Jump, Jump Now! a #climbingjunkiestory for the #climbingjunkie In this photo, we were jumping crevasses...

Jump, Jump Now!
a #climbingjunkiestory  for the #climbingjunkie  

In this photo, we were jumping crevasses just for sport. The next year, we had a big-wall alpine climbing accident and I had to go out to get a helicopter rescue on my own. With my climbing partner tied-off to 3 poor anchors, I left all my climbing gear with him; the food, water, clothing, and everything to get the rescue going. The only thing I took was my ice axe. As I was running out for help on a glacier at top speed, I detected a crevasse and did not have time to stop or even think. My instinct to jump paid off. If I had paused for a split second, I would have fallen into the crevasse for sure.

By the time I recognized the crevasse, I was already about to punch through a thinning overhanging section of ice. In my mind, I said " Jump,... Jump Now ".... It was over 25 feet to the other side at an angle. 

In school, I did the long jump in track. So my right leg extended fully and my left leg was tucked behind as I made my jump. Due to the great distance, I honestly thought that I was not going to make it. I thought I would do a Wile-E.-Coyote and just go under the overhang on the other side. With arms extended out fully, I actually tilted my hands at a slight angle to get some lift. No, Seriously!

During my flight, time expanded for me that there was time to look around. To my left, I saw the crevasse closing over a hundred meters away. Looking down was over 100 feet to the bottom and there was lots of blue ice. I then continued to check out the views by looking to my right. The crevasse to my right went about a quarter mile to the rock wall that we were climbing earlier in the day. 

Long story short, I made it to the other side and ran several miles, jumping switchbacks and passing people who thought I was crazy. I blooded my toes with the high impact descent, jumping switch-backs 15 to 20 feet high in several touch and go steps, found a ranger with a radio, who called in for a helicopter rescue. My climbing partner was rescued off a rock wall the same day. 

During the rescue, we had cooling bad weather come in. This actually helped us because cool thicker air creates more lift for the helicopter. The helicopter made three or four trips up and back with ease. 

My climbing partner lived, but I had my doubts that he would come off the mountain alive. This is just one of my many climbing stories that usually are left untold. I have mentioned this story a few times to some close friends. However, there are so many I have, that it would be impossible to tell all of them. It is really difficult to find a climber that does not have some good stories. 

Interestingly, some people in my original post (Panoramio) mentioned the word Hero. This is the last thing that crossed my mind both then and now. I knew only that we were in serious trouble and my focus was on each and every step down the mountain at top speed and rehearsing what I would say to the rescue team. I thought of each word to say to communicate his exact location and that bolts were needed because there were no good anchors. Many other thoughts came to me on the way down; too numerous to count and some so serious and grave. I was elated to find out from the rescue team that he was alive. It was one of the most intense times of my life; I waited an eternity at the rescue headquarters for a long time not knowing if they would find him alive or not. When I left him, he was delirious and went blind while I tied him off to several poor anchors on a small ledge. Later the next day, I was so joyous that he was alive! It might have been a different story.

The sad part of this story was the next day the rescue team was extremely depressed by the loss of a fellow climber who was a part of their team. He was climbing just around the corner from our position on that rescue day. He was very experienced and rappelled off of the end of his rope. Though, he did not have a knot at the end of his rope and some speculated that there was bad weather, causing rock fall that caused him to fall. Nobody knew for sure; the only thing known was that he did not have a knot at the end of his rope and he fell out. Supper Sad! 

In addition, this was one of three near fatal events that happened to me during the rescue. My climbing partner was original struck by rock from above. During the time I was absent, he told me that rock fell from above and came down several times. The rocks whistled as the hit all around him. Many of the rocks ricocheted around him, but not one rock hit him. It is not uncommon in these situations where multiple people parish especially during a rescue. Also when I left him on the rock ledge, I promised him that I would get help in 2 hours and I did it. My angel must have been on overtime!

The next day I went up by myself to get my pack and his pack at our high camp below the rock face. In order to get into this national park, there was an entrance fee. I mentioned to the park ranger that I needed to go in to get our climbing gear left behind because of a rescue. He immediately lightened up and said he heard about us because the rescue effort was constantly on the local radio. I had no idea. The entire situation seemed surreal and beyond belief both then and now. 

More Good Stuff in the Text Below ... Read More
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Photo
This photo was taken while climbing Mt. Baker in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.
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Congratulation! If you made it this far, there is more good stuff to come. I have included some slide shows that were taken while climbing.

The Ptarmigan Traverse, Washington Cascade Mountains.(Including photos of this trip) (Use arrow keys)
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Ptarmigan%20Traverse%20Slide%20Show

North Ridge of Mt Stuart Slideshow (Use arrow keys);
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Stuart%20Slide%20Show

Some Personal Favorites (Use arrow keys)
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Personal%20Favorite%20Slide%20Show

Slide show of nameless lakes, un-mapped lakes and others;
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Tarn%20Slide%20Show    (Use arrow keys)

Climbing on Eldorado and others on an Ice Cap
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Eldorado%20Trip%20Slide%20Show  (Use arrow keys)

Mt Daniel Area   (Use arrow keys)
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Mt%20Daniel%20and%20Dip%20Top%20Slide%20Show

Mt Olympus slide show
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Mt%20Olympus%20Slide%20Show

Lake Lyman Area Slide Show
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Lyman%20Lake%20Slide%20Show

Goat Slideshow
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2707898/slideshow?tag=Goat%20Slide%20Show  (Use arrow keys)

Thanks for taking the time to look. You comments are always welcome!     - Randy
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