Close call... Rockfall

[3forks]

This seemed appropriate to post considering the name of this site is Rokslide and these guys almost had their tents and themselves flattened.

OMG!!! - GIF on Imgur

I think these guys are alpine climbers, but could have easily happened to any sheep hunters who pitch their tents at the bottom of a rock glacier.

 

[Shrek]

Wow ! Makes me think of the hunter in Alaska that got killed by a falling rock I think last season.

 

[elkguide]

That will get the heart beating fast!
Very lucky. Have to be careful where you park your tent for sure.

 

[tdhanses]

Wow they got lucky.

 

[String&stick]

If I was the guy that almost got hit, I might curl into a tiny ball and both laugh and cry at the same time. That looks terrifying!

 

[Mtnboy]

Wow.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[weekender7]

It just wasn't his time to go. Holy smoley!

 

[Koyotte]

I'm shocked .. so lucky

 

[Snyd]

Wow ! Makes me think of the hunter in Alaska that got killed by a falling rock I think last season.

2013. That was a bad deal...

Sheep hunter dies in Alaska Range south of Fairbanks | Local News | newsminer.com


FAIRBANKS—A sheep hunter from Texas was killed in the Alaska Range south of Fairbanks on Friday after a large rock fell on him as he was walking along a creek bottom.

Manuel Rechy, 48, of Laredo, Texas, was on a guided hunt in the area of Red Mountain and Dry Creek, 49 miles east of the Parks Highway near Healy, when the accident occurred, according to Alaska State Troopers.

The guide who owns the guiding company Rechy was hunting with, Eric Umphenour, of Fairbanks, called the accident “a freak deal.”

“A rock came down the hill and crushed him,” Umphenour said. “It wasn’t a rock slide; it was just one big boulder.

“It was a freak act of God,” he said. “It’s like being struck by lightning.”

Rechy and an assistant hunting guide were walking down a creek bottom at around 6:30 p.m., scouting for Dall sheep, when the large rock broke loose from about 30 feet above them on a hill, Umphenour said.

“(The assistant guide) saw it coming and told him to get out of the way, but the guy wasn’t fast enough,” he said. “It’s not like we were walking up cliffs. They were in a creek bottom. It was in the valley floor.”

The rock, which Umphenour estimated weighed 1,000 pounds, slammed into Rechy, knocking him in the creek and causing serious injuries to his legs. The assistant guide pulled the hunter out of the creek and covered him with his coat before going to alert Umphenour. When the two guides returned less than an hour later, Rechy was unresponsive, Umphenour said.

Umphenour used a satellite phone to call Alaska State Troopers, who were notified at 7:41 p.m. Troopers attempted to fly a helicopter to the scene but turned back due to bad weather, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Troopers alerted the Rescue Coordination Center in Anchorage, which in turn notified the Alaska Air National Guard. Rescuers arrived at the scene of the accident at around 2 a.m., about six hours after troopers were notified, Umphenour said. Rechy was flown to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Umphenour, who has been guiding in the area for 20 years, said he doesn’t know what caused the rock to move. It had been raining all day Friday prior to the accident, he said.

“It’s a creek I’ve been up 20 or 30 times over the course of 20 years,” Umphenour said. “We snowmobile up it in the winter.”

While he didn’t know Rechy well, the Texan was a repeat customer, Umphenour said. “A lot of his friends had hunted with us. He was no stranger to us.”

On Tuesday, Umphenour was still having a hard time trying to process what happened.

“I’ve never had anything like that happen,” he said. “When somebody dies in a hunting accident they usually get shot.”

Umphenour still isn’t sure whether Rechy died from hypothermia, shock, a heart attack or as a result of injuries sustained when the rock hit him. It had been raining all day and both Umphenour and his assistant guide “were pretty much hypothermic” by the time they reached Rechy and put him in a sleeping bag an hour or so after he was hit by the rock.

“It happened so quick we don’t really know what happened to him,” Umphenour said. “We don’t know what his injuries were.

“I’ve got limited medical training,” he said. “I’ve never dealt with someone in shock.”

An autopsy on Rechy will be conducted to determine cause of death, Peters, the troopers spokesperson, said.

 

[Shrek]

2013. That was a bad deal...

Sheep hunter dies in Alaska Range south of Fairbanks | Local News | newsminer.com


FAIRBANKS—A sheep hunter from Texas was killed in the Alaska Range south of Fairbanks on Friday after a large rock fell on him as he was walking along a creek bottom.

Manuel Rechy, 48, of Laredo, Texas, was on a guided hunt in the area of Red Mountain and Dry Creek, 49 miles east of the Parks Highway near Healy, when the accident occurred, according to Alaska State Troopers.

The guide who owns the guiding company Rechy was hunting with, Eric Umphenour, of Fairbanks, called the accident “a freak deal.”

“A rock came down the hill and crushed him,” Umphenour said. “It wasn’t a rock slide; it was just one big boulder.

“It was a freak act of God,” he said. “It’s like being struck by lightning.”

Rechy and an assistant hunting guide were walking down a creek bottom at around 6:30 p.m., scouting for Dall sheep, when the large rock broke loose from about 30 feet above them on a hill, Umphenour said.

“(The assistant guide) saw it coming and told him to get out of the way, but the guy wasn’t fast enough,” he said. “It’s not like we were walking up cliffs. They were in a creek bottom. It was in the valley floor.”

The rock, which Umphenour estimated weighed 1,000 pounds, slammed into Rechy, knocking him in the creek and causing serious injuries to his legs. The assistant guide pulled the hunter out of the creek and covered him with his coat before going to alert Umphenour. When the two guides returned less than an hour later, Rechy was unresponsive, Umphenour said.

Umphenour used a satellite phone to call Alaska State Troopers, who were notified at 7:41 p.m. Troopers attempted to fly a helicopter to the scene but turned back due to bad weather, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Troopers alerted the Rescue Coordination Center in Anchorage, which in turn notified the Alaska Air National Guard. Rescuers arrived at the scene of the accident at around 2 a.m., about six hours after troopers were notified, Umphenour said. Rechy was flown to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Umphenour, who has been guiding in the area for 20 years, said he doesn’t know what caused the rock to move. It had been raining all day Friday prior to the accident, he said.

“It’s a creek I’ve been up 20 or 30 times over the course of 20 years,” Umphenour said. “We snowmobile up it in the winter.”

While he didn’t know Rechy well, the Texan was a repeat customer, Umphenour said. “A lot of his friends had hunted with us. He was no stranger to us.”

On Tuesday, Umphenour was still having a hard time trying to process what happened.

“I’ve never had anything like that happen,” he said. “When somebody dies in a hunting accident they usually get shot.”

Umphenour still isn’t sure whether Rechy died from hypothermia, shock, a heart attack or as a result of injuries sustained when the rock hit him. It had been raining all day and both Umphenour and his assistant guide “were pretty much hypothermic” by the time they reached Rechy and put him in a sleeping bag an hour or so after he was hit by the rock.

“It happened so quick we don’t really know what happened to him,” Umphenour said. “We don’t know what his injuries were.

“I’ve got limited medical training,” he said. “I’ve never dealt with someone in shock.”

An autopsy on Rechy will be conducted to determine cause of death, Peters, the troopers spokesperson, said.

That is it ! OMG ! 2013 ! I’m getting old and it all runs together !
There’s lots of crazy ways to die. Only thing good I can take from the hunters death is that he died hunting and not in a hospital eat up with a horrible disease.

 

[darcytribe]

The way that huge rok was spinning and flying throw the air I’m sure it could have sliced that fella in half or taken his head clean off. Scary indeed and will have me taking this into account when choosing future camping spots.

 

[ReddingArcher]

Holy crap!! Talk about a pucker factor of 10!!

 

[tntrker]

Wow

 

[Azone]

DAMN!!! What tops that on scale of 1 to almost screwed?....bush plane almost crashing or grizzly charge? I bet there was not a lot of sleeping in that camp that night. That is one LUCKY person right there!

 

[Chesapeake]

I'd imagine they moved their camp after that. Kind seems odd setting camp up in the middle of a rock fall area. That looks like one of those areas where you can just sit and listen to rocks falling all day long.