- We had to make the cell phone battery last the day. After each call to the Park Service incident commander, Jim would power off the phone and scramble back down and give me an update. The Rangers were working their way toward us. With the spare gear we had, he kept working to improve my comfort or care a bit. Supporting my broken leg with some clothes helped ease the pain some.
He gave me half a Honey Stinger and a sip of water. After waiting half an hour to make sure I could tolerate it without vomiting, he gave me another 2 Honey Stingers and a bit of water. He kept looking at my boot.
I knew enough first aid to know we had to get the boot off to allow blood to flow to my toes. But even the lightest touch was sending me into fits. On his calls to the Rangers, Jim verified the boot needed to come off.
Alan Arnette covers mountaineering, especially Everest, which he climbed to about 27,000 feet (8400 meters) three times beginning in 2002 before reaching the summit in 2011.
He has predicted a record-setting number of successful summits in the 2017 spring season which begins later this month.
He also covered Alex Txikon's recent winter attempt, linking to the Spanish adventurer's photo set depicting the absurd preparations required when you don't go with the crowd.
(Severe weather may have put an end to the attempt. Strong winds prevented them from pitching tents, and broke a pole. Searching for a spare pole, they found dead bodies in tents left from earlier years.)
Recently, during routine training for a planned climb of Dhaulagiri (8167m) in Nepal, Arnette was knocked down by a sudden gust in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, breaking his leg.
There are warnings about graphic content but I only noticed one gnarly image of the banged-up leg near the end.
- I learned a lot from this incident. Do I wish I hadn’t broken my face and leg – umm, yes! And life moves forward one step at a time with gratitude. It was and continues to be a positive experience.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything