Rescuers use dish soap to free trapped rock climber
They tried hammers. They tried chisels. They tried extrication tools.
The next time you're stuck between a rock and a hard place, look to your kitchen sink. It might just hold the key to your freedom.
When a 13-year-old rock climber's knee became wedged in a crack in a Minnesota park on Wednesday evening, rescuers found themselves stumped.
They tried hammers. They tried chisels. They tried battery-powered extrication tools.
The girl's leg, however, stayed stubbornly stuck.
Rescue crews, hanging off ropes suspended in the air, refused to give up. They decided to take an unusual approach: lubricating her leg with Dawn liquid dish soap.
It worked. The climber, hanging 45 feet off the ground, was safely brought down to waiting EMS and first responders and transported to a local hospital.
She was scared but she did very well for a 13-year-old, said Clinton Langerud, who led the Isanti Fire District's team and was the one on the rock beside the girl applying the soap. He said he worked hard to assure the girl that she would leave with her limb intact.
According to the girl's father, she had suffered only minor soft tissue injuries and was doing very well, Langerud said.
"It was a lot of satisfaction, a lot of elation," Rick Slatten, captain of the St. Louis County Rescue Squad, said of the mood among the rescuers once the three-hour operation ended. "Her father posted a picture of her smiling on Facebook and that makes it all worthwhile."
In a Facebook post on Thursday, the Isanti Fire District said more than 40 rescuers were involved in the effort, including teams from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Pine County Sheriff's Office, Essentia Health, and Fire and Rescue teams.
"We would... like to remind people to use our outdoor resources safely and to always be in groups or let people know where you will be. Even with the best training unexpected things can and do happen," the Pine County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook.
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