OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — National Park Service back-country rangers and a rescue helicopter crew conducted two successful search and rescue operations for hikers Sunday and Monday in Olympic National Park, acting spokeswoman Penny Wagner said Monday.
No serious injuries were reported, Wagner said.
Wagner said the helicopter crew extracted an adult male hiker Monday who had spent a frigid Sunday night on Blue Glacier on Mount Olympus before he was reconnected with his hiking party.
The pilot refueled at William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles before heading to Royal Basin on Monday afternoon to extract an adult female hiker who had fallen in a trail area and was unable to walk without assistance, Wagner said.
The injured woman was contacted by a back country Park Service ranger at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Wagner said the terrain was sufficient to allow the helicopter to land to pick her up.
Wagner did not know by 5 p.m. Monday if the woman chose to seek medical attention.
Information was unavailable Monday afternoon on the names and ages of the two hikers and their cities of residence, Wagner said.
The man spent Sunday night on Blue Glacier in temperatures in the 30s.
“It’s very rugged in that area,” Wagner said.
“It did not sound like he was prepared for being on the glacier overnight.”
Wagner said Park Service personnel became aware of the man’s plight at about 5 p.m. Sunday after detecting a beacon from his SPOT GPS tracking device.
On Monday, the rescue helicopter, unable to land, lowered a long line, plucking him from a boulder field and short-hauling him to be reunited with his hiking party.
It was the best possible ending to the hiker’s ordeal, Wagner said.
The helicopter, staged at Mount Rainier during summers, is contracted to cover Mount Rainier and North Cascades national parks.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
