Ellen Found!

[Jim Bakos]

Found Ellen at summit hut. Broken ankle. Flying her to Desert Hosp.

--Jim

[magikwalt]

Ouch. As if two nights in the penalty box weren't enough.

Thanks for the update Jim.

[Hikin_Jim]

Broken ankle sucks (especially if you're Ellen!), but THANK GOD SHE'S ALIVE!

[Perry]

That was such a relief to hear that this morning. I had been playing out a bunch of scenerios in my head, and realized that since Saturday was decent weather during the day and Ellen hikes fast, it must have been either an injury or getting lost. Had she not been in that shelter, she would likely have some frostbite with the 80+ mph winds and nighttime lows of ~15F. Me, Scott, Walt, and Stan were planning to search for her today (unofficially, as a private party). Zip was going to bring his GPS. Now we are busy taking care of things, and it's just another Monday. I'm sure Ellen has an exciting story.... That must have been intense listening and watching the wind gusts. Ellen, when you read this, how hard was it to open the door of the shelter?

[AlanK]

Yes, it is just isn't right to say you're glad someone had a broken ankle, but it sure is a relief to learn that things weren't a whole lot worse!

The response since yesterday has been impressive. This news has been all over the message boards and a lot of people were obviously affected. For all of the bad publicity that the Internet gets, there is a real mass of humanity out there after all!

[Perry]

Ellen will probably get a good laugh when she hears the story of the bearded man.

[Cy Kaicener]

Just google Ellen Coleman rescued on Mt San Jacinto to see how many different news sources from all over the state are carrying this story. I hope the ankle injury is not serious.

[AlanK]

The Associated Press story got the height of the mountain right (see separate thread on that subject).

In Southern California, meanwhile, rescuers searched for 53-year-old Ellen Coleman of Riverside, who was reported missing Sunday, possibly on the east face of Mount San Jacinto. Coleman rode a tramway to roughly 8,500 feet elevation, and intended to try to hike to the summit, around 10,800 feet, according to the Riverside County sheriff's department.

[Perry]

KMIR 6 short video:
http://kmir6.com/NewsArticle/tabid/1294 ... fault.aspx

[magikwalt]

This board and its participants did a great job of getting the word out to local folks that knew the area and Ellen. I was amazed at how fast Kathy and Perry were able to get info around and organized.

If it hadn't been for the weather closing down the mountain then I know Ellen would have had some company in the cabin overnight.

And to clarify, I only agreed to go because Kathy said she would look after a one-eyed old fat man on up there. The 3 lightning bolts were headed for the cabin so I figured that I was the most qualified to search the tram bar where Ellen might have been waiting out the storm.

I'm sure going to sleep better tonight.