critically injured climber, a man named chris kern, up to the service. selena, a trained paramedic, tends to him. he would be in and out of consciousness. his hands were freezing. i had an extra pair of gloves. so i took off his wet gloves to put the dry ones on and i saw his wedding ring. that really made me upset knowing that he had someone that had no idea what was going on, that he might not make it off that mountain. then finally, at 12:50 p.m., four hours after the accident, the first national guard blackhawk arrived. it s dangerous flying in the thin air atop the mountain, but the chopper holds steady, lifting two of the most critically injured patients, chris kern and thomas hillman off the mountain. the prettiest sight i ever saw was chris going up in the litter and being flown off.