By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka Fire Department’s search and rescue team Saturday helped a local couple having trouble hiking down Gavan Hill in high winds, the fire department said.
“I’m not sure if they got turned around, or disoriented, or what,” Fire Chief Dave Miller said today.
The two, a man and woman in their late 20s, had hiked up Friday to spend the night in fair weather at the shelter on the Gavan ridge, and had started walking back down Saturday when they ran into trouble near the base of the Gavan Hill peak, the Sentinel was told. Winds during the day Saturday were topping out at 55 to 60 mph on the mountain, Miller said.
The couple set up a tarp as an emergency shelter and radioed a call for help on VHF Channel 16, which the Coast Guard received.
“It was howling up there,” Miller said. “They were assessing whether to fly or not. It was definitely a no-fly situation.”
That’s when the Coast Guard called the Alaska State Troopers, who called the Fire Hall, the chief said.
“Due to high winds and the topography in the area, the Coast Guard determined Sitka Mountain Rescue would be the best recovery asset available,” said Petty Officer First Class Nate Littlejohn, a Coast Guard spokesman in Anchorage. “It was simply too dangerous to launch a helicopter crew.”
A group of 15 to 20 search and rescue volunteers and fire hall staff members responded to their pagers or text messages calling for help on the mission. Two teams of four were taken in an ATV from the third gate to the Harbor Mountain parking lot, by which time the couple had made it back to the Gavan shelter and advised rescuers where they were, Miller said.
Search and rescue teams hiked in to the shelter, reaching the pair by around 5 p.m.
The hikers turned out to be fine, Miller said, but he added that staying another night there – with winds predicted to get over 80 mph – could have brought a risk of hypothermia.
The couple hiked out with the search squad to the Harbor Mountain parking lot and were given a ride back down the mountain.
“I think they did the right thing and called for help,” Miller said.
