Last year, two Washington climbers were swarmed by yellowjackets while 30 feet up in the air. Now, they’re recounting how an ordinary day of climbing became a fight for their lives.
Ross and Jeni set out rock climbing on Mount Si, something Seattle Mountain Rescue says they had done many times before.
Ross was about 30 feet off the ground, working through a section of the climb while Jeni belayed below.
“Then he heard Jeni scream. Ross knew immediately: she had been stung.”
Jeni had unknowingly gotten too close to the entrance of a yellowjacket nest hidden in the ground near the base of the climb. Suddenly, she was surrounded.
“I don’t even remember where the pain started,” Jeni recalled. “It was just suddenly [all over] my entire body.”
The swarm went to her first, stinging her more than 100 times, but she managed to belay Ross down.
He was then stung more than 150 times.
“He remembers seeing what looked like a “shimmering mirage” in the air. As he descended, the yellowjackets began attacking him. By the time he reached the ground, both climbers were being repeatedly stung."
After freeing themselves from their climbing gear, they ran off, but then Ross began suffering a serious allergic reaction.
Other hikers found the duo and jumped in to help Ross, giving him Benadryl and calling 911.
One fellow climber, Jacqui, had medical training and recognized that the situation could be far more serious than simply a large number of painful stings.
A group of bystanders started carrying Ross down the trail while Jeni stayed beside him and helped communicate what was happening.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he remembered thinking. “I don’t know if I’m going to die.”
Once firefighters reached the group, Ross was given epinephrine. His blood pressure was reportedly 60/30 at that time. Search and rescue personnel joined to help evacuate Ross toward the trailhead and to the hospital.
Ross spent the night in the intensive care unit, and estimates that, over the course of the emergency, he received the equivalent of approximately six EpiPen doses.
Despite this experience, the two are still climbing. But nowadays, they prepare differently, keeping in mind any unexpected emergencies.
Here’s what Ross and Jeni want others to know:
- Emergencies don’t always come when or where you expect, so stay aware of your surroundings.
- Study up on basic wilderness medical training if you’re planning on going out in the woods.
- Know what’s in your first-aid kit and how to use it.
- Think about where you are, and how to best communicate from that location, before something goes wrong.
To hear more about Ross and Jenni’s experience and learn about Seattle Mountain Rescue, click here.