"Flattop Fall Injures Anchorage Woman"
by Gail Boxrud, Times  7/9/91

An Anchorage woman suffered bumps, bruises, and a broken ankle and ribs, but was safe Monday after falling down a muddy stretch of Flattop mountain's north face.  Loretta Andress, 44, was in stable condition at Humana Hospital-Alaska, a nursing supervisor said.  She had numerous cuts and bruises on her head.  A helicopter from the Air National Guard's 210th Air Rescue Squadron pulled Andress off the wet, rocky slope.

It was the crew's second airlift from the popular Anchorage hiking spot this year.  Chris Flood, 9, died from injuries he sustained in a 300 foot fall on the mountain June 13.  In 1987, Andrew Lekisch, a 15-year old Anchorage boy, died after a 100 foot tall there.  Andress was biking with her father, Ken Andress, her twin sister and three friends in two separate groups when she fell, said her twin, Loraine Andress.  "I did not see her fall," Loraine Andress said. "But I heard her scream".

Loretta Andress and Stanley Truelson had made it to the top of the 3,510 foot peak.  They were about one-sixth of the way back down the north face when she slipped in wet scree, Truelson said.  They had missed the regular trail and strayed too far north, he said.  Andress was in front of Truelson, and he did not see her fall, he said.  "She let out a real yell, and I heard a real loud bang," he said.  It took about 20 minutes for him to get to her in the rain and fog over slick, rock-cobbled terrain, he said.  "I didn't want to do the same thing she did," Truelson said.  "That wouldn't have done her any good."  Andress was unable to walk, so Truelson set off back down the trail to get help, he said.  He had to walk to a Glen Alps home to find a telephone, and along the way he met two men who hiked out to help Andress.  Brent Brittain and John Butler were able to find Andress on the steep slope and helped her move halfway down the peak, Loraine Andress said. They carried her part of the way, and she scooted prt of the way.  She wanted to keep moving because of the cool rainy weather, Truelson said.  "I'm really glad they were able to find her," he said.

The rescuers initially thought it was too foggy to fly into the scene but later called in the Air Guard crew.  The helicopter arrived about 5:30 p.m., dropped off para-rescuemen with a stretcher and circled the area looking for a place to land while rescuers tied Andress to the stretcher and carried her farther down the mountain. They loaded her on the helicopter and took off at about 6 p.m.  Truelson, Loraine Andress, troopers and medics hiked back out through the tundra.  Truelson wore an oversized jean jacket he borrowed from the home where he used the phone, and a baseball hat he borrowed from a woman in the parking lot.  "Everyone really pitched in," he said.  Andress is very athletic and does a lot of hiking and biking, her sister said. She is the librarian for the Alaska Health Sciences Library at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  She and her twin sister were born and raised in Alaska.  The family usually hikes the mountain every Fourth of July.