Hiker hurt in snow chute, airlifted off Mount Haggin

By Erin Nicholes - 09/03/2008

ANACONDA — After hiking high up Mount Haggin on Saturday, Skylar James and his friends opted for a quicker, more daring means of descent.

"There are a couple of little chutes of snow that we always like to slide down,'' James, 20, of Anaconda, said Tuesday.

But this time, they chose a chute too steep and too icy for safe sliding.

"We got a little out of control with speed,'' he said. "At the bottom there was a wall of rock and boulders. We couldn't slow down quickly enough to stop ourselves." The landing cut James's leg to the bone, setting off a series of events that would result in an overnight stay on the mountain and an air rescue by the Montana National Guard.

"These guys did a good job," Anaconda Police Chief John Sullivan said Tuesday, referring to police, search and rescue volunteers, ambulance crews and others. "It worked out really well." On Saturday, James and six friends — all experienced hikers — had set out for a routine climb up Mount Haggin, located near Anaconda.

"Hike up and a hike down was the original plan," said James, who works for an area construction company.

But things went awry at about 5:30 p.m. during the snow-chute incident, which happened a few miles above Hearst Lake on a steep, rocky slope.

James's lower left leg was badly injured about four inches from his ankle, and the cut sliced through so many layers of tissue it initially looked like a compound fracture, he said.

"We thought it was broken immediately because there's a little plate that protects your muscle that looks almost exactly like bone," James said.

From the mountain, his friends called 9-1-1 on a cell phone.

"We notified Anaconda-Pintler Search and Rescue,'' Sullivan said. "They got up there and it was getting dark.''

Authorities called two medical flight companies to rescue James, but were turned down because of busy schedules and dangerous flying conditions presented by an incoming storm. Officials then called the Montana National Guard, which agreed to pick up James with a Blackhawk helicopter, but not until the next morning.

"We had to camp out for the night and we weren't prepared for that," James said.

Search and rescue volunteers stayed with the group overnight. At 8:30 a.m. Sunday, the helicopter landed in a nearby park and airlifted James off the mountain. He was taken to St. James Healthcare in Butte, where he was treated for a complex cut and was released.

He was recovering at home on Tuesday.

"I'm feeling good," he said.

James, an avid outdoorsman, said he is eager to return to hiking and fishing, but noted his future outdoor adventures will not likely include short cuts by way of snow chutes.

— Reporter Erin Nicholes may be reached at erin.nicholes@lee.net