Georgia Tech student airlifted from Resurrection Pass Trail after allergic reaction

An 18-year-old college student was airlifted from the Resurrection Pass Trail on Monday, Aug. 10, after an allergic reaction left him struggling to breathe about 14 miles from the trailhead, Alaska State Troopers said.

Soldotna troopers received a text to 911 at 9:21 p.m. that night reporting the reaction near East Creek Cabin. The texts said an EpiPen had already been given to the patient, troopers said. An EpiPen contains epinephrine, "a lifesaving drug that reopens airways that are swelling shut due to an allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis," the National Park Service says in guidance on wilderness allergic-reaction rescues. Even after an injection, the agency notes, severe reactions in remote terrain can still require a helicopter evacuation and further medical care.

Troopers identified the patient as Udi Gitau, 18, of Georgia. He was visiting Alaska with a group of students from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Because of the medical nature of the call and the remote location, troopers contacted the Rescue Coordination Center at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The center accepted the mission, located Gitau, airlifted him off the trail and flew him to medical facilities in Anchorage for further care. Troopers listed the incident under case number AK26078394 and gave no further detail on his condition. Neither Gitau nor other members of the student group have publicly described the emergency.

The airlift is at least the third backcountry rescue troopers have reported in Southcentral Alaska in two weeks. Alaska News previously covered a helicopter retrieval of a stuck hiker southeast of Alyeska on July 28, and a ground carryout of an incapacitated hiker from Reed Lake Trail in Hatcher Pass on Aug. 6.