Four people, including a 6-year-old, came off the mountains around Las Vegas by helicopter Wednesday after two separate groups left the trail and could not get themselves back.
According to FOX5, two hikers had gone off the trail at Frenchman Mountain and were stranded on a ledge. Neither was injured. Near Turtlehead Peak Trail, a hiker and the child had also left the path, were getting cold, and reported they did not have the ability to continue.
A Training Flight Turns Into a Pickup
The helicopter that reached the child had not started the day on a rescue. FOX5 reported that AIR1 was diverted from hoist-operator training to the Turtlehead scene. A rescue specialist provided hypothermia prevention for the child before the pair was transferred to ground personnel. That is a prevention step, not a public finding that the child was injured.
KSNV reported that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Search and Rescue team answered the back-to-back calls on Nov. 11, and that a Metro helicopter was used in the efforts. Crews warned that even a short hike can turn dangerous once temperatures drop or the sun goes down. The recent time change has pushed that darkness earlier.
Pleasant Weather, Then a Cold Stop
Cooler temperatures are bringing hikers to popular spots such as Red Rock Canyon. Gabby Lubreno told KSNV the milder weather made hiking more pleasant, and recommended tennis shoes rather than Birkenstocks on rocky, steep trails. The advice is less scenic than the view. It is also the difference between walking out and waiting for a hoist.
John Jensen told the station that an ankle injury on a short hike can leave someone unable to move. He said crews can carry a person in a rescue basket for several miles. His list was plain: tell someone the destination, the planned trail and the expected return time; stick to that plan, or say so if it changes, so rescuers know where to start looking; bring extra water, pack layers and wear footwear that belongs on the rock.
The Basket Is Not a City Service
Red Rock Search and Rescue describes itself as an all-volunteer organization that locates and rescues people lost, injured or stranded in the wilderness. It says it has specialized equipment for difficult terrain, including lightweight titanium rescue baskets, and about 150 nationally trained and certified volunteers serving southern Nevada. The funding line is less cinematic than the helicopter: donations from corporations, local businesses and community members, and those alone.
A basket ride of several miles is what happens after the pleasant afternoon fails. The organization built to do that work is still passing the hat.
A Season Rescuers Already Know
Wednesday's two calls are not a trend by themselves. They do land in the season local crews have long described as busy. A Metro Search and Rescue lieutenant told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that spring and fall are the busiest times in the park because the weather is ideal. Between 2021 and 2023, the paper reported, 181 people received services from Metro's Search and Rescue Unit inside Red Rock Canyon's 195,819 acres. More than 30 percent of the canyon's rescues happened in Juniper Canyon, Kraft Mountain and Black Velvet Canyon. The yearly counts there fell from 45 missions and 74 people in 2022 to 34 missions and 39 people in 2023.
The work also clumps. A search-and-rescue officer told Outside that teams can go weeks or months without a rescue, then handle three in a day. Between March 13 and 15, responders in Red Rock Canyon rescued five hikers and one climber. In July, FOX5 reported, AIR1 crews ran two rescues on one Sunday: two hikers with heat exhaustion at Frenchman Mountain, and a lost hiker near Black Mountain.
Frenchman Mountain has already supplied both versions of a bad day this year, heat in July and a ledge in November. The Frenchman pair walked away from Wednesday uninjured. Near Turtlehead Peak, the immediate job was keeping a 6-year-old warm. The less dramatic part is still the one Jensen keeps repeating: stay on the trail you told someone about, and do not assume the pleasant weather will last until the car.
