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Trapped in Squeeze Test for hours [The Age] 27-Apr-2014 At 10:58:37 PM duploboy

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The facts of the event in brief:
Misreported by the ABC (Jeez they are overfunded aren't they?) and then by other news sources.

The boulderer was not alone but with a large group of mates attempting the squeeze late in the evening. He is very slim, and as already mentioned slipped deeper into the slot than most people do. Presumably once you have no leverage with arms or legs any more it would be very hard to lift the hips back up the same way. Hands up who has never got a passive nut stuck in a crack before? His mates of course tried to lift him, and then also rigged up slings and ropes from the top of the boulder to haul him. These attempts continued for an hour or two before 000 was called.

Over the night several different emergency crews arrived including, police, paramedics, Arapiles rescue, CFA crew 1, SES, CFA crew 2, air medics from Melbourne, police rescue. They continued elaborating more and more on the rigging the climbers themselves had set up. A few attempts were made over the night with more and more haul power but these failed to budge the guy one inch. Again- think of that fecking jammed nut. The climbers continued making key suggestions including to pass a pole underneath the guy, and lubricating the rock with olive oil. But with so many people standing around awaiting instruction, it took the arrival of Police Rescue and a LOT of force to finally coordinate this successfully.

You can ask Keith Lockwood how non-trivial the entrapment was, and the Horsham ambo who spent the entire night monitoring the guy's condition how seriously they took it. As has been mentioned, the medics were extremely cautious about moving too quickly for fear of toxin buildup in the compressed areas of the body. In retrospect this was a little conservative, since the guy had been trapped rather than crushed- but the consequences of a misdiagnosis could have been fatal. The medics were recording heart rate, dripping in fluids, muscle relaxants and pain killers throughout, and it was their professional decision at the time to act only when resources were on standby to whisk they guy to Melbourne for immediate follow-up. They also checked for bone breakage and organ damage since the extraction was very painful for the victim. All crews did a fantastic and compassionate job - not the least of which was trying to shelter the guy and keep him warm in the the rain, wind and cold. The climber maintained good spirits throughout the entire experience, but was understandibly more exhausted and alarmed as 6 hours became 8 became 10.

Yes it is remarkable how many forces were mobilised for such a seemingly offbeat event- but offbeat things happen every day in many random ways the consequences may be far from trivial. All rescue services should be commended for their professionalism, and I doubt that any of the 30 odd individuals involved would say their time had been wasted. Who knows when any of us might need our cries for help to be taken seriously, whether we've fallen from a cliff, or fallen drunk down the stairs.