In reply to king_of_gibraltar:
My side of the event Rob Gardner
I was already leading a trekking group (15 paxs), and I was nicely tucked up in bed, when I get a call from GAZ (6:30 ish), saying he has fallen and needs help. We were in Nizwa which is about an hour or so from the mountain
Gaz had phone communication which was good, I don’t remember what I said at this point to him , I then knew I had to speak to my trekking crew and work out a plan immediately.
It was arranged that one Omani crew would come with me, he would be the liaison between Omani EMS.
• Trekking group was safe and would not see any change of plans that morning.
• Office was informed and operations got ready to send out extra trekking support if I was late returning. Other support staff notified to be ready to give help.
We both set off to the area speaking to Gaz on the way establishing the state of his injuries and that of his climbing buddy also where they were and what provisions they had.
Gaz had facial injuries but could still talk, there was also blood coming from a foot injury. It was hard to establish from them how bad it was and I did not want them to remove the boot; I needed to keep pressure on the wound. Hamza was Ok and in good condition, shocked but ok. ( I remember Gaz shouting, ‘tell Rob it’s not that bad, I am not going to die’) This helped me know Gaz was hurt but coherent.
Communication was swapped to Hamza at this point.
We were in contact with Omani Police on route to get them mobilised with the right team, we would help guide them in.
We found the wadi Gaz and Hamza said they were in but this was still a bloody hard judgment on where they were; we talked to Hamza before losing signal and walking into the wadi..
My thoughts were:
I need to ensure the Omani Mohammed and I have fluids
To mark a route for others to follow if they need to, and if it’s dark I can get out.
Take some shade and water, Hamza did have some rations with him.
It took Hmmmm? Hour and half or so to make contact, Hamza was great at describing his position and after some wrong wadi’s and a lot of swearing we picked him out on top of a rock in the distance to our left up higher. I remember marking a wadi with a big Orange sheet high up so all could see it as a guide to the right direction.
Police now were phoning regular and it was escalating up the chain to command in Muscat, the Omani was having to stop and keep talking.
We arrive with Gaz and Hamza.
Established Gaz’s injuries were going to stop him walking down even with help. Hamza was in good condition. There was no first aid treatment necessary, Gaz’s face was badly cut but no teeth lost and they had bandaged it up, the foot was not leaking much blood, no visible breaks, so the boot was left on for support and protection; he was fully conscious and we chatted for a while, I had brought a sleeping bag either as warmth or shelter or rip it apart for splints bandages etc. Gaz was injured but still in good spirits. My mind then turned to getting him out and the others behind me. The area was open and from my view a helicopter landing was possible a little further away, no rain was due and the only way the temperature was going was up, not that hot but in the low thirties.
Police had arrived in bottom, but only one guy in a car and was going to walk up, which was a waste of time, others were on route; he waited.
Police were now in full swing and were arriving at the bottom in numbers with a commanding officer who was starting to take charge. We relayed all info to him and gave him Hamza’s mobile number as contact.
Gaz was stable and I was thinking I could lead the police faster to Gaz if they were planning a stretcher lift.
We left them both remarking the route on the way down, at the bottom we meet up with the police, we then talked through all aspects of the incident with them. The route down would have been hard and in some areas ropes would have been necessary to lower him down, I was told the helicopter was on its way and they would extract him that way.
From then on they took control of the situation. There was one ambulance and about 6 police on the scene when I departed.
As they were still waiting for a helicopter we spoke to Gaz and Hamza during the morning , police were talking to Hamza on the top, finally he had been picked up in the late afternoon.
I arrived back in the afternoon to my group all safe and wanting to hear what had gone on.
Hope this gives a better picture was I was doing.
Regards
Rob