What separates survivors from ordinary people?
The climbers who fell on Mount Hood were ordinary people who fell tangled together at perhaps 30 or 40 miles per hour into a crevasse and smashed into the lower wall of ice. Those on top were able to extricate themselves from this heap of living and dead, crampons and ice axes and climbing ropes improperly used. Those with rescue experience called for assistance and began the necessary triage helping those who could be helped. Many volunteers were soon on the scene as climbers on their way to the summit, ascended to the Hog Back ridge. Trained Search and Rescue volunteers brought up part way by snow-cat and rescue helicopters took over the medical evacuations.
