Few people would argue that having an active life in our senior years is not a good thing, but hiking around the second highest peak of Sierra Nevada in your late 60s could be viewed as reckless... however.
The Guardia Civil’s mountain-rescue service were called out to rescue a 68-year-old man, who had suffered a heart attack near the Mulhacén Peak. The emergency coordination centre received an alert around 21.00h on the 13th of this month.
Fortunately, the victim was travelling in a group of five people, some of whom were doctors, who immediately diagnosed the symptoms that the victim was exhibiting.
The trouble was that at this time of the evening the rescue helicopter had to be ruled out, so a 4-man team rushed to the scene in one of their 4x4s. They had planned to meet up with an ambulance along the way which would supply them with the necessary medication for the victim to be handed over to his doctor companions for administering.
The ambulance would wait at this meet-up point for the rescue team to return with the patient.
One of the team set off at a trot with the medication whilst the other three followed up behind with the stretcher to cover the six kilometres to where the victim was; i.e., The Collado del Ciervo, within the municipal boundaries of Capileira.
Once the drugs had been administered, the victim was put on the stretcher and he was taken back down to the 4×4. From there he was driven to the waiting ambulance which would take him to the PTS general hospital in the city of Granada where he was operated upon.
As can be expected, this was not the only rescue carried out in the last few days: a hiker had stumbled on a hiking route along the Los Cahorros (Monachil) and dislocated his knee; a woman twisted her ankle descending the Barranco de La Luna (El Valle – Saleres); a minor in the company of her parents and sister also twisted her ankle whilst on the Laguna de las Yeguas (Sierra Nevada) hiking route; and lastly, an abseiler had injured his or her knee descending the Junta de Los Ríos in Otívar.
Editorial comment: I finished the first paragraph with “however” because, regardless of your age, being in the company of doctors is the best example of being adequately prepared for a hike. Secondly, as I was walking to breakfast in Nigüelas, a car stopped and a woman wound down her window to ask if this was the right way to go to the Barranco de La Luna in Salares. I said it wasn’t and gave her the correct directions. Had I been clairevoyant, I would have told he to just go home.
(News: Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucia)