A fall into King Ravine, NH
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 8:30 am
Gosh... I thought I would spend 2-3 weeks over there by myself next month, just me and my leathers... Kind of a turn off... Should I stay or should I go? ♫
Excerpt from an interview with ABC News:
As for back country skiing, I started back country skiing my junior year of high school with a trip to Tuckerman Ravine (Mount Washington), and have gone up to the Presidential range ever since for the spring season to ski. I have skied Tuckerman Ravine, Huntington Ravine, and King Ravine multiple times over the past few years. Out of the three, King Ravine is by far my most favorite, due to the remoteness, scenery, and superb snow conditions compared to the other ravines.
I have skied King Ravine several times, and hiked it numerous times in the summer as well, so I am very familiar with the area. In the summer I frequently climb the in the White Mountains with a full ruck and gear (weighing roughly 70lbs) to stay in shape. I've done several long hikes in the area, such as a Mount Moriah to Wildcat day hike (which is 26 miles round trip and roughly 8,000 vertical feet of climbing), and a 36 hour Pemi Loop (40 miles and 12,000 vertical feet of climbing), so I am used to endurance hiking.
Typically I consume as little food and water as possible while on these hikes, partially to save some in the event of an emergency, and partially to push my body to the limit so I would be familiar with how to work in the event of an emergency.
I left my house at 9am to make it to the trail head for 11am. Many would consider that an unsafe and late start for a hike, but since I was planning on skiing down that was ok. The past few times that I have skied King Ravine I spent a few hours to hike to the top and only thirty or so minutes to ski back down. When I got to the trail head I texted my mom the route that I was taking for the day with a time that I would be down. I took my time getting to the top, taking several breaks to enjoy the views. I hiked up the Airline trail, and noted at the junction of Airline and Short Line that the only tracks on Short Line were ski tracks. Short Line is the train that connects King Ravine back to the trail head. I continued up Airline took the Gulfside trail cutoff at the elevation of 5200ft. At that point it was roughly 4pm and I started to get ready for my descent. I put my ski boots on and clicked into my skis and started to traverse over to the Great Gully. I had a few good looks at the gully on my ascent, and noted a large frozen waterfall toward the bottom half of the gully. My plan was to ski the first quarter or so of the gully, then traverse to skier's left (if you are looking down the hill, to the left) through a small brush field to another gully that would bypass the waterfall at the bottom. When I got to the top of the gully, I spent a minute standing looking down the hill to finalize my route in my head. As I was doing so the ice that I was standing on gave away.
That day the sun was out, making the snow soft and wet. In the latter half of the day, some cloud cover moved in, allowing the top layer of the snow to refreeze. The layer that I was standing on was roughly a quarter to half in thick of this re-frozen layer. The slab that gave away wasn't big at all, no larger than 10ft by 10ft. I went to put pressure on my uphill ski to prevent myself from sliding further down the hill, and while doing so the binding on my ski prematurely released, and the ski came off of my foot. At that point I knew I was in trouble. It is relatively difficult to stop yourself from sliding down hill on one ski, especially in terrain that steep. At the top of the gully the terrain ranges from 45 to 65 degrees in spots. Loosing that uphill ski caused me to lose my balance and one of the only ways to control myself from sliding.
Once the ski came off I started to slide. I got thrown around a little bit and went to take a swing at the snow with my ice axe. At that point I was going so fast that when I took the swing the axe got ripped out of my and and the restrained came off my wrist. After it came off, there was no other safe way for me to self arrest my slide, so I just let the fall happen.
I got thrown around even more, and at one point I was thrown on my back going head first down the gully. I then felt a sense of weightlessness and knew that I was airborne. I thought in my head "oh shit" while I was in the air for what seemed like ever. I landed on my back, and thankfully I still had my pack on as it broke the fall. I then got bounced around even more, and must have bounced off of one of the rock walls with my head, as my helmet has big puncture going through the top of it. I then went airborne for a second time, this time I knew I was going over that waterfall at the bottom, which was from my estimate 40ft in height. I thankfully landed on my back again and tumbled down a couple hundred feet further down into a large body of soft snow, which stopped my slide.
I sat up, looked around for a few seconds to regain my bearings, checked myself out to make sure my arms and legs weren't broken, then looked around to see if any of my equipment made it down. My goggles were close by, but my skis, poles, and ice axe were no where to be found. I'm assuming that they got stuck somewhere above the lower waterfall. I then tried to stand up, but had issues with my right leg, so I sat back down. Knowing that it was well past 4pm at this point, I decided that I needed to get out as soon as possible, as the forecast had called for rain and freezing rain for that night. I put my phone on auto dial for 911, and started to slide on my back further into the ravine. Once it flattened out, I tried to stand again but couldn't. I started to crawl my way down at that point. As I was getting out of the ravine, my phone made a brief connection to 911 (for a few seconds) and then the call got dropped. I tried going back up a few feet to get the signal back, but it didn't connect. I then started back down the mountain, following the set of ski tracks that I saw earlier coming out of Short Line. It got dark, my phone died, and I didn't have my lamp on me, so I continued to crawl around following the tracks by feeling around. Thankfully the moon was out (even though it was behind thick clouds), so I had some light to work with.
While I was making my way down, I had a few things going on in my mind. I kept thinking to myself that I needed to get out, and several times would look up at the sky and think "don't rain on me, please". Aside from that, random, annoying and catching songs would shuffle through my head as I crawled out. At one point, the song Waterfalls by TLC came in, and I thought to myself "wow, what is wrong with me?". I laughed to myself a little bit, and kept moving on, periodically screaming out hello and help. During my struggle down the hill I saw several lights further down hill toward the road. I kept thinking "oh, they are finally here to come look for me, I can take a break now", but thankfully the smarter half of my consciousness kicked in and told me to keep moving my ass down hill. Ends up that the lights were cars passing by on the highway and some of the houses by Durand Lake.
It started to rain, and shortly after I felt the snow that I was crawling on get harder. I knew at that point that I was back on the Airline trail and close to the parking lot (about a mile). I continued to my car as the rain and wind started to pick up. I finally made it back to the parking lot with a notice left by the NH State Police left on my car. I was pretty out of it at that point. I managed to get my ski boots off and plugged my phone back in. I called the number on the phone to let them know that I was back at my car, and at that point I started to doze off. I remember Fish and Game arriving and trying to talk to me, but my mouth was so dry and my lips so swollen and blood covered that I couldn't get much out.
Looking back at it, I am thankful for a few things. The fact that I was wearing my helmet undoubtedly saved my life, and I am thankful for that. I am also thankful for my mother making the call to Fish and Game and the State Police that I was over due for my return, and for Fish and Game mobilizing a rescue effort. My other equipment also played a big role, the layering that I used kept me warm and relatively dry (ECWCS layers 1, 2, and 3, a soft shell jacket, and some 5.11 taclite pants). I had spare layering in my bag, but didn't bother putting it on as it would have taken too much time to work over my ski boots. Aside from that, I am happy that my body was prepared for the conditions that I faced.
Ended up with a broken nose, concussion, bruising everywhere, cuts, scrapes, a dislocated hip (back in place and now feels fine, other than being sore), and possible knee damage (we'll find out to what extent once the swelling goes down).
Excerpt from an interview with ABC News:
As for back country skiing, I started back country skiing my junior year of high school with a trip to Tuckerman Ravine (Mount Washington), and have gone up to the Presidential range ever since for the spring season to ski. I have skied Tuckerman Ravine, Huntington Ravine, and King Ravine multiple times over the past few years. Out of the three, King Ravine is by far my most favorite, due to the remoteness, scenery, and superb snow conditions compared to the other ravines.
I have skied King Ravine several times, and hiked it numerous times in the summer as well, so I am very familiar with the area. In the summer I frequently climb the in the White Mountains with a full ruck and gear (weighing roughly 70lbs) to stay in shape. I've done several long hikes in the area, such as a Mount Moriah to Wildcat day hike (which is 26 miles round trip and roughly 8,000 vertical feet of climbing), and a 36 hour Pemi Loop (40 miles and 12,000 vertical feet of climbing), so I am used to endurance hiking.
Typically I consume as little food and water as possible while on these hikes, partially to save some in the event of an emergency, and partially to push my body to the limit so I would be familiar with how to work in the event of an emergency.
I left my house at 9am to make it to the trail head for 11am. Many would consider that an unsafe and late start for a hike, but since I was planning on skiing down that was ok. The past few times that I have skied King Ravine I spent a few hours to hike to the top and only thirty or so minutes to ski back down. When I got to the trail head I texted my mom the route that I was taking for the day with a time that I would be down. I took my time getting to the top, taking several breaks to enjoy the views. I hiked up the Airline trail, and noted at the junction of Airline and Short Line that the only tracks on Short Line were ski tracks. Short Line is the train that connects King Ravine back to the trail head. I continued up Airline took the Gulfside trail cutoff at the elevation of 5200ft. At that point it was roughly 4pm and I started to get ready for my descent. I put my ski boots on and clicked into my skis and started to traverse over to the Great Gully. I had a few good looks at the gully on my ascent, and noted a large frozen waterfall toward the bottom half of the gully. My plan was to ski the first quarter or so of the gully, then traverse to skier's left (if you are looking down the hill, to the left) through a small brush field to another gully that would bypass the waterfall at the bottom. When I got to the top of the gully, I spent a minute standing looking down the hill to finalize my route in my head. As I was doing so the ice that I was standing on gave away.
That day the sun was out, making the snow soft and wet. In the latter half of the day, some cloud cover moved in, allowing the top layer of the snow to refreeze. The layer that I was standing on was roughly a quarter to half in thick of this re-frozen layer. The slab that gave away wasn't big at all, no larger than 10ft by 10ft. I went to put pressure on my uphill ski to prevent myself from sliding further down the hill, and while doing so the binding on my ski prematurely released, and the ski came off of my foot. At that point I knew I was in trouble. It is relatively difficult to stop yourself from sliding down hill on one ski, especially in terrain that steep. At the top of the gully the terrain ranges from 45 to 65 degrees in spots. Loosing that uphill ski caused me to lose my balance and one of the only ways to control myself from sliding.
Once the ski came off I started to slide. I got thrown around a little bit and went to take a swing at the snow with my ice axe. At that point I was going so fast that when I took the swing the axe got ripped out of my and and the restrained came off my wrist. After it came off, there was no other safe way for me to self arrest my slide, so I just let the fall happen.
I got thrown around even more, and at one point I was thrown on my back going head first down the gully. I then felt a sense of weightlessness and knew that I was airborne. I thought in my head "oh shit" while I was in the air for what seemed like ever. I landed on my back, and thankfully I still had my pack on as it broke the fall. I then got bounced around even more, and must have bounced off of one of the rock walls with my head, as my helmet has big puncture going through the top of it. I then went airborne for a second time, this time I knew I was going over that waterfall at the bottom, which was from my estimate 40ft in height. I thankfully landed on my back again and tumbled down a couple hundred feet further down into a large body of soft snow, which stopped my slide.
I sat up, looked around for a few seconds to regain my bearings, checked myself out to make sure my arms and legs weren't broken, then looked around to see if any of my equipment made it down. My goggles were close by, but my skis, poles, and ice axe were no where to be found. I'm assuming that they got stuck somewhere above the lower waterfall. I then tried to stand up, but had issues with my right leg, so I sat back down. Knowing that it was well past 4pm at this point, I decided that I needed to get out as soon as possible, as the forecast had called for rain and freezing rain for that night. I put my phone on auto dial for 911, and started to slide on my back further into the ravine. Once it flattened out, I tried to stand again but couldn't. I started to crawl my way down at that point. As I was getting out of the ravine, my phone made a brief connection to 911 (for a few seconds) and then the call got dropped. I tried going back up a few feet to get the signal back, but it didn't connect. I then started back down the mountain, following the set of ski tracks that I saw earlier coming out of Short Line. It got dark, my phone died, and I didn't have my lamp on me, so I continued to crawl around following the tracks by feeling around. Thankfully the moon was out (even though it was behind thick clouds), so I had some light to work with.
While I was making my way down, I had a few things going on in my mind. I kept thinking to myself that I needed to get out, and several times would look up at the sky and think "don't rain on me, please". Aside from that, random, annoying and catching songs would shuffle through my head as I crawled out. At one point, the song Waterfalls by TLC came in, and I thought to myself "wow, what is wrong with me?". I laughed to myself a little bit, and kept moving on, periodically screaming out hello and help. During my struggle down the hill I saw several lights further down hill toward the road. I kept thinking "oh, they are finally here to come look for me, I can take a break now", but thankfully the smarter half of my consciousness kicked in and told me to keep moving my ass down hill. Ends up that the lights were cars passing by on the highway and some of the houses by Durand Lake.
It started to rain, and shortly after I felt the snow that I was crawling on get harder. I knew at that point that I was back on the Airline trail and close to the parking lot (about a mile). I continued to my car as the rain and wind started to pick up. I finally made it back to the parking lot with a notice left by the NH State Police left on my car. I was pretty out of it at that point. I managed to get my ski boots off and plugged my phone back in. I called the number on the phone to let them know that I was back at my car, and at that point I started to doze off. I remember Fish and Game arriving and trying to talk to me, but my mouth was so dry and my lips so swollen and blood covered that I couldn't get much out.
Looking back at it, I am thankful for a few things. The fact that I was wearing my helmet undoubtedly saved my life, and I am thankful for that. I am also thankful for my mother making the call to Fish and Game and the State Police that I was over due for my return, and for Fish and Game mobilizing a rescue effort. My other equipment also played a big role, the layering that I used kept me warm and relatively dry (ECWCS layers 1, 2, and 3, a soft shell jacket, and some 5.11 taclite pants). I had spare layering in my bag, but didn't bother putting it on as it would have taken too much time to work over my ski boots. Aside from that, I am happy that my body was prepared for the conditions that I faced.
Ended up with a broken nose, concussion, bruising everywhere, cuts, scrapes, a dislocated hip (back in place and now feels fine, other than being sore), and possible knee damage (we'll find out to what extent once the swelling goes down).
