A series of fortunate factors led to a happy outcome Wednesday in the case of a visiting California snowboarder who became lost somewhere on Bald Mountain late Tuesday.
Added up, the factors led searchers to find, rescue and deliver 44-year-old Dean Holstein of San Mateo, Calif.—albeit somewhat dehydrated and worn out—by helicopter to the St. Luke's Wood River Regional Medical Center before lunch on Wednesday.
The snowboarder's wife, Debra Holstein, called Ketchum Police after he failed to show up after the ski resort closed at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sun Valley Co. spokesman Jack Sibbach said. The rescue operation involved Ketchum Police, Blaine County Search and Rescue, Sun Valley Ski Patrol and Sun Valley Heli-ski Guides, Sibbach said.
Sun Valley Co. got the call from Ketchum Police saying a snowboarder was lost at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sibbach said. "I was very, very impressed with the way the Blaine County Search and Rescue and the ski patrol had led themselves and the search," he said. "We're all happy it was a good ending."
Sun Valley Co.'s policy on skiers and snowboarders going out of bounds is to discourage the practice, Sibbach said.
"We certainly don't recommend it," he said. Anything can happen back there."
Sibbach added that Sun Valley Co. also advises people to "always ski with somebody."
The owner of Sun Valley Heli-ski Guides, Mark Baumgardner, said the call from emergency dispatchers reporting that Holstein was lost somewhere on Bald Mountain came in to their offices at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
"We got just real basic information and we just went for it," he said. An hour later, Baumgardner, along with Sun Valley Heli-ski guide Erik Leidecker, pilot Lon Stickney and avalanche dog Otto, lifted off from their Cathedral Pines launch site. "We were pretty much in the go mode," he said.
When they reached the vicinity of Seattle Ridge, Baumgardner immediately spotted fresh snowboard tracks descending out of bounds and down into Limekiln Gulch, which empties into Greenhorn Gulch south of Bald Mountain, he said. "I said, 'There's snowboard tracks.'"
Shortly thereafter, the helicopter crew spotted Holstein near the backside of Broadway Saddle, which is above Limekiln Gulch. "We spotted him standing there waving at us," Baumgardner said. "He was pretty happy to see us."
As it turned out, Holstein had descended to the bottom of Limekiln Gulch late on Tuesday.
"Because he was on a snowboard he stalled out," Baumgardner said.
Holstein's decision to keep moving and climb out of the bottom of Limekiln Gulch was a wise one, Baumgardner said. "He spent a long night of walking."
A hospital official with St. Luke's Wood River Regional Medical Center said Holstein was transported to the hospital by 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Holstein was promptly treated and released by 11 a.m., the hospital official said.
