*** Teenagers Rescued on Thunder Mountain ***

From:	 L. Bruce Bowler [SMTP:bruce_bowler@dot.state.ak.us]
Sent:	 Tuesday, August 04, 1998 3:14 PM
To:	 sarinfo@istar.ca
Subject: Rescue on Thunder Mountain

By PAYSHA STOCKTON
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE  August 3, 1998:
Forget the Gatorade and GORP. What hikers really need on a steep climb
is a cell phone. Four Juneau boys were rescued from the north side of
Thunder Mountain by members of the Juneau Mountain Rescue Team and an
Era Helicopter pilot last Saturday night.

The hikers, trapped on a ledge, used a cellular phone to call for help
around 8:40 p.m. It took about six hours to rescue Shane Mangold, 16;
Simon Mangold, 13; Eric Webb, 16; and Michael MacDowell, 14; all of
Juneau. Scratches and run-ins with devil's club were the most serious
injuries.

Paul Mangold, father of Shane and Simon, said the boys had permission to
hike the Rainbow Road trail. "They have a lot of experience outdoors,"
he said. He said the boys called for help when one hiker became nervous
about the descent.

Shane Mangold said the group left the trail to follow a stream on the
way down. "The walk down was a little steep," Mangold said. With safety
a concern, Webb used the cell phone to call his father, a U.S. Coast
Guard Rescue Coordination Center Controller. The Coast Guard alerted the
SEADOGS and Alaska State Troopers, which called the Juneau Mountain
Rescue Team and Era Helicopters.

"I would have tried to go further down," Mangold said. "But when the
mountain rescue team came, they said it (gets) worse." Wally Stoneberg,
assistant chief pilot with Era, said the boys were "trapped on an
extremely dangerous cropping of timber and flat rock." He said the group
was at about the 2200-foot level. Stoneberg was unable to spot the hikers
amid the thick trees and brush until they released a blue balloon, which
was blown out of the heavy forest by the helicopter's rotor blades.

Unable to land near the boys, the pilot dropped four rescuers on top of
the mountain and returned to Era to refuel and wait. The climbers worked
down to the ledge and tied the boys together, hoisting and walking them
up the mountain. About 2 a.m., Stoneberg returned to the mountain to
pick up the rescuers and boys, who "were cold, wet and very tired."

It was hard to make the rescue in the dark, he said. But GPS
measurements, flares and rescue team flashlights made the landing a
little easier. Stoneberg called the boys "very lucky.  They had a cell
phone, that's what saved them," he said. Simon Mangold said he was more
scared of not making his 9 p.m. curfew than of the steep climb.

Both boys said they will tackle Thunder Mountain again. "But this time I
will probably stay on the trail," Shane Mangold said.