hamdog":b1rceg14 said:
just read a report from salida at Crotched. sparked the idea for this post.
share your "close calls" with us....
as safe as we may be out there, or think we are, there's always accidents that occur.
yeah... i think back think, jeezus, wtf is wrong with me??? more close calls than I should admit, but..
-there was the time i nearly froze to death when i lost my bearings and didn't get back 'til after midnight (fell waist deep into a brook halfway through and the temp was -6F)
-once i was almost crushed by tons of falling ice
-then there was the time i skidded on a sudden ice patch surrounded by powder at high speed in the trees - pinballed and escaped with a torn acl (coulda been a lot worse)
-and there was that time i outran an inbounds avalanche at loveland (watched by the patroller that had just opened the bowl, no less)
-then there was the time i ran for my life from lightning above treeline
-then there was the time i ran for my life from lightning above treeline
-then there was the time i ran for my life from lightning above treeline
-then there was the time i ran for my life from lightning above treeline
-then there was the time i ran for my life from lightning above treeline
you never get used to running for your life
-then there was the time i was pinned down after rescuing my friend's dog from a glacier it was too terrified to descend (try skiing while carrying a 70 pound squirming animal down 45 degree, glaciated snow) - after that harrowing descent, we were pinned down next to a 3 foot boulder in an ear-ringing, spine tingling, hail-pelting of an electrical t-storm, even though for once i thought i'd timed it right - didn't account for having to bootpack it twice, with a dog knocking bowling ball sized rocks down from above the second time... Winter, my dog, was there too, btw. Being the seasoned veteran she is, she pretty much straightlined the whole 1,000' vertical of hard snow with no fear whatsoever. Her buddy, stranded at the top, was a rookie at the time and had no business being led up there (my friend's fault, but partially mine too for not objecting more harshly)
-then there was that avalanche on quandary that buried
my dog
ooh and somewhere halfway through that list was this from 2 years ago on A-Basin's East Wall:
I saw someone below looking up watching me and wondered what they thought of this. Connecting these unlikely lines I was creating a masterpiece and they were seeing it unfold. But it was not finished yet.
That narrow length through rock cuts back right into Narrow North Pole. Too conventional. I cut more than back in to NNP, but hard across it to another narrow non-chute by pretty much anyone's standards. So I chose it (dumb idea).
The left barrier being a giant jagged wall defined by sinister sharp
outcroppings. 6 feet to the right was a big orange boulder forming with the
wall a short and narrow jug handle into a wide open untouched powder chute for the remainder of the vertical.
Oh yeah, the rock jumbles. They blocked the entrance to the chute. At no
more than a foot tall they're easily hop-able. Then a few feet later
there's a 4' vertical drop to navigate through tight confines. If you
consider 6 feet across to be tight that is.
Stood above the first jumble and tested for rocks below it. For as far as I
could reach, my poles never did anything but slash through deep soft snow. No buried rocks that I could find. But after jumping that jumble, my right ski found one.
Over the handle bars.
Fast.
That is one moment burned into my memory. When I first lost it. Most
everything became a blur after that. There are some other clear still shots
in my brain though. It was my second or third twisting cartwheel.
Upside down and backwards in mid air. Just a quick glimpse and a sliver of
thought. I saw a flash of jagged rock wall aproaching fast, then the sky
beneath my feet. The byte of synapse can't be quantified in any language of words. The best I can come to describing that feeling would be to say I
thought "So this is it....." But it was more primal than that. Raw, like
the craggy wall I was about to smash my back into.
It hurt. And it really sent me spinning & bouncing further down the the
steep against the punishing outcroppings of the wall. It's all hazy. I can't tell you exactly how many times my body bounced along those rocks.
Considering the parts of my body affected, it must have been at least six
or seven violent rag-doll bounces.
The next clear memory was finally coming to a stop. I did not expect to be
getting down on my own power. First thing I did was sit up and wave to that audience of two. Then I took inventory. my ears were ringing. I hurt all over. I was relieved that my legs worked. That I could feel them. I could sit up. My arms and hands and neck all sore but functional. Relief.
So at ease. They saw me stand up, then yelled are you ok? to which I gave a thumbs up and said thank you. Then I turned to make the grueling post hole marathon at least 150 feet up the mountain to retrieve my things. I saw that when I tumbled, I took a whole bunch of bowling ball sized, mace shaped rocks down with me.
I have gashes and welts on my back. A deeply bruised left quad. A bruised
and severely road-rashed right quad. Welts gashed across my chest
perpendicular to all the other scrapes and bruises. I don't think I hit my
head on rock, but it's hard to say. No new marks I could find on my helmet.
My palms are very sore, both hands.
But I'm good. I'm battered and bruised and sore, but nothing more. It's all
gonna be ok. Everything is alright.
It is so good to be alive. I can breathe. I can see every snowy
mountainside. I can hear my voice when I shout for joy. I can smell that
smell. I can feel the cold sensation of powder wafting up the front of my
entire body. I have full use of all my functions. I stand, I walk, I ski. I
am so happy to be here.
so i've been a darwin candidate on many occasions. luckily, i'm older now. hopefully, wiser too.
