JH Mags - Do you know this hero?

[jhveteran]

Can you help me identify someone?

It started this afternoon about 3:00pm. I was in my office in Jackson and got a call from a friend. He was up on Teton Pass and had overestimated his dog's ability to go along with him on an AT tour. The dog conked out at the top of Christmas Tree bowl and wouldn't go any further. Not one more step, period.

It was late in the day, no one else was around, and the dog weighs 90 pounds. Not having a better alternative, my friend left the dog, hustled out to the top of the pass, and called me. I went to K-Mart and got a big plastic sled, threw my gear (a lot of gear plus ropes and webbing) in my pack, and drove to the top of the pass.

We were headed for the last known location of the dog when he got a call on his cell phone (has his cell phone # on the dog's tag). A skier (his name, TR, I know and will be forever grateful for all he did) had found the dog and was making his way down toward the bottom of Christmas Tree with the dog. We skied down to the intersection and met up with him.

I had this theory that we could load the dog on the plastic sled and skin back up out of the drainage to the pass. That turned out to be impossible. TR suggested we go down the drainage and try to haul him to the road however we could.

About that time two other skiers came by and started gearing up to skin back to the pass parking lot. They asked if we needed help but we THOUGHT we could get out ourselves.

Well, the sled thing wasn't working downhill either, so TR put this enormous dog over his shoulders and skied down the gully in fading light until we could tell we were as close to the road (but well below) as we thought we were going to get. At that point, our only choice was to load the dog on the sled and carry him, postholing the whole way, up the very long, very steep hill to the road.

TR put out enormous effort in hauling this dog (a dog he had never seen before in his life and whose owner he didn't know from Adam) up that slope. We would walk up fifty steps or so and then I had to stop and gasp for a few minutes before going on.

We did that for thirty minutes or so before the second hero showed up. As we were stopped for breath, we heard a voice above us in the dark. He asked if we were below him and if we had a headlamp on. We yelled that we did and he said "hang on". Before long, he came postholing down the slope to help.

It was one of the two guys who had seen us starting down the drainage at the bottom of Christmas Tree. Once he got to the pass, he'd decided we might need help and for almost an hour he had been looking for us by stopping on the highway, looking over the edge, and shouting to see if we were there.

Once he reached us, we had more help. Even more important for morale, we knew how much further up the slope the road was. I know his name was Sean and without him we might still be trying to get up that hill.

Once we got to the highway, his friend came and got Sean and we never saw him again. My friend would like to express his gratitude, but we don't know how to reach him. I know that his name is Sean, he skied the Glory Gut earlier in the day and then Edelweiss. If someone knows how to reach him, please let me know.

The dog is fine. The dog's owner feels horrible, knows how badly he f*cked up, and is enormously grateful. TR is one of the strongest people (and skiers) it's ever been my good fortune to meet. TR, if you read this board you know who you are and I'm in awe of your compassion and dedication. Sean, you too. I hope the karma train brings loads and loads of good things to both your lives.

One moral of the story: Dogs get tired too. Don't wear them out.

[Seldom Seen]

Wow... thats a hell of a story. Good to know everything turned out OK thanks to some awesome people.

[ptavv]

That happened to my dog on a snow shoeing trip in N Idaho. Carrying him wasn't really an option though, he weighed 135 at the time (half St Bernard, half black lab... he's enormous).

Luckily I got ahold of a buddy who had a sled nearby and he came and picked us up, and we towed the dog behind the snowmobile in a saucer sled we bought off a kid for $20.

[Snow Dog]

Originally Posted by ptavv

Luckily I got ahold of a buddy who had a sled nearby and he came and picked us up, and we towed the dog behind the sled in a saucer sled we bought off a kid for $20.

I'd like to see a picture of that.

[ptavv]

Originally Posted by Snow Dog

I'd like to see a picture of that.

Yeah, we were out in the middle of nowhere and found some kids and their older siblings in a big truck with a bunch of sleds (edit: the plastic kind that you ride down hills, not snowmobiles, in case that was confusing) while I was on my way to a meeting point to meet my buddy on the snowmobile.

I figured we'd need a way to get the dog back, and hollared at the kids that I'd buy a sled from them. I gave some eight year old kid $20 for a sled that probably cost his parents $4.25. C'est la vie though. Then we punched a hole through it near the edge with a ski pole I had with me from snowshoeing.

We tied it through the hole to the back of the snowmobile, put my dog on it and started going... it's a good thing he's such a mellow mild tempered dog, if it had been our chocolate lab she would have gone apoplectic on the sled.

[Jeffro]

To preface, maybe a little random and please excuse any misspellings or typos as I'm a little drunk....

But as to the fact that dogs tire out, I have experience. I used to live in Los Angeles and would go on runs in the Santa Monica mountains with my dog ( a 95lb yellow lab). So one day I decide to go for about a 8 mile run. Beau and I have done this run before, no problems, I have a 3L camelback and "water" him often. But that day, it was hot...I mean fucking hot about 105 in the sun (I now live in Phoenix, so 105 seems downright pleasant, but that's a differnt story). So anyway, we're about half-way through this run and I notice that Beau will run ahead a little and then lay down in the shade. I'm thinking, "yeah, it's hot, he'll be fine" so I give him a little water (turns out you can use a ziplock bag as a bowl, packs down small, doesn't weigh much and my dogs at least have no problem using it) and we continue on the run. We only made it about 1000 yards further before he decides to lay down in the shade and simply won't move. Of course he decides to do this at the BOTTOM of the canyon. So now I'm faced with the decision; do I carry my 95 lb dog up the 1500 vertical feet and 4 miles back to my car, or do I leave him and go get help. Well, being the kind and compasionate person that I am, I decided to carry him. So I hoist this beast onto my shoulders. He actually seemed pretty appreciative as he gave me a little lick on the cheek and then settled in. I really expected him to struggle a little more given that I had his belly across the back of my neck and his front legs in one hand and his back legs in the other, but surprisingly, he just sort of layed there. So I start the slow slog back up the hill. Other than the heat and the extra weight, it wasn't terrible. Now here's another important difference between Los Angeles and Jackson...I must have passed at least 4 other pairs of people out hiking...how many offered to help....none. I did pass a forest service firefighting crew that offered to help, but at that point I was about 1/2 mile from my car, and figured I'd just finish it out. Anyway, Beau and I made it safely back to the car and back home. Moral of the story....Fat labs only get to go on short runs at night when living in hot places.....

Cool to hear about other people stepping up to help both people and dogs....great stoke.

[seldon]

Jeffro
That would be a picture I'd like to see.