Albert Lowe spends the night
unconscious on a
Waianae ridge
By Nelson Daranciang
Star Bulletin
Albert Lowe is doing OK, considering
he fell 200-250 feet down a steep slope in Waianae on Sunday
and spent the night wedged against a tree, probably
unconscious with broken bones, his son Raphael says.
A U.S. Army helicopter plucked Lowe off a ridge in
Waianae yesterday after fellow hiking club members contacted
him by cellular telephone. He had suffered a broken right
elbow and broken bones in his neck. Lowe's son said the
spinal cord was not damaged. Lowe is in guarded condition at
Queen's Medical Center.
Raphael Lowe said Lowe was still dazed and did not
remember what happened. His family and rescuers believe Lowe
may have spent Sunday night on the ridge unconscious.
When rescuers first made contact with Lowe by cellular
telephone about 8:45 a.m. yesterday, "the first thing he
said was, 'What happened," said officer Phil Camero,
Honolulu Police Department Missing Persons Detail.
"I was so happy he answered the phone," said Mabel
Kekina, Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club trail maintenance
chairwoman and the first person to talk to Lowe. "He sounded
really dazed but the more I talked to him, he became more
coherent."
Rescuers spotted Lowe about 3,000 feet up the ridge about
11 a.m. and were able to lift him out by 1 p.m. When
rescuers got to him, Lowe could not move and was visibly
injured.
"He had a lot of blood on his chest, blood coming from
his nose, his ears," said Dean Stowell, Honolulu Fire
Department rescue specialist, "He was kinda going in and
out. He knew we were there to help him, so I think that was
comforting but he was shaking, he was really cold."
Lowe was in a spot not visible from the trail and had the
tree not broken his fall, he would have gone all the way
down, Stowell said.
Lowe, 58, of Punchbowl, had been a member of the Hawaiian
Trail and Mountain Club for about a year and had gone on a
members-only hike Sunday morning on the Kamaileunu Ridge
separating Makaha and Waianae.
This was his first hike on the ridge with the club. When
Lowe failed to return home, his family started calling his
cellular telephone about 8 p.m. Sunday.
"The phone would ring but he didn't answer," Raphael Lowe
said.
The family also called hiking club leaders. About 11
p.m., they called police. A patrol officer was dispatched to
the trail head off Farrington Highway across Waianae High
School about midnight and found Lowe's car, Camero said.
Police and firefighters launched a search the following
morning and focused on a spot he was seen descending by
another hiker about 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
On Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club hikes, members and
guests are not kept together so they can hike at their own
pace, leave early or take detours onto side trails, said
John Hall, a club hike coordinator.
However, the hike coordinator is responsible for making
sure everyone gets back, said Kekina.
Hall and Kekina were not on Sunday's hike.
"I think what may have happened is, some members forget
to sign in or they show up late," so the coordinator would
not know the member is still on the trail, Kekina said.
"In all my years hiking with the club, this is the first
time this had happened," she said.
Kekina said a few years ago a hike coordinator started a
search after a hiker failed to exit the trail.
The hiker had gone off the trail, exited at a different
location and caught the bus to the beach. He realized people
were searching for him when he returned home.
Kamaileunu Ridge is one of the most difficult hikes on
the island because the trail has no tree cover, has loose
footing and is very hot, Kekina said.
The seven-mile hike goes from sea level to the 3,210-foot
summit of Puu Kamaileunu.
"It's a lot of loose rocks and small cliffs you gotta
scramble up," Hall said,
"There are places where you can fall. You really gotta
watch your step."
