The Nordic Dave Adventure Series - The Self Evac

The Nordic Dave Adventure Series-The Self Evac

ND in recent semi retirement has revelled at losing the corporate biz attire and the Korporate Kulture Klitsch that comes with it.. In the last week, there was the lonely wolf crying out a mournful long slow endless howl in the dark of night, a few dozen head of elk under his window bugling to each other, to the Northern Lights lighting up the night sky. Yup Secret Training Grounds indeed for those in the know.

Whilst most of you know ND to Gravel Bike and afterall he is Nordic Dave on skis, a new friend asked if he was interested in climbing the Devils Bedstead. Hmmm...well it's only been on the bucket list for 30 years and if you ever spy this peak from afar , it's something to look at. (google it, Devils Bedstead/ Pioneer Range/ Idaho).

Und zo.,,,,It's 6 a.m. the alarm going off an hour late, human error, scrambling to scarf down food for a long day, texts going off....."where are you? " Scrambling would be the metaphor for the day.

His mates are carefully chosen but new friends. John a big fit dude, recently retired building contractor who back in the day rowed for University of Washington, you know the "boys in the boat school?"

Whitney another renaissance man who collects art, has the fastest lap record at 24 hours of Sebring and is considered as one of Stanford's Most Interesting Men. Indeed pick people who are interesting to talk to when out for a long day. None of us know anything about climbing the Devils Bedstead or how to climb it when we arrive. If the Gilligans Island theme song comes to mind, i.e "a 3 hour tour...a 3 hour tour".....well there you have it.

Meanwhile dawn is rising on a mid August morning, we are at the trailhead yet there is no trail up to the base of the peak. A few hours of wandering around wasting time, and we are at the base of the peak. With exuberance we start climbing what looks to be a class 5 rock climbing route without the right technical gear. Reality sets in as a bad idea and we traverse a few thousand yards over to some slabs and latch onto some wonderful class 4 granite slabs that take us ever higher up this classic alpine peak. The climbing is pure joy and we move easily looking for the summit , route finding and having fun. The Summit finally appears and asks a bit more of us to get up, getting steeper and a bit sketchy. Up top the short summit ridge is 2 feet wide and the abyss below is stunning! The view you ask? THE BEST !

ND on descent elects to go last, being extremely careful not to dislodge any rocks that will rain down on his mates that are clearly lethal. We are careful, coordinating and communicating well with each other as the descent is far more dangerous than going up. And we are down, well sorta, we elect to do a big traverse to get to a ridgeline we hiked up in the morning. Traversing some lower steep but grassy slopes. Without putting much thought to it, ND steps on what appears to be a large solid boulder. Maybe he was tired, tired of slick steep grass late in the day looking for something firm like it was up top, I dunno, ich weiss nicht ! Said boulder immediately lets go on a steep slope, clipping ND from behind taking out his knees, somersaulting, he breaks his ribs and left finger rolling to a stop and a sickening sound is heard of his right forearm going SNAP! Said boulder doing the damage finally rolls free and down below. Kinda like riding a brahma bull named Phuman Chu on the Pro Rodeo Circuit you instantly know you're busted up pretty good.

This is the moment where picking your friends wisely to do an adventure with becomes a test as to how they will respond. Yelling and screaming in pain incoherently his mates are at first bewildered what to do, they need information. ND has biffed bad real bad. He's done it before more than he cares to admit and knows what's coming next. He carefully chooses his words while hyperventilating and indicates to John and Whitney that he's going to go into shock and to stand by. One of them asks what does that mean? ND reply's , you'll see but give him 30 minutes. 30 min. later the screaming is over, ND asks his mates to stand him up to see if the leg is broken. Standing, shaking yet the leg ain't broke, the knee is fubared but the leg can bear weight. Whitney ties a rope around ND to belay him so as NOT to fall over. The arm is definitely broken and really don't want to fall on it again. John leads and helps ND down to a large meadow where we think we can build a fire and it's a good spot for a helicopter to land. Rescue we are told through a SAT phone that a helicopter is 4 or 5 hours out and a ground crew has also been notified . It's 4pm we have 5 hours of daylight , ND is too jacked up on adrenaline to stop, mind racing, how much does a helicopter evac cost and am I covered, will they transport his friends or leave them there to spend the night at timberline and hike out, etc...Bottomline we are moving it's the one thing ND knows how to do do.....move...damit ! Moving hurts less than sitting still. Whitney needs to stop a few times to message search and rescue that we are underway and no helicopter and or ground crew will be needed, it's painful. Fortuitously John finds the perfect game trail that we wish we knew about early that morning. Whitney keeps the rope tight on ND from behind as he leans forward and limps half steps down the trail, Whitney ever patient keeping ND upright.

It's sunset around 9pm and we are finally at the Kane Lake trail head and ND's truck. It's a bouncy road out then over a mtn pass. ND wants a beer bad ! Damn right, he thinks... he earned it. Yet no beer is board cuze ND woke up late this a.m. Over Trail Creek Pass and cell coverage works, it's after 10 pm and people have been wondering about us as we are way overdue. An hour later we are in town, ND again beseeches his mates to stop and get him a beer, nothin' doing is the reply it's straight to the hospital. 3 a.m. ND is home the injection he got for pain will last another 6 hours. A week later and surgery with 12 screws and a rod going down ND's forearm. A knee that 2 months later is more problematic than the arm, it's a deep bone bruise, ND's PT is awesome she's on it knows that nordic season is at hand.

Apparently on that same fateful afternoon. a climber fell on Hyndman's Peak next to the Devils Bedstead and broke their hip. That is where the helicopter evac was and why we had to wait until 10 pm to Midnight for an evac. Weeks later ND reads of a helicopter evacuation of a trail runner stranded on a high peak in nothing but shorts and a tee shirt getting hypothermic. Nope ND didn't want to be either of those people getting rescued , one situation very justifiable the other quite irresponsible and putting others in danger. You make choices when doing sketchy risky stuff, always to bring extra stuff, the "minimalist" can also turn out to be quite a burden to others, best to take responsibility for your actions and clean up your own mess if you can, that and picking friends wisely:)

From the Nordic Dave Adventure Series