My nephew and I arrived at the summer trailhead about 6:15 (yes, the road is still open-4x4 advised). There was another car with two guys in it already there , but at 6:30 Andy and I were the first two people down the trail. The trail had 2 or 3 inches of fresh powder over hard packed snow, and maybe 5-6 inches with deeper drifts on the ridgeline. Arrived at the summit of Donaldson at 10:10am. At 10:20 we started for Emmons and arrived at 11:20. At this point everything was going good, and we planned to turn around and head over to Seward.

Not too far, on the way back to Donaldson, we met a solo hiker (Ken) on his way to Emmons, and further along we started to meet some other hikers who said they were part of a group of nine. The first few were pretty sociable, but towards the tail end, they rushed by. We started the climb back up the hill towards Donaldson and met the two guys we had seen in the parking lot. They notified us that there was a hiker ahead who had dislocated his kneecap! He was part of the party of nine, and it was their opinion that the party of nine would be able to handle getting the guy off the hill.

We continued up the trail, and Ken, the solo hiker we met earlier, caught up to us just about the time we walked up on the guy with dislocated kneecap (Skip). He was with a friend named Harry, and they had already splinted his leg. Turns out that the people who passed us in haste were trying to catch up with the rest of the party who didn’t know about Skip’s injury at this point.

We decided to send the two fastest speedsters, Andy and Ken, down the mountain with orders to get help, and to tell the Rangers we would be bringing Skip down the Caulkins Brook Trail.

Skip is an amazingly tough guy, a 46er and a W46er. To be quite honest, I don’t know if I could have endured what he did. The three of us (Skip, Harry and I) managed to make it back over the summit of Donaldson to the steep downhill before the junction with Seward. It was about 10 degrees and the wind was blowing. We all knew we couldn’t stay on the summit and had to get Skip down the mountain. About this time, the rest of Skips party caught up to us, and we devised a scheme using two “butt sliding sleds” and a guide rope. Skip sat on one sled and we wrapped the other sled around his bad leg. We tied the rope around his torso, and started skidding him out like a deer. Just not gutted!

We kept Skip hydrated, warm, and fed. But to be honest, the biggest reason we were able to get Skip off the mountain was Skip himself. Amazing tenacity and toughness. He helped by propelling and braking himself with his arms. He even occasionally had us stand him up and he hobbled down the trail. It definitely was not pretty, but we all did what had to be done.

I’m sure Skips friends will be reading this. Ron, Harry, Jim and Dave. You guys rock!

Just prior to dark we were almost all the way to the Caulkins Brook crossing when the first two rangers, with a stokes basket reached us. They suspected that Skip had actually reputured his patella tendon which inturn misplaced the knee cap.

It was tough going across the creek, and by this time it was dark. The snowmobiles were driven as far up the heard path as possible. They had to chainsaw a few trees out of the trail to get Skip out, as well as some trees along the road out. He was taken to Saranac Medical Ctr and I don’t have any more details from this point forward.

Obviously, I am summarizing what happened and it was a much longer ordeal, as you can imagine. However, there are a couple of things that I think would be good for all to consider.

1. The Butt sliding sleds were one of the most valuable tools we had.
2. Carry Advil in your pack.
3. I assume everybody packs the essentials for splinting a leg: an ace bandage and rope, etc.
4. In addition to the above rope, you need rope to maneuver the patient down the hill safely.
5. One of the guys had Black Diamond hiking poles with mini ice-picks on the heads. This seemed to work really well for Skip and in general struck me as a better idea than carrying an ice axe. (at least in the ADK High Peaks).

I have done some solo hikes before, but this was an eye-opener and I will never solo hike again, except for the most heavily traveled peaks. If Skip was alone, he could have died up there.

I believe Skip and his friends post over on the ADK High Peaks forum. I would suspect in the next day or two, one of them will post additional information.

Nice work! Lots of karma points for you!
Guess I'll definitely look into how to splint a leg before my next hike, and invest in a butt sled too!

I'm glad to hear he made it out okay, & it's great to hear about people working together and taking care of one another. this is a great example of how you never know what might happen, & you have to always be prepared for anything.

Sounds like you had quite a day...and your assumption about Skip's fate if he were alone is quite possibly true. Skip was lucky to have a bunch of people around to help him get through that ordeal. An injury like that ranks among the worst that could happen to a hiker since it renders them virtually immobile. If Skip had the right gear and was abile to execute the necessary survival skills while in this condition, I'd say he COULD have made it through a night alone up high...but that's a big if.

Building a fire would've been priority #1 in my mind since that can actually help you administer first aid (priority #2)...but that can be difficult even without a ruptured tendon. Seeking shelter would be priority #3, and carrying an emergency bivy and/or a space blanket would've made life much more bearable at 4,000 feet...albeit not by much on it's own. Assuming he had the necessities to stay warm/dry/hydrated/energized, the next priority would be to signal for rescue. Three blasts on a whistle is a universal distress signal, and the sound can travel for miles. Of course...a PLB would be great, too.

Do you know by chance what Skip was carrying in his pack in terms of gear useful for unplanned overnighters and/or survival? I'd be interested to find out.

I am interested in how "Skip" became "Hop".

What was he doing to destroy his knee? Was he doing a stupid human trick or just walking along.

I try to place every foot with care. Not that you can do it ever time - being only human. It only takes one screw up. And there is ice and colapsing snow holes in the winter that do not help.

I once saw a post some where that said backpackers (not hikers which is this case) should wear knee braces BEFORE they have knee problems and to prevent accidents.

Hmm. There are sooo many ways a hiker could become injured on the trail, including the most experienced. Good to hear that Mr. Skip had all the great help.

On a November 2009 hike up Seward my group was descending in the dark, and even with headlamp and moving at a slow speed, my wife took one bad step and fell about 15 ft. straight off a rock ledge. She was fine--yet so many ways that could've not been fine!