical” at one point.
“The lead climber was attempting to place gear approximately 40 feet above the ledge when they took a lead fall of approximately 15 to 20 feet. During which they swung away from the climbing wall and struck an adjacent rock pillar,” Burke Rescue Inc. posted.
“A Burke Rescue Paramedic/RN and EMT/Mountain Rescue Technician, along with a Burke EMS Paramedic, quickly responded to the area and established voice contact with the climbing party. Due to the patient’s injuries and the difficult location, rescuers rappelled down to the patient while additional resources were requested.”
The climber’s injuries were extensive enough to require a helicopter for extraction and that led to the N.C. Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team being summoned to the gorge.
It was while waiting for the helicopter that medics learned blood was also needed to stabilize the climber.
“After a request for whole blood, a Burke Rescue volunteer ran approximately 1.5 miles, covering 1,000 feet of elevation in just 31 minutes, while carrying critical whole blood to the patient to help stabilize them for transport,” the rescue wrote.
The “runner” has been identified as 28-year-old Will Soper, who is an “EMT/technical rescuer/instructor and former captain,” according to Wes Taylor, chief of Burke County Search and Rescue. “He has been with our department for nearly 10 years and also serves with Linville Central Rescue and McDowell County Rescue Squads,” Taylor said.
A helicopter lifted the climber from the gorge at 2:45 p.m. and took the patient to a waiting medical helicopter for continued care, rescue officials said. The helicopter crew included three members of the Charlotte Fire Department: Battalion Chief Doug de Jonge, Captain Eric DePoto and Firefighter II Paul Parks.
The injured climber’s identity and condition have not been released.
The last of the Burke Rescue Inc. volunteers hiked out of the gorge at 5:45 p.m., officials said.
Shortoff Mountain is about a 95-mile drive northwest from uptown Charlotte.
Linville Gorge Wilderness is part of the Pisgah National Forrest. “It is covered by dense hardwood/pine forest and a wide variety of smaller trees and other plants,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.
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