Volunteers rescue trapped hiker on Chimney Rock

SANDPOINT — Search-and-rescue personnel conducted an overnight operation to extricate a hiker who became trapped while traversing a talus-covered slope on Chimney Rock.

A couple was descending from the prominent feature straddling the Selkirk Crest on Friday afternoon when a 36-year-old woman’s lower leg became entrapped by a 1 1/2-ton granite boulder.

The boulder on the southeasterly side of the mountain apparently shifted under her weight once she stepped on it.

“She stepped on it to go over it and it rolled on her,” said Bob Abbott, spokesman for Priest Lake Search & Rescue.

Bonner County 911 received the distress call shortly after 5:30 p.m. Two teams totaling eight rescuers set out for the woman at 8:19 p.m.

Rescuers ascended to the woman’s location from the Priest Lake side of the crest to save time.

“Even thought it was more technical route, it was four miles shorter,” Abbott said.

The teams, laden with rope, medical gear and 5-foot pry bars, negotiated steep, narrow and rocky terrain to reach the woman at 12:49 a.m. on Saturday. It took approximately 41 minutes to free the woman’s leg.

“It was pry bars, mechanical advantage and muscle,” Abbott said of the extrication.

The woman’s injuries were stabilized and she was kept comfortable through the night. At 8:45 a.m., she was hoisted onto a helicopter from the U.S. Air Force’s 36th Rescue Flight out of Fairchild Air Force Base.

The woman was flown to Sandpoint Airport and taken by Bonner County EMS ambulance to Bonner General Health.

All told, more than 20 rescuers took part in the operation. They came from PLSAR and its Sandpoint detachment, and the Bonner EMS Wilderness Response Team.

“This was a difficult rescue performed in may the most challenging terrain in the area,” PLSAR Commander Mike Nielsen said in a statement.

“I’m very proud of our skilled and dedicated Bonner County teams and I’m highly appreciative of the cooperation and assistance of U.S. Air Force and the 36th Rescue Flight.”