A Mountaineers Brush With Death And Disaster
Nathan McAndrew
The account of an 11,00 ft climb in the Canadian rockies.
Ever since the age of 13, I knew I wanted to climb and be achieving distance vertically. The journey upwards and onwards to the top sends massive amounts of the feel-good chemicals in your brain. It is very addicting and a lot of people ask “why do you climb? What is the point?”. Climbing for me is totalling freeing activity. When you're on the wall or on the side of a mountain, you’re in a good sense of being ‘alone’ even when you’re with a group. You’re pushing yourself forward and focusing on your breathing and movements. It’s about seeking personal glory for me, putting a goal in front of myself and not stopping preparation and training until I complete it. Looking back at the day I decide to chase the journey and then finally you achieve completion, you come along way during it and it pushes you mentally and physically.
To set the scene Mount temple is a 3,544m (11,000 feet) high mountain located in Larch valley in Alberta, Canada. I got up at 3:30am on Saturday 26th of July 2019 and drove west to Moraine Lake which is close to Lake Louise. I started hiking around 5am. I had everything I needed and of course packed a disposable camera. I was making good time as I hiked upwards over the pass and into Larch Valley. The Valley was like a movie set to me. Massive mountains surrounded me with lakes in the centre, a small waterfall and wild flowers spread throughout. Snow covered parts on the hill sides and shaded areas. I knew the forecast had rain in mind and I was ok with that. A little rain but otherwise cloudy with sun won’t stop an ascent. The trail had a few people on it and I could see a couple in the distance on the zigzag switchback part of route up ahead.
I hiked to the pass, taking many photos along the way and being mesmerised by the beauty of the Canadian Rockies. As I ascended upwards the wind picked up, no big of a deal I thought. I put on my crampons when I got to the ice route and unhooked my ice axe that was attached to my pack. I continued trekking up into the almost alleyway crevices. These snow trails would later become a great help in descending and avoiding danger. The wind was picking up, I was tired but I knew I didn't have far to go. Snow was getting thicker and I became quite excited about the view I was about to experience as I attacked the route.
After 4 hours of climbing I reached the summit and loved every second of it. Views from 3,500m over Larch Valley and beyond. On clear days you’re high enough to see into the next province over, British Columbia. Although cloudy it was incredible. As I moved around the summit it started to hail. It hailed so hard and with the wind being immensely strong, the hail and snow was coming towards me like a wall sideways. Pushing left and right, it was hard to keep balance. I decided it was time to get the fuck off the mountain as I didn’t want to be inside of the storm while being 11,000 feet high.
The weather in the rockies changes almost in an instant it and being prepared and educated is the only thing you can do to prepare yourself for what’s to come. Many people have been seriously injured and have even lost their lives due to poor weather. Mother Nature doesn’t take prisoners. My heart sinks as I am climbing down, I hear thunder and see cracks of lighting which seems to be at a very close distance. I guess that my altitude is around 3,300m at this point. The sudden flash of lighting above me forces me to squat down and make myself small. At this very moment I knew this was a very bad place to be.
On a mountain being almost the same level as the clouds with lighting overhead. I drop down and take my crampons off, I didn’t want to trip up and fall. Weeks earlier my boss mentioned his friend passed away while climbing, it was suspected that he tripped up on his crampons and plummeted to his death. I start to rush my descent and continue rapidly down, not wanting to hang around. I’m still around and close to 3,200m at this point give or take. As I am down climbing this rather vertical scramble, a huge flash blinds me and at the very same second, I receive a sharp and forceful electric shock. My left hand which was holding onto the wet rock is buzzing, warm and tingly. I turn my hand to see my palm and my legs and feet immediately start to cramp up. The cramping was painful and I felt dizzy and nauseous. In that instant I realised I’ve been hit by lighting in some form. It went through me and I felt a massive rush. In the instant it happened I feared for my life. I later pieced together that the lighting hit the boulder I was holding onto for balance, being soaked in rain, I’ve contacted the lighting indirectly.
I wasn’t waiting around to see what happened next. I was in some sort of blizzard of hail, snow and wind with visibility only being meters. I slid down the snow wanting to reduce my level of altitude, as I pick up speed on my slide I turn over and arrest with my axe. I don’t stop in time and slide into rocks, bouncing from one to another and finally slowing down and stopping after waving and kicking my arms back. I slide more and make my way down as quick as I can. I turn a corner and I can barley make out someone in the distance. It’s an alpinist top belaying his partner down who are also pulling the plug and getting off the mountain. Moving towards him I yell out that I need help. I explain to him what I think happened and that I’m off route, he explains that I could be in shock and says to follow them down.
The group of alpinists and myself turn the final corner of the woods after hiking all the way back down to our starting point and I’m surprised with the amount of tourists everywhere. I thank the guys for helping me out and letting me join them for the descent back down. They ask if I’m ok and I reply with that I feel rather fine. We shook hands and they disappeared in the crowd of tourists.
I felt defeated and I struggled to stay awake but during that night I couldn’t sleep, I felt exhausted for days after but recovered well. I now shudder and wince when I see lighting. Each flash of lightning is a potential killer. The determining factor on whether a particular flash could be deadly depends on whether a person is in the path of the lightning discharge. I think I just got one hell of a lucky chance.
Thanks for reading.
