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The crew on the ridge
Taylor in the foreground, With Chris shortly behind |
We had just met a few hours ago in a coffee shop before heading out into the mountains. Our friend from VT, Taylor Luneau, had driven down from Montana the night before with his friend Tom. We had a big party, 7 in total, but it was sunny, warm and a short hike to a short face. We were planning for a mellow day, hanging out in the sun, taking quick laps up and down on an East facing slope with stable snowpack. Not much to worry about, what could go wrong?
Our first lap went great, taking a steep line down a gully on the Southern part of the East face.
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| Chris just below the ridge |
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| Taylor, curving hard out of the gully |
Feeling good, we grabbed a quick bite and transitioned for our next run. I had my eyes on a cliff band on the northern part of the slope. The snow looked better and the runout was super clean.
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Cliff band can be seen just right of the center of the photo
Photo: Chris |
We hiked up and I set up for pictures to the north. The snow looked so good and I was getting anxious to get on my board and follow them down. 1st drop. 2nd drop. 3rd, 4th... Man it looks good!
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| Tom Scouting his line |
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| Austin padding down his take off |
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| Chris about to send it! |
Then came Tom’s turn to drop. He was dropping to the right of the cliff Austin sent, down a rocky gully-unfortunately even rockier than it seemed. He pointed it, and on the bottom caught a rock with the nose of his board, sending him front seat. He landed chest first against a pile of rocks hidden inches below the soft snow. After the cloud of snow cleared, he was laying face down in the snow 20 feet further down. I called to him “TOM! TOM! ARE YOU O.K.?!”
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| Tom, right where he landed |
After getting no acknowledgment, I gave up on my line and strapped in to traverse over to him. Immediately realizing how much pain he was in, I helped him flip over so we could get down to everyone else before the adrenaline wore off. There was nothing I could do on that steep of a slope.
We made it to the bottom, and as Tom collapsed groaning in pain, Chris headed back towards the road to get help. Pulling from our WFR course’s, Taylor and I did all we could think to do. We went through a thorough head to toe analysis, taking vitals and making sure that he stayed warm as we waited for help. We had no cell service and as I waited there for backup, that would hopefully come, I felt helpless. Things just got real, real fast. How did this happen?!
After about 40 minutes, two sleds showed up and, lucky for us, knew the local emergency numbers. Tom was slowly drifting away, getting worse and worse. He was going into shock and there was absolutely nothing we could do. His pulse was getting weaker and he was having trouble breathing at 10,000 ft. We needed to get Tom out of here, fast. Making the decision that it would be too dangerous to try an drag him out over the rough terrain, we made the call for a helicopter evacuation. Tom’s strength was incredible as he dealt with what must have been one of the most painful things I have ever seen someone go through.
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Assortment of rescuers
paramedics, EMTs, Sledders and snowboarders, working together to evac Tom |
The Heli showed up in another 30 minutes, with two paramedics on board, exactly 2 hours from the crash. They immediately took control of the situation with calm and practiced hands. The paramedics authority and kindness was both awe inspiring and calming, leaving me with so much respect for people working in EMS. After getting Tom on oxygen, stabilized and back-boarded, we brought him down and loaded him onto the helicopter. They flew directly to Idaho falls critical care unit for further assessment.
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| Pushing Tom towards the waiting helicopter |
As the helicopter got out of ear shot, it got eerily quiet. Leaving all of us on the ground stunned. It felt like all the air had just left my sails and I felt heavy as I walked to get my stuff.
I made my back towards the road feeling humbled. Humbled with how fragile the human body is, humbled at how fast things can go from great to disaster. Playing in the mountains is no game. While there is so much to gain, there is also so much that can go wrong. I feel incredibly lucky and grateful that things worked out as well as they did.
Tom broke 6 ribs, punctured his left lung and has a grade 4 laceration on his spleen. He continues to be monitored in the hospital. My best wishes go out to him with hopes that these next few months go quick for him and he makes a speedy recovery.
