Epic on both ends of the spectrum

Spent a recent week camped at Hermit Lakes with good friends from Bolton Valley.  Had the pleasure of skiing many days with Fithian and one superb day with More Cowbells.  Weather was picture perfect.  Bluebird for 5 days in a row, corn set up from the summit to the parking lot.

Day one had us hiking in and getting a quick lap in on Hillmans.  Day two it was off to the summit, the eastern snow fields, and many laps in the bowl.  It also provided an opportunity for More Cowbells to ski a bold line through and off of a 15 footer in the headwall's ice flow, making it (by far) the line of the day.  Lots of cheers from lunch rocks on that one.  Day three, well, we'll get back to that.  Day four the winds picked up and firmed up the bowl pretty well.  Good thing we knew the caretaker.  We headed to a slide on Lions Head called the 69 Slide (yeah, 69 dude) and raged it for several laps.  Real nice stuff...got a pretty good sunburn though.

 

So, back to day three.  9:45 AM: I'm standing downhill of lunch rocks with several friends, looking forward to that morning's objective, Left Gully...corniced at the top and as wide as a football field the whole way down.  Sun block is going on, skis are being strapped to packs and we're within minutes of headed up the lip.  9:50 AM: We hear Look out!  9:50:05 AM: A bicycle wheel shaped piece of ice that had broken off up on the sluice ice flow was headed downhill at a rate of speed that I've never comprehended before.  With about enough time to glance over my shoulder, i saw the ice bulge hit my friend Adam directly in the face.  He was knocked out imediatly and was rag dolling down the hill below me about at the same time I relaized what the hell was going on. 

Adam had left a trail of blood over the 50 feet he'd slid down and was now laying motionless, bleeding heavily, in the bowl of Tuckerman Ravine.  Among the group that had gathered for the Left Gully excursion were 5 Bolton Valley ski patrolers.  We split up and got to work.  One went to the cache at lunch rocks, three went to Adam, and I clicked in (poles still strapped to back) and stright lined the lower headwall for Hermit Lakes.  The three the were tending to Adam struggled to get him to respond, his eyes had rolled back in his head, and his face had essentially been split open from between his eyes to this chin. His nose was missing.

 

I reached Hermit Lakes, let Chris and the snow rangers what was going on and grabbed the O2 tank.  I and one of the rangers ran (literally) back to the bowl where we found the evacuation progressing with great speed.  Adam was dressed, wrapped in a blanket, and was secured in the litter.  We met up with the group as they were making their way down at the connection cache (right where you pop out of the trees).  We got the O2 flowing, continued to try to make contact with Adam, all the while not stopping the downhill progress.  We made it to Hermit Lakes where a snowmobile was waiting.  It took just over an hour to transport Adam to an ambulance from the time of the accident.  

Adam has since been released from the hospital.  He's still in pretty rough shape, but the fact that he's alive had us all pretty amazed.  I was pretty sure I was going to see a good friend die that day.  He's going to need reconstructive surgery and ongoing brain scans to ensure a complete recovery, but again, just the fact that I can call him on the phone is simply a miracle.  

The trip was Epic on both ends of the spectrum.  The skiing and conditions were unparaleled.  And the accident provided me with an experience that I'd yet to have.  

All three photos were taken by my friend Tim Goodrich.  Check out his work at www.timgoodrichphotography.com.