SNOQUALMIE PASS — After falling 400 feet, two hunting buddies from Snohomish County were saved Tuesday morning by Kittitas County rescue teams.
Around 9 a.m., a Granite Falls man called 911 to report he lost control of his truck while swerving to avoid a pothole on Stampede Pass Road, south of I-90 and Snoqualmie Pass, according to the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.
The truck caught the soft gravel on the edge of the road and tumbled 400 feet down a steep embankment, police said. The driver was ejected at the top of the slope, but was able to walk. His friend, of Lake Stevens, was stuck in the truck as it fell hundreds of feet.
The truck struck a large tree, flipped on its side, and threw the passenger about 20 feet. He had head, shoulder and other injuries, according to the sheriff’s office. The two men were stuck on the mountainside in the cold rain.
Deputies arrived and climbed down. The passenger was immobile and “threatened with hypothermia,” according to the sheriff’s department. Snoqualmie Pass Fire and Rescue, Kittitas County Search and Rescue, Seattle Mountain Rescue and the county’s high-angle rescue team responded to the scene.
The driver climbed to the road with help from the rescue teams. Firefighters lowered a paramedic and supplies to the injured passenger. The passenger was loaded into a stokes litter and brought to the top using ropes. Both men were taken to the hospital.
“This was a challenging operation in remote and difficult conditions, with no time to lose,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook. “The professionalism and inter-agency cooperation of everyone involved was critical to saving at least one life today.”
Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @snocojon.
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