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[tahoeistruckin]

A Patroler injured in the line of duty.
I do not know this person, but just the same, my thoughts go out to her and her family, and teammates at JHMR.


http://www.jhnewsand...php?art_id=4361

Patroller in critical condition after fall

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Kathryn Miller



By Angus M. Thuermer Jr., Jackson Hole, Wyo.
March 16, 2009


Friends and family of Jackson Hole ski patroller and alpinist Kathryn Miller are praying for her recovery following a ski accident Friday that left her in critical condition.

Miller, well-known by her former, married name Hess, fell in Spacewalk Couloir just south of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort boundary, resort spokeswoman Anna Olson said. She was on a backcountry patrol with colleague Kevin Maloney when the accident occurred, Olson said.

Olson gave the following account.

The two were negotiating the narrow, steep and rocky descent into Rock Springs Canyon at 11 a.m. when the accident happened. Miller was held up at a rocky crux in the gully, then fell while attempting to ski past.

She tumbled down the rest of the chute, suffering serious injuries along the way. Maloney immediately called for assistance.

Ski patrol came to her aid, as did a physician from the Teton Village Clinic. The team moved Miller into a toboggan and slid her down Rock Springs Canyon to the resort base and clinic.

Medical personnel stabilized her there and loaded her into an air ambulance at 12:46 p.m. The ship flew her to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where she remained in a coma in critical condition Sunday evening.

On the Caring Bridge Web site, an Internet portal where friends and family share news of those in peril, relatives have posted updates of Miller’s struggles to survive head trauma, among other injuries. Support from friends was pouring in.

“Everyone at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has Kathryn and her family and friends in our thoughts and prayers at this time,” resort President Jerry Blann said in a statement Sunday.

Miller is a seven-year veteran of the patrol, highly regarded and a great person, Olson said. In addition to her patrol work, she is a guide for Jackson Hole Mountain Guides. She has guided throughout the Rockies and on Denali and specializes in canyoneering in Utah’s red-rock country, and is a former instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School.

Miller broke boundaries in 1999 when she climbed 26,906-foot Cho Oyu, on the border of Nepal and Chinese Tibet. The sixth highest mountain in the world, it is one of only 14 peaks higher than 8,000 meters.

She claimed the summit without the aid of oxygen, without help from Sherpas, and with American teammates who were all women. It was the first time an American women’s team had surpassed the 8,000-meter barrier in that style.