2014 Outdoors: Fairchild rescues

The benefits of living near Fairchild Air Force and its skilled helicopter rescue pilots and medics continue to pay off for Inland Northwest recreationists.

This year’s notable 36th Rescue Flight saves include a catarafter stranded in treacherous spring runoff on Marble Creek near the St. Joe River and an injured hiker needing emergency extraction from the Pacific Crest Trail.

Also, Sandpoint rock climber Ammi Midstokke, battered from head to toe after her foot was pinned by a 1.5-ton granite boulder below Chimney Rock east of Priest Lake, had high praise for her rescuers in September. They included the Air force helicopter team as well as helpers on the ground.

Her climbing companion, Jason Luthy, comforted her through the night after summoning rescuers. The all-volunteer Priest Lake Search and Rescue team climbed to the scene in the dark with equipment to move the boulder, stabilize her condition and coach breathing techniques to ease her pain until daylight.

Midstokke was hoisted out around 7 a.m. in a litter dangling from a cable below the helicopter to an ambulance waiting below.

Initial X-rays showed a broken tarsal bone, she said, “but a remarkably whole foot” that could have been lost without the aid of her helpers.