Looking for Mujah

Saturday was our first winter snow storm. It rained and snowed all day and into the night. A local resident was out bird hunting with his two Brittany Spaniels near the Johnstone trail. In the minimal visibility, he approached an unseen cliff and slipped on the fresh, wet snow. He called his dogs back and one returned, the other, named Mujah ,kept going forward over the 150 ft cliff. Dan, the dog owner, spent hours looking at the base of the cliff and calling his dog. He found and heard nothing. He was certain that Mujah was stuck on one of the cliff ledges. As a last resort, he called in the Ketchum/Sun Valley backcountry rescue team and agreed to pay the costs to send the high angle rescue team out to scour the cliff.

Our 6 person high angle rescue team was dispatched out at 7 AM Sunday morning in a snowstorm. We packed up with ropes, harnesses, winter survival gear, medical equipment and supplies to be out all day. Dan guided us up to the place where he last saw his dog. The temperatures were below freezing and the snow was wet and cold. We built a fire to dry out and warm up after the 3 mile hike in with big gear packs. After we warmed at the fire and discussed our strategy, we split into two groups. One group assigned to look around the base of the cliff and one team to hike to the top and set up a rappel for a high angle search of the cliff. I was on the rope team.

The weather was a mix of ice and snow and the ropes and equipment were freezing and slippery. The rock face was also broken and loose. I was really thankful that I have years of experience with ropes and climbing gear. We made two careful passes on the cliff looking on ledges, traversing, descending and ascending the ropes. The rescue team below directed our efforts and provided another point of view while I was on the rope. Unfortunately, even after 7 hours in the field, we were not able to find Mujah. As our team bundled up the wet, heavy ropes and equipment, I apologized to Dan for not being able to find his lost dog. I felt a deep sadness for him and his grief was evident. He hiked out on his own while the team gathered and packed the rescue equipment for the hike out.

At the end of the day, the search lasted over 10 hours and was unsuccessful. The next day broke clear and cold. Dan went back out into the field with some of his friends. They did find Mujah about 60 feet from the base of the cliff. He was not alive, but Dan was happy to have found him and took his body home for burial.