Falling refrigerator-size boulder pins hiker to trail for hours, WA rescuers say

A hiker was pinned by a refrigerator-sized boulder for hours in Washington, until rescuers could get them free, according to a local sheriff’s office.

Due to the complexity of the rescue, the hiker was not lifted from the trail near Lake Viviane south of Leavenworth until nearly eight hours later on Monday, Oct. 10, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

“I’ve been involved in search and rescue for 15 years and I haven’t seen a rescue as complicated as this one to accomplish,” Sgt. Jason Reinfeld with Chelan County Emergency Management told The Wenatchee World.

The hiker’s friend called 911 around 9:30 a.m. to say his friend was “trapped under a large boulder,” according to the release.

The friend told a sheriff’s office search and rescue coordinator that “his friend’s wrist was pinned by the boulder, and it was also across his legs,” the release said.

The trapped hiker, a 28-year-old Montana man, told the sheriff’s office that “he was on the boulder” when it “started to slide, and he ended up underneath it,” Reinfeld told The Wenatchee World.

The boulder, “approximately the size of a refrigerator,” was too large for the hikers to move, the sheriff’s office said.

The hikers were also “several hours hike from the trailhead,” according to the release.

The hikers’ distance, paired with the size of the boulder, presented the “unique challenge of getting equipment capable of moving a boulder as well as rescuers on scene in a timely manner,” the release said.

At around 12:20 p.m., the first paramedics from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office were hoisted to the hiker, the sheriff’s office said. Meanwhile, the Wenatchee Fire Valley Department was shuttling “rescuers and equipment to the scene.”

The Wenatchee Valley Fire Department brought in an air bladder to help with the rescue, the release said.

“They’re (air bladders) used typically for vehicle accidents where they have to move a vehicle off someone if they’re pinned,” Reinfeld told The Wenatchee World.

With the air bladder, the fire department was able to free the man from the boulder at around 3 p.m., the sheriff’s office said.

This was the first time the fire department has used such equipment on a mountain rescue, Wenatchee Valley Fire Department Chief Brian Brett told The Wenatchee World.

“This was definitely something a movie’s made out of,” Brett told the newspaper.

As the winds picked up, the first attempt to airlift the hiker from the area was foiled, the release said.

At around 4:45 p.m., rescuers were able to successfully lift the hiker from the area with a break in the wind, the sheriff’s office said.

“The rescuers on scene hiked out over the next several hours making it to the trailhead at approximately 11:00 pm.,” the release said.

Despite “significant injuries to his leg,” the hiker is expected to recover, the release said.

Leavenworth is about 145 miles northeast of Tacoma.

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