Helicopter rescue<\/b><\/p>\n
On Labor Day morning, Monday, Sept. 5, Avery Shawler, a conservation planner living in Ketchum, was injured while climbing alone on Devil\u2019s\u00a0Bedstead at 11,865 feet in the Pioneer Mountains.\u00a0Shawler reportedly fell nearly 60 feet down the cliff face.\u00a0She is a certified SOLO Wilderness First Responder.<\/p>\n
Two Bear Air Rescue, from Whitefish, Mont., received the call around 4:20 p.m. on Monday. The team\u00a0was already in Idaho, helping with a search for a missing ATV rider near Lemhi. A Two Bear Air Rescue helicopter flew to Shawler\u2019s location, 60 miles away, and inserted a\u00a0rescue specialist on the cliff via the hoist.\u00a0\u00a0Shawler was severely injured, and suffering from hypothermia.\u00a0She was hoisted into the helicopter, taken to St. Luke\u2019s Wood River in Ketchum at 4:59 p.m., and then flown to the Trauma Center at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.<\/p>\n
Shawler, who is originally from Cashiers, N.C., posted a photo of herself on Instagram from the hospital, saying, \u201cSo lucky and thankful to be alive after a big fall off a cliff at the Devil\u2019s Bedstead East in the Pioneer Mountains yesterday. Amazingly, was able to dial 911 from where I fell (even though I have AT&T), stayed warm with an emergency blanket, and stopped the bleeding in my biggest cuts. Hour and a half later, the rescue helicopter found me and plucked me off the mountain in what must been the craziest hammock ride of my life. Despite the huge fall, I escaped with just four lacerations that required stitches, a fractured radius, a fractured patella, three fractured ribs, a puncture wound where I bit through my lip\/chin, and a shattered cheekbone. No serious head or internal injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shawler had three different surgeries. On Tuesday, she was released from the hosipital.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want people to know they should be prepared when they are in the back country,\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>she said.<\/p>\n Shawler, whose company is Shawler Conservation Planning, works with the Idaho Conservation League, The Nature Conservancy, Wood River Land Trust and Lemhi Regional Land Trust, and area ranchers. A video of the rescue is below.<\/p>\n