The Power Line @ Mt. 'Greylock
If you've ever looked at the face of Mt.'Greylock from the Glen with snow on it you can't help but notice the straight shot from summit to base known as the Power Line. Not too many people ski the Power Line because there's rarely enough snow these days and even when there is enough snow the Line is littered with rock outcroppings and cliff faces. Under best conditions it's been described as a fist fight by the one of the best skiers I know.
Where am I going with this?
Today a very good local skier fractured his tibia (classic boot top fracture) on the Power Line just below the second large cliff face at the halfway point.
It's hard to be brief but I'll try... Josh Chittenden gets the call (from the patients cell) at about 11:30, contacts Dave Childs and Rich Adamczyk and the TSP wheels are in motion. Dave and Rich are shuttled to the summit via DCR snowmobile to retrieve a TSP toboggan and start down to the incident site from above. Josh sets out skinning up the Powerline from below. (lucky for me Josh called thinking they might need an extra pair of hands and I had my ski gear with me). By the time I arrived the patient was packaged and Zeek was driving the TSP toboggan down the gnarliest terrain I've ever attempted to ski. Rich and Josh taking turns on belay and tailrope over drops that many of us would deem unskiable. All steep, heavy deep snow in some sections, no snow on rock faces in other sections. Not a place for the faint of heart. The patient was loaded into the ambulance at the base 3 hours after the first call came in. I can barely imagine a tougher patient extraction anywhere on Mt. Greylock. It really was one of those "you have to see it to believe it" events. Such an impressive display of skiing, rope skills, spot on decision making and patient care by Dave, Rich and Josh... TSP has much to be proud of these days!
My heart rate still hasn't settled down.
The photos do not do it justice!
- Steve Sauve
Where am I going with this?
Today a very good local skier fractured his tibia (classic boot top fracture) on the Power Line just below the second large cliff face at the halfway point.
It's hard to be brief but I'll try... Josh Chittenden gets the call (from the patients cell) at about 11:30, contacts Dave Childs and Rich Adamczyk and the TSP wheels are in motion. Dave and Rich are shuttled to the summit via DCR snowmobile to retrieve a TSP toboggan and start down to the incident site from above. Josh sets out skinning up the Powerline from below. (lucky for me Josh called thinking they might need an extra pair of hands and I had my ski gear with me). By the time I arrived the patient was packaged and Zeek was driving the TSP toboggan down the gnarliest terrain I've ever attempted to ski. Rich and Josh taking turns on belay and tailrope over drops that many of us would deem unskiable. All steep, heavy deep snow in some sections, no snow on rock faces in other sections. Not a place for the faint of heart. The patient was loaded into the ambulance at the base 3 hours after the first call came in. I can barely imagine a tougher patient extraction anywhere on Mt. Greylock. It really was one of those "you have to see it to believe it" events. Such an impressive display of skiing, rope skills, spot on decision making and patient care by Dave, Rich and Josh... TSP has much to be proud of these days!
My heart rate still hasn't settled down.
The photos do not do it justice!
- Steve Sauve
