Adventure #231

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FROM 1999 TO 2018, THERE WERE 742 REPORTED AVALANCHE INCIDENTS, INCLUDING 27 FATALITIES. 70% OF THOSE FATALITIES WERE MOUNTAINEERS I instinctively scrambled up to the highest vantage point possible, 5-10m above the bottom of the gully. Danger evaded me for a brief moment as the ice train whooshed through beneath me. “Oh epic, this is sick! I should be videoing this” my mind voiced at the new visual sensation. However, my childlike joy was to be short-lived. The penultimate waves of ice pulsed higher and higher and whipped me off my feet. Time went super slow. My mind was going bonkers. I was now part of this turbulent roller-coaster. I had recently completed an avalanche awareness training and I didn’t need a reminder of the gloomy outlook of survival once caught in an avalanche. “Oh shit, this is how people die”. I thought as I looked at my trajectory below me towards an outreached rock. “Oh shit, this is how I die”. A head-on collision loomed. Squash, crunch and smash I went into the rock. My body, legs and arms got caught in a sandwich of ice boulders. I thought it was all over for me, I was at complete mercy to the mountain gods. I presumed that the power of the avalanche would squish me into the wall like a pestle and mortar, revealing my secret spice mix to the mountain vultures. Or the river of ice boulders would trap my bag or a limb to hoist me down within its over-turning Ferris wheel of destruction. My situation was looking rather grim. POOF! I couldn’t believe it when I opened my eyes. I was staring up the mountain with my feet in the air while still hooning downhill. As surreal as it was, it was still a mayday mission. I innately knew I had to get the hell off this death circus, and pronto. Somehow, I clambered back around onto all fours and launched for a close-by rock outcrop. Here, I clung onto the rock hanging in suspension above the avalanche for about a second. My heart sunk as the rock suddenly dislodged from its mother and I fell back on to the motorway of ice. Feeling discouraged, but fortunate as the speed was slowing down as the slope flattened off. I fought hard to wriggle and wrestle towards the edge of the avalanche. A clearance of safety seemed within reach. After what seemed hours, I leaped back onto stable ground. “ I had recently completed an avalanche awareness training and I didn’t need a reminder of the gloomy outlook of survival once caught in an avalanche. ” How does one merely put into words the feeling aftermath a dance with the devil? It would be in the terms of bliss, nirvana or heaven. Choose any or all of the above. A comprehensive awakening to dissolve all issues that one could have. Nothing else could matter except the gift of life, something forgotten through daily normalities. Not that I was thinking of anything. Just sat there, dripping in blood gazing out into a wonder of the world. The magic of those elegant mountains draped in silky white cloaks whispering the softest of sweet nothings that day. The evanescence of sheer wild beauty in that moment murmured melodies that encroached the soul. I didn’t need a doctor to tell me that my body was impaired. I feared the worse as I turned my attention to surveying the damage. I was half-expecting to view a bone sticking out of my leg, collarbone to be snapped, rib cage to be crushed or my foot to be twisted backwards beyond recognition. Fortunate as I was to nullify the extremes of these mind marauders, I was still hurt. There was no hesitation to understand that I had reached a moment to press the big red button of the PLB. At that moment, I had no idea what happens when the SOS alert gets sent nor had I talked to anyone that has pressed it before. A light flashed every 2 seconds and that was about it. Let the wait begin. I rolled out my camp mat, pulled on my jacket, whipped out some dark chocolate and engrossed my last carrot in some luscious peanut butter. I only had one thing on my mind that was to remain with me forever ‘Mountains are beautiful, but are not worth dying for’. It took about 20mins for this ecstasy of adrenaline to subside. It also aligned with dark mooted clouds beginning to hug the south-western mountain range. I was aware of my position still on an avalancheprone slope half-way up the mountain side. Surrounded by a mountain barrier in all directions except the down the extensive river corridor. Which would estimate to be a 60km hike for a full-bale body back to the SH6 road. I had to start moving, to at least to make a safe camp at a lower altitude for the night. Gingerly, I tested out the capability of my body’s facilities, or a lack 24//WHERE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS/<strong>#231</strong>
View of the Douglas neve adjacent to Mt. Sefton. Which hangs about the Douglas Glacier (covered in moraine). Looking out to Mt. Thomson from the Douglas Saddle. Mt. Sefton lurking in behind. ADVENTUREMAGAZINE.CO.NZ//25
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