Minnesota Snowmobile Adventure 08: The Survival Adventure

-22 degrees the first night

Good times change in an instant. The following PICTURES are GRAPHIC, so be WARNED!!!

ME

Day 1 of incident; Face against handlebar. 1.5 hours till search and rescue. 3 hours till hospital.

Day 2; 14 broken bones in face. Blew out eye socket, shattered nose, split the roof of mouth down the middle, broken jaw, cheekbone. Also broke my left wrist.

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Find out if the nose has to be straightened, Back to Adventuring end of April.

This adventure put me into the roll of patient, while Ski Patrol, I am on the other side of the rubber gloves, splints and 4x4 bandages. I remember when I heard that Search & Rescue was going to be at least 45 minutes, I wondered what we could do for that length of time. I know that a Dr. and nurse couple stopped to help. We were able to use a bunch of stuff in my first aid kit. Rubber gloves, a cravat to put over some of the bleeding, 4x4 bandages and a light weight sleeping bag liner over my head to keep me warm. It was about 20 degrees outside, I never went into shock and when search & rescue arrived, they put me on oxygen right away. It was a 5 or 6 mile ride in a rescue sled behind a snowmobile to an ambulance. I noticed the lack of real pain, some of it could have been the cold that helped stop the bleeding and the bodies survival mechanisms to withstand pain. Then a 35 mile ride to the hospital in the ambulance. Spent some time?... catscan, x-rays at hospital. Then waited for a chopper. They airlifted me to a larger hospital, 90 mile away. They were concerned with trauma in my face. 14 broken bones in my face.

My wife and sister arrived at the hospital at midnight. They seemed somewhat taken aback by my face, at this point I still could not see out of my right eye, it was puffed up and sealed closed with blood. They thought I might look worse... I got to sleep about 2:30AM. I was pretty plugged up during the night so they put me on oxygen for a few hours. I checked out of the hospital at noon, 24 hours after the incident. I had to show I could walk around the hospital floor and eat a yogurt. Wow! We hit the road and stopped at the first McDonalds and I got a vanilla shake.

6 days later and I'm optimistic about getting healed up good as new, I meet with my Dr. again in the morning , to see about this big ole nose.

THANKS to my Wife and Sister, it was great to see their faces at midnight when they arrived. I want to thank Cook County Search & Rescue, the people on the trail that stopped to help, the Dr. and nurse (I believe they were together). Everyone that is involved with Grand Marais ambulance & hospital. The Best Western of Grand Marais. The helicopter crew from Duluth that loaded and gave me a hell of a ride just above the waters of Lake Superior to the hospital in Duluth. For everyone who helped clean up my face in the Duluth hospital. And THANKS to my 3 Buddies that rode with me through the first night of -22 degree riding and helped get me out of the woods, it was great to see you dudes through my one good eye when you pulled up to me in the woods.

At least we had our beer and pizza at "Sven & Oles" Fri night!

Backcountry Montana, Last Day & Images From the Road

Traveling in avalanche country is a switch-back climb from safe area to safe area. I feel vulnerable when traveling across exposed sections. I dug a pit and was checking the snow with my ski poles as I climbed. The snow was fairly stable in this area. I also checked the Montana Avy sites each day. As I'm posting this blog, there are two young men missing near Wolf Creek, Colorado. There were also several DEADLY AVALANCHES across the western USA in the last 2 weeks. My thoughts go out to all that were involved. Don't take the snow for granted!!

Also for being STRANDED in the backcountry, get your self a good pack and carry some basics. Avy Beacon, I use a BCA Tracker. One or two bottles of water and energy drink. Some Cliff Bars,beef jerky, a bag of peanuts. Fire starter basics, a lighter and some matches, some fire starter material. A small folding wood saw is good. I like a metal shovel, with an integrated probe (BCA), because I can melt snow on it if I have to. Compass, flashlight. I also carry 2, two-way radios with extra batteries (if you were stranded, you could put the radio on scan and try to pick up a signal). An extra vest and a pair of clear goggles, in case of dark (night).


I had just posted this post and I found this story on the snowmobilers, it brought back this memory. It kinda hit home.

I just read the story of the 6 snowmobilers that had to hole up in a cabin in Colorado during a storm last week.

Well this is my story. Back in February 2006, my wife and I drive all night, arrive at the trail-head in Wyoming. Well we unload the sleds and head up into the mountains. We head up north onto the ungroomed trails. It gets later in the day and we end up with one of the sleds stuck in a ravine, we double up on the 800 RMK and start back south. It's getting dark and it starts snowing. I switch to the clear goggles as it starts snowing harder. I gave my wife a flashlight to scan to the sides, as the snow became blinding. We managed to stay in contact with the trail. The direct way back to the truck crossed an open expanse where the winds were howling across at 70 MPH. No go. We stayed in the trees, but with the blinding snow it was slow going. I remembered a hut in the area from mountain biking in the area 3 years ago but we would need a bit of luck to find it in those conditions. That flashlight that my wife was using to scan the sides of the trail, that was how we found the hut (I now pack a headlite for my helmet).

We had been out in the blizzard for 6 hours. I jumped off the sled and checked the door, it was open. Unbelievable, it was about 7 ft. by 14 ft., it had a dirt floor and a little wood stove, no wood, but for now, shelter. During the night I had to go out 3 times into the dark and find wood. The second time out I almost missed the hut in the snow on my way back. It snowed 36 inches in that storm. I had my food and water. That is where the metal shovel came in handy because I was able to melt and drink 4 bottles of water during the night. We were at 10,400 feet. My wife got sick during the night, so I had her slowly eat and drink as she went in and out of sleep. I ended up sleeping just before daylight. About 9:00 the next morning we decided to attempt the ride back to the truck. It was still dumping snow as we set out. The snow was coming up over the hood on the sled. It was a crazy ride, wife just kept her head down and didn't see a thing all the way back. Damn near a white-out.

We got back to the truck about noon. Here is the kicker. Our faithful Lab Gunnar was sleeping in our truck. He hopped out took a pee and promptly rolled in the fresh snow, happy as hell to see us. We had been gone from the truck for 23 hours. We went back up the next day and found the other sled. That's a whole nother story.

Wind-blown over my snowshoe trail.

I made my mark on the mountain, it will be covered in the next day or two.

Yeah, this is where I want to be.

The 8oo RMK got the call today. The wind was kicking up a bit with some blowing snow.

The ipod and pillow for 1000 miles, the price to pay for mountain snow.

The Crazy Mountains of Montana. Some day I'm gonna take that exit and go get Crazy.