Role reversal: Rescuer becomes patient after snowmobile accident

BILLINGS – In his role as an avalanche forecaster, Dave Zinn spends his days trying to keep backcountry skiers, snowmobilers and snowboarders safe.

Likewise, in his previous profession as a ski patroller for 11 years, Zinn facilitated hundreds of rescues. So when he was flung off his snowmobile during an Idaho backcountry ride this winter, Zinn was suddenly in the position of being a victim instead of a rescuer.

“Still in the air coming off the machine I told myself, ‘Boy, I think that I might have just dislocated my shoulder,’ ” Zinn said. “And when I got to the ground I had that moment where you say, ‘Nope, I think I might be OK.’ And then you do your self-assessment and say, ‘Nope, not OK. I’m pretty sure the shoulder is dislocated.’ ”

Rescues up

Zinn’s situation is unfortunately becoming more common in some areas. In 2021, Gallatin County Search and Rescue reported its busiest year in history, according to Erin Metzger, administrative assistant for the group.

The group responded to 34 searches and 69 rescues, using helicopters in 17 of those calls. All told, 161 volunteers spent 4,472 hours responding to 134 missions, dedicating almost twice those hours to volunteer training. In the past the county averaged around 100 calls a year.

The type of requests for help have also changed, Metzger said, from mostly searches to more rescues. She pointed to the popularity of GPS devices giving adventurers more information on where to go, as well as machines with greater power and maneuverability – from snowmobiles to ATVs – as reasons for the increase. Because of this, accidents are often accompanied by more serious injuries, she said.

The trend is continuing this year, with calls outpacing 2021. In winter, work is often concentrated around West Yellowstone, the self-proclaimed snowmobiling capital of the world.

“They see almost no activity once the snowmobile season is over,” Metzger said.

Patrol

Robby Pohle, a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks warden based in West Yellowstone for five years, can attest to the increase in rescue situations. He spends much of his winter on a snowmobile and has responded to a variety of emergencies, most of them involving inexperienced riders.

“Even the lowest powered machine is powerful these days,” Pohle said.

Riders will round a corner too fast, and rather than brake they will accidentally “grab a handful of throttle” and crash into a tree or roll the machine, he said. Last year, head injuries seemed more common. This winter it was leg injuries.

“The whole COVID thing has put more people out in the woods, and with that comes more calls for service,” he added.

Once Yellowstone National Park closes to winter travel, much of the snowmobile tourists also vanish, so things are pretty quiet right now, Pohle said.

Prepared

Zinn was well prepared for his medical emergency, as were his fellow riders, which included his boss at the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center and three members of the Fremont County Search and Rescue crew.

“It was humbling because you start to realize how much even a minor injury – in the grand scheme of things a shoulder dislocation is a minor injury, it’s not life-threatening – how sort of debilitating that is and how that limits your ability to self-rescue,” he said.

After some technical backcountry riding the group was about seven to eight miles deep into the Centennial Mountains near Island Park, Idaho. The accident occurred at 1:40 p.m. on Jan. 4, so still early enough in the day to activate search and rescue to come with a helicopter or toboggan and haul Zinn out to avoid spending a night in the woods.

“One of the things we talked about, right off the bat as we started to think about what to do next, was asking ourselves the question: ‘How do we get ourselves out of here, and what actions can we take to rescue ourselves?’ ” Zinn said.

Endeavors

At first, Zinn thought he might be able to pop the shoulder back in, easing the searing pain, and then navigate his snowmobile back out. But after 45 minutes of trying, it wasn’t working. To relax his shoulder muscles in hopes of facilitating the repair, he took pain medication.

When that still wasn’t helping, he tried to walk downhill but found it too difficult. So his partners made a toboggan out of a tarp and slid him downhill to a flat area where another member of the party had started a bonfire using gasoline and an emergency flare to burn green wood.

His partners then used a tarp and parachute cord to create a wind block and Zinn put on warm gloves and a down coat, sitting next to the fire as they calculated the next move.

Unfortunately, although it was clear in the mountains the search and rescue helicopter’s base was socked in and couldn’t fly. So using a radio the group called their fellow search and rescue volunteers to bring a toboggan.

“Make the call early, don’t wait,” Pohle advised. “We always get a lot of people who wait until it’s dark, even though they’ve been stuck since 1 o’clock.”

Switch

When Zinn’s rescuers arrived, they gave him an opiate to ease the pain, loaded him into the toboggan and took off.

“That was not a pleasant trip,” he said. “That position is not particularly comfortable.”

The riding proved too technical for towing the sled. So Zinn transferred from the toboggan and sat on the front of another rider’s snowmobile as he drove downhill.

After finally reaching an awaiting ambulance, Zinn was transported to the nearby medical center in Rexburg, Idaho. An emergency room doctor put his shoulder back in place, about 6½ hours after it was dislocated.

“It was a special experience,” Zinn joked.

Emphasis

For Zinn, the incident drove home how important it is to be prepared for backcountry emergencies. In the winter, such situations can be even more deadly since there’s the added problem of cold temperatures and exposure if the participants aren’t sufficiently equipped.

“Ultimately, it was a wise decision to activate the local search and rescue because it facilitated a timely evacuation,” he said. “Those rescuers need to be activated relatively quickly because it takes time to mobilize and arrive.”

The group’s equipment and training set them up for success, Zinn said, which he defined as everyone getting out that night without more problems.

“People do get injured in the backcountry with some regularity,” he added. “It’s easy to get focused on the fun part of these activities and forget about the consequences of them sometimes.

“As an avalanche center, we’re always focusing on how do we prepare people for avalanches, how do we train people to assess the snowpack and train appropriately so they can avoid getting caught in an avalanche? How do we train people to carry the correct equipment, the beacon, shovel and probe to potentially rescue a partner should things go wrong? But there’s this other side of backcountry safety that is equally as important.”

Pohle agreed. He’s seen the backcountry riders in West Yellowstone – who come from as far away as Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas – steadily improve their gear and training to be prepared for avalanches. Yet he’s not seeing those same riders equipped to spend a night out if something goes wrong.

“A lot of the rescues this year, people were flat out not prepared to spend the night,” he said.

He always carries food, water, a way to melt snow, several ways to start a fire, a saw, medical kit, dry clothing and something to make a shelter. He noted that on New Year’s Day the temperature dropped to minus 43 degrees at his house.

He’s also seen riders on their own get stuck, unable to get out, or riders that break off from their party and get lost on their own.

“That goes against the rules,” Pohle said. “You go with people, and let people know where you are going.”

Empathy

Zinn is willing to talk about his experience because he wants people to actively think about how they are going to get themselves out of a bad situation, as well as encouraging them to be humble enough to know when to call for help.

Which points to another important factor: having multiple communication devices can be a plus. His group had radios, a satellite phone, cellphones and two types of satellite rescue devices – a Garmin inReach and Spot beacon.

“If someone would have had to ride to Island Park to get cell service, that would have slowed things down,” he said.

Extra batteries or a way to charge electronic devices is also important, especially when outside in cold temperatures that can quickly drain battery power, Zinn noted.

“Being able to communicate that you need help is a big part of it,” he said.

As well as being humbled by his accident, Zinn said he has reconsidered some of the things he’s told patients in the past.

“The experience as a whole has given me a new type of empathy for all of the folks I’ve helped out of the mountains through the years,” he said.

One of his well-worn one-liners seemed particularly applicable to his own situation.

“I’ll say, ‘All right, we’re going to do this to get you out of the mountains.’ And then I’ll say: ‘It’s going to get a little bit worse before it gets better.’ ”