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Mountain Responder
As a member of a busy mountain rescue team, Steve Achelis participated in hundreds of rescues that frequently made the evening news.
In Mountain Responder , Steve takes the reader along on these life-and-death rescues as he and his teammates dig people out of avalanches, hang on a thin cable below a helicopter, and rescue climbers stuck on rock walls.
Threaded throughout these unforgettable rescues, Steve shares the exhilaration of saving a life, the fears and uncertainties during the struggle to keep a patient alive, as well as the doubts and second-guessing when someone doesn't make it.
In Mountain Responder , Steve takes the reader along on these life-and-death rescues as he and his teammates dig people out of avalanches, hang on a thin cable below a helicopter, and rescue climbers stuck on rock walls.
Threaded throughout these unforgettable rescues, Steve shares the exhilaration of saving a life, the fears and uncertainties during the struggle to keep a patient alive, as well as the doubts and second-guessing when someone doesn't make it.
268 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 5, 2026
You went to the mountains on a mission. Something had been calling you from deep inside. You thought about all the myths and legends of the past; of Zeus on top of Mount Olympus, of Moses carrying the 10 Commandments down from the mountain, of the Buddha meditating in a mountain cave, of Zarathustra wandering amongst the peaks. You spent weeks staring up at the peaks from the low lands below, thinking of what ancient spirts exist amongst their spires. You got on your hiking boots, packed up your hiking pack, and drove up to the trail head in search of communion with the primal deities residing in the rock and ice of the lands where the Earth meets the sky. Before setting out on the trail, you throw back an energy drink, some trail mix, and a handful of magic mushrooms.
As you make you ascent up the trail, the thinning trees sway back and forth with a green aura around them. The air feels charged with energy as you feel the crisp breezes blowing down on you to be the sprits of the mountains speaking directly to you. The rocks above tree line sparkle as if they were embedded with diamonds. The wind gets stronger and sounds like ancient voices, speaking to you in a long lost language older than mankind. As you approach the higher peaks, you see their summits crowned with halos of cosmic energy. You recognize this light as the spirits of the mountains manifesting themselves before your heightened eyesight. You keep staring at the pulsing halos as you walk towards them. Then your foot slips.
Realizing too late that the mesmerizing halos made you lose track of your footsteps, you find yourself tumbling into a ravine. You slide down a steep incline with no solid foot hold, staying upright at first until you land on a loose boulder, then you and the boulder both roll downwards, tumbling hundreds of feet until you land on a outcropped ledge. Your first thought is one of betrayal, that the mountain spirits brought this fate upon you. Then you look at your tattered arms and legs, and then your shirt torn to shreds. You're still breathing, so you try to get up. Your back remains unbroken, but when you try to stand, you fall straight down, your legs battered into noodles.
You scream, "Why, why, why!" to the mountain spirits up above. They only answer with an icy gust of wind. You cry out to them to fix you legs, to let you walk, but you are left on the ledge, immobilized. The sun that once shown radiant above you turns red with menace, you feel surround by evil spirts coming out of the rocks to devour your soul as you try to crawl on your bloodied knees, trying to find some place where you can at least sit upright. Terrifying voices scream in your ears, telling you of your final damnation. You scream as loud as you can to the spirits above," Get me out of this hell!"
You hear a voice up above. Not of a spirit, but of a human. It asks," Are you hurt down there." You yell back," My legs are broken, and I'm in Hell, and the mountain spirits betrayed me!" The voice answers back," Are you on any drugs." "Mushrooms!" you say. The voice says," Well, we'll call for help. Just stay put. Idiot!"
You drag yourself to a rock that you can push up onto, then lean against the side of the ravine, and let your useless legs dangle, with protruding bone sticking out . A voice above soon yells back," We got a hold of emergency services, they'll be coming up soon to get you!"
Down below in Salt Lake City, Steve Anchelis is chopping potatoes, placing them in a steaming stew pot. His pager goes off. He reads the page. It is a callout. The coded message informs him of a fallen hiker. Severe injuries but still alive. Drugs involved. He takes the stew pot of the burner, turns the stove off, puts the unchopped vegetables in the fridge, and gets into his gear. He gets in his truck, races through the city traffic, then through the curvy mountain roads, rushing to rendezvous with his crew. He doesn't get paid to do this. He does this as a volunteer. It's just what he does.
He meets with his team at the trail head, right next to where you parked, where you took your fateful dose. Steve and his team march up the trail, retracing your path. They meet with the hikers coming down from above who made the emergency call. The hikers tell them where you landed. The crew takes a path off of the main trail. They walk below the ledge you are stranded on. They yell your name and you answer back, thinking the mountain spirits have decided to have mercy on you and pull you out of the land of the death spirits.
They get to a spot below your ledge, climb up with their hands and feet, while placing anchors with rope in intervals along the climb. After climbing up to the ledge they look you over to assess your injuries. They ask you questions to to determine you cognitive functioning, in case you may be brain damaged, and to see how tripped out you are. You ask them back if they are angels coming to save you from hell. Steve answers back," Not exactly, but we can get you to a hospital." They determine that your legs are completely shattered, but no spinal injuries, and no skull injuries, but you are still completely tripping out of your mind.
They air up a full body vacuum split, an inflatable casket that surrounds you to keep you immobilized and from doing something stupid while you hang from a rope on your way down while still spinning out on shrooms. The team works as experts, with Steve rappelling down the ledge along side you as the rest of his team hoists you down to safety. They shoot you full of tranquilizers as soon as you get down to get you to shut up about angels and mountain spirits and rock demons and carry you the rest of the way down the mountain in silence except for comments among themselves like "Don't do drugs, kids.". You spend a month in recovery in the hospital before being transferred to the psych ward.
As you make you ascent up the trail, the thinning trees sway back and forth with a green aura around them. The air feels charged with energy as you feel the crisp breezes blowing down on you to be the sprits of the mountains speaking directly to you. The rocks above tree line sparkle as if they were embedded with diamonds. The wind gets stronger and sounds like ancient voices, speaking to you in a long lost language older than mankind. As you approach the higher peaks, you see their summits crowned with halos of cosmic energy. You recognize this light as the spirits of the mountains manifesting themselves before your heightened eyesight. You keep staring at the pulsing halos as you walk towards them. Then your foot slips.
Realizing too late that the mesmerizing halos made you lose track of your footsteps, you find yourself tumbling into a ravine. You slide down a steep incline with no solid foot hold, staying upright at first until you land on a loose boulder, then you and the boulder both roll downwards, tumbling hundreds of feet until you land on a outcropped ledge. Your first thought is one of betrayal, that the mountain spirits brought this fate upon you. Then you look at your tattered arms and legs, and then your shirt torn to shreds. You're still breathing, so you try to get up. Your back remains unbroken, but when you try to stand, you fall straight down, your legs battered into noodles.
You scream, "Why, why, why!" to the mountain spirits up above. They only answer with an icy gust of wind. You cry out to them to fix you legs, to let you walk, but you are left on the ledge, immobilized. The sun that once shown radiant above you turns red with menace, you feel surround by evil spirts coming out of the rocks to devour your soul as you try to crawl on your bloodied knees, trying to find some place where you can at least sit upright. Terrifying voices scream in your ears, telling you of your final damnation. You scream as loud as you can to the spirits above," Get me out of this hell!"
You hear a voice up above. Not of a spirit, but of a human. It asks," Are you hurt down there." You yell back," My legs are broken, and I'm in Hell, and the mountain spirits betrayed me!" The voice answers back," Are you on any drugs." "Mushrooms!" you say. The voice says," Well, we'll call for help. Just stay put. Idiot!"
You drag yourself to a rock that you can push up onto, then lean against the side of the ravine, and let your useless legs dangle, with protruding bone sticking out . A voice above soon yells back," We got a hold of emergency services, they'll be coming up soon to get you!"
Down below in Salt Lake City, Steve Anchelis is chopping potatoes, placing them in a steaming stew pot. His pager goes off. He reads the page. It is a callout. The coded message informs him of a fallen hiker. Severe injuries but still alive. Drugs involved. He takes the stew pot of the burner, turns the stove off, puts the unchopped vegetables in the fridge, and gets into his gear. He gets in his truck, races through the city traffic, then through the curvy mountain roads, rushing to rendezvous with his crew. He doesn't get paid to do this. He does this as a volunteer. It's just what he does.
He meets with his team at the trail head, right next to where you parked, where you took your fateful dose. Steve and his team march up the trail, retracing your path. They meet with the hikers coming down from above who made the emergency call. The hikers tell them where you landed. The crew takes a path off of the main trail. They walk below the ledge you are stranded on. They yell your name and you answer back, thinking the mountain spirits have decided to have mercy on you and pull you out of the land of the death spirits.
They get to a spot below your ledge, climb up with their hands and feet, while placing anchors with rope in intervals along the climb. After climbing up to the ledge they look you over to assess your injuries. They ask you questions to to determine you cognitive functioning, in case you may be brain damaged, and to see how tripped out you are. You ask them back if they are angels coming to save you from hell. Steve answers back," Not exactly, but we can get you to a hospital." They determine that your legs are completely shattered, but no spinal injuries, and no skull injuries, but you are still completely tripping out of your mind.
They air up a full body vacuum split, an inflatable casket that surrounds you to keep you immobilized and from doing something stupid while you hang from a rope on your way down while still spinning out on shrooms. The team works as experts, with Steve rappelling down the ledge along side you as the rest of his team hoists you down to safety. They shoot you full of tranquilizers as soon as you get down to get you to shut up about angels and mountain spirits and rock demons and carry you the rest of the way down the mountain in silence except for comments among themselves like "Don't do drugs, kids.". You spend a month in recovery in the hospital before being transferred to the psych ward.
June 17, 2024
Beautifully written while still maintaining a high level of technical detail
February 24, 2010
A damn fine book! Having been a member of the Emergency Medical Services Establishment in one fashion or another for the last 18 years this book was a complete blast to read. Steve, does a great job at creating wonder and awe as he goes through the many different mountain and city rescues he was involved in during his tenure on the Salt Lake County Search and Rescue team. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in just what goes on during a rescue in the high country. Easy? No. Rewarding? Beyond words. Give it a read. Then thank the damn fine men and women who are there to rescue you when you need it.
August 17, 2021
Very well written with out watering down the technical aspects
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews