I was in this very area and participated in a helicopter rescue of a woman with a broken leg about 15 years ago. It was an eye-opener. I had known the below, had never seen it.

The military has the best equipment for higher-altitude, tricky work. More power and people trained to assist. Very good equipment and very good people, by the way. And, if they aren't doing anything else, they MAY come help. Civilian assistance is down the list of their priorities, however. If there's enough publicity that seems to help.

And if they do pick someone up, they can only carry that person to the closest place a commercial ambulance can get them. The military cannot in any way compete with private enterprise, and that includes carrying a person to a hospital.

I thought that was interesting.

Incidentally, rescues on Mt. Hood get much more publicity that on other mountains around here. The theory is that Timberline Lodge, the Cooper Spur Inn and Mt. Hood Meadows offer much in the way of comfort, food and drink for reporters. Any other mountain around and they'd suffer a bit.

Arf