Stranded skiers rescued, cited after going outside Tahoe resort boundaries
Two skiers who became lost Thursday after skiing out of bounds were rescued, one Thursday night and the other plucked Friday morning by a Blackhawk helicopter from NAS Fallon, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Both skiers were wet and cold but otherwise escaped injuries.
Douglas County Emergency Communications received a call at around 5 p.m. from two men who reported they became lost while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort, said DCSO Undersheriff Paul Howell. The lost skiers advised they had water, but were wet, cold, their cell phone batteries were diminished and one of them suffered from a medical condition.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team was activated and launched a search and rescue mission. At around 8 p.m. the SAR team located both subjects in Mott Canyon, on the east side of the Carson Range. The subjects were identified as Timothy Dane age 24, from Branford, Conn., and Eshai Delacruz, age 25, from San Francisco, Calif.
Delacruz was able to evacuate with SAR members to a staging area, where he was cited and released for skiing out of bounds, which carries a fine of $640. Dane was unable to evacuate on foot, due to a medical condition unrelated to their misadventure.
SAR requested a helicopter evacuation from NAS Fallon. The air evacuation could not be completed due to weather conditions. The SAR team erected emergency shelters and remained with Dane through the night. Another SAR team had to respond to the shelter location to bring medication to Dane.
Douglas County SAR made a mutual aid request and several members from the El Dorado County SAR and Washoe County SAR teams responded to assist in this operation.
With improved weather conditions this morning NAS Fallon launched another Blackhawk rescue helicopter, and at about 8:30 a.m. Friday the helicopter crew was able to air lift Dane and took him to the Minden Tahoe Airport where he was met by paramedics from the East Fork Fire Protection District and deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The man declined treatment and was cited for skiing out of bounds.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind the public that skiing out of bounds is against the law, and endangers the participants, and those that have to assist them when they become lost or hurt. We would also like to remind those that recreate in the back country to limit your activities to those that do not exceed any limitations one may have due to medical or physical conditions.
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