Climber Recalls Watching Friend Fall Down Mountain

• Friends Thomas Gilbert and Philip Bond had been climbing a mountain in Washington state when they experienced an accident while rappelling on Sunday, April 28
• Rescuers were able to reach an injured Bond and a stuck Gilbert the following morning
• “If they didn’t have some sort of satellite connectivity who knows you know, they would have probably not made it out alive,” a rescuer told KIRO of the stranded men

One of two climbers who was recently rescued following an accident on a Washington state mountain on Sunday, April 28 initially thought that his friend could be either injured or dead after he fell.

“What went through my mind when I saw him fall is, he’s going to die,” Thomas Gilbert told CBS affiliate KIRO about his climbing partner Philip Bond, “and I’ll be stranded and he’s really struggling or really, really hurt and I have no rope and I can’t come down to help him.”

In a Facebook post, Chelan County Mountain Rescue (CCMR) said that it was notified on the evening of April 28 by authorities to help in the rescue of Bond, who fell and injured himself, and Gilbert, who was left stuck. 

The two men, who had been climbing the Cauthorn-Wilson Route on Cutthroat Peak, experienced an accident while rappelling. 

Gilbert later told KIRO that the knot in the rappel ring came out of the system “and so Phillip fell with the rope all the way down to the bottom of the route.”

The stuck Gilbert said that both he and the injured Bond had rocky talkies and were able to talk to each other. Then they contacted for help using a Garmin InReach beacon. Although they had to spend a cold night before being rescued, the two climbers had layers of Gore-Tex waterproof fabric as well as food and water.

CCMR added that responders reached the injured Bond the next early morning. 

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“Two members of CCMR started to climb to the stuck climber at about 5:45AM and accessing them at 7:00AM,” said the rescue group in its statement. “The CCMR and [Okanogan Search and Rescue Association] team with the fallen climber were able to stabilize the injuries and warm the patient using sleeping bags, ‘chem kits’ (think giant hand warmers), food, water and shelter.”

CCMR said that its climbers lowered Gilbert to the other team members so he could be warmed. 

“Around 10:20 the weather cleared well enough that NAS Whidbey Island was able to conduct a successful hoist of the injured party. All rescuers were able to hike out and made it home safely,” added CCMR.

The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that the injured Bond was transported to a hospital.

Gilbert expressed gratitude to the emergency responders, per KIRO, adding that he will thank them for the rest of his life.

Vernon Nelson of CCMR credited the Garmin InReach beacon used by the stranded climbers, telling KIRO, “If they didn’t have some sort of satellite connectivity who knows you know, they would have probably not made it out alive.”