I kicked my backside into gear yesterday and forced myself to get out there and get up a hill, it was still damn hot but I thought I would have a nice steady day on a straightforward mountain. I picked out a moderate 8000 footer, sent a text to Sarah telling her where I would be and set off. It was a wonderful hike getting some beautiful photos as I ascended until I was about 100metres from the summit where I saw a herd of mountain goats and stopped to take a photo, they looked stunning walking the very edge of the ridge with blue skies behind them and I was glad of the break on the steep final section. As I looked through the lens and composed the shot the entire ground upon which I was standing gave way in spectacular fashion. A huge chunk of rocky ground about 4 metres x 4 metres began sliding down the mountain with me in the middle of it, in less than a second it broke up into pieces and threw me backwards down the slope. I was then in real trouble, my feet flew back over my head and I was suddenly doing backward somersaults with rocks bouncing all around and off my skin, even in the midst of the fall I was aware of the hits. Scrabbling for any kind of fall arrest just tore at the skin on my hands, finally after what seemed like minutes (but was only a second or two) I scrambled round so I was at facing uphill and sliding down on my front on a moving blanket of rocks. I took hold of the bottom section of my 1 remaining walking pole with both hands and dug it into the mountain in a standard fall arrest movement (as you would with an ice axe in winter) The tungsten tip dug in momentarily before kicking out, the carbon pole flexing and bucking under the stress, I pushed down hard with every ounce of effort I had and slowly jerked and bucked to a stop. I was disorientated, trying to take stock of injuries and situation, I was still holding all of my weight in both hands as I involuntarily vomited then hung there as the fluids ran down the slope straight onto me...nice. I began to tremble quite badly, I'm not sure if that was the puking, adrenalin, shock or what but it was an incredibly unpleasant experience. Then as I lay there, trembling, hurting from just about everywhere, bleeding from various locations and still in trouble a tiny mosquito landed on my bare arm and dug right in, with both hands holding the pole I could do nothing but watch, I suddenly said out loud "you lousy, opportunistic little bastard"....then I laughed, I laughed a lot, relieved perhaps that I hadn't fallen further where I can now see, a few metres below me, a dry waterfall with a 15 foot drop. The laughing made me realise I was ok...ish. I slowly scrambled sidewards/downwards swearing very, very much with every movement. I found a less threatening area and sat taking stock, all of my joints seemed to be working ok but I was banged up, particularly my right hip and left knee. Strangely my daft hat and sunglasses were still on my head, my camera and the attached 'virtually new' £2k lens were gone, my bear spray and flares were gone too. I found I still had my GPS, phone, wallet and car keys so I tagged the GPS then turned it off so I could measure the fall later...I later discovered that I had tumbled for 114.7metres (370 feet) no wonder it seemed like a long time. The bad news was I had hiked 7.2km and though my fall would shorten the return a little I still had a hell of a hike out in my condition. The image below is a screen grab from the GPS unit showing the route to the fall. I had no option but to follow the dry melt-water channel as ascending anything was out of the question, I pulled myself together and began the slow progress down the channel toward my inward route. I found the lens cap from my camera hundreds of feet later, then trapped in the rocks the camera itself, sans lens. I was strangely pleased to find the camera body and sat a while examining it, hoping that I might rescue the photos I'd got so far, unfortunately the door to the CF Card slot was broken off and the card was gone. I glanced around the area hoping to see it but was in no shape to go looking so it stayed somewhere on the mountain. I couldn't even save the battery as it too was scattered. I was surprised to see the screen was still in one piece, and put the camera back into my camera bag and continued on down the slope. Another few hundred feet and I found my lens, bent in the middle so it would no longer extend, the front two pieces of glass gone and the next one shattered and the rear connection torn off.....it was a sad sight but as I was hurting like hell I didn't care too much. I felt a bit better when I found my other pole, then the bear spray and my flare box, I felt like I'd gained something every 50 feet or so. the long journey back to the car was the most miserable hike I have ever made, really hurting like hell and feeling sick and dizzy it took me 3.5 hours to cover a downhill distance I would normally make in less than half that time.
When I finally got home Sarah gave me a hard time about walking alone in the mountains before running me a bath and looking after me. Today I woke up at 04:00 after repeatedly waking up during the night from rolling on my injuries, nothing is too bad though, I got lucky....very, very lucky so once I get rid of these (and the others I'm not showing on a family site) I'll be right back out there.
7 Comments
Bex
17/8/2012 12:02:15 am
Jeeeeeeeeeeez Uncle Chris!! Hope your okay! We all agree with Auntie Sarah and think you need a hiking buddy :) Get better soon,
Reply
Chris
17/8/2012 12:58:38 am
I'm good Bex, thanks....just a bit sore, I'll be back out there next week : )
Reply
Mum
19/8/2012 01:05:11 pm
I winced as I read. You are one very, very lucky person, someone was watching over you. Nature is one of the most unforgiving forces on this planet, and you never know when it's going to get you do you.
Reply
Neil
22/8/2012 06:48:54 am
I have sometimes thought that whilst the shots you take are outstanding, there must be a risk, and being alone increases that risk of not being found, especially if the GPS device is not where you are. I am sure Sarah has already given you a lecture, but you need to be careful mate, I would call that one the warning that nature bites !!!!! sad about the camera, i thought mine was bad with sea water !!!!!!
Reply
Chris
22/8/2012 08:20:27 am
Thanks for the concerns folks, I was certainly hellish lucky but what the hell, you have to die of something don't you lol.
Reply
Yorkie
20/9/2012 10:12:23 am
And I thought the biking would get you....shame about the kit but in perspective they are insignificant relative to your well being after such an event....i'm puffing my lips out in relief even reading this well afterwards...phew!
Chris
20/9/2012 12:23:55 pm
Cheers mate, this was a close call for sure. But I did gain more knowledge to keep me safer in future.....I hope! Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
All
Archives
January 2024
The Shaman, West Texas
|