What a day yesterday was.
Here in South Eastern Idaho we were under the following Winter Storm Warning.
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Island Park, ID Weather Advisories, Watches & Warnings
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO NOON MDT SATURDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN POCATELLO HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO NOON MDT SATURDAY.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...2 TO 10 INCHES.
* ELEVATION...ALL ELEVATION RANGES IN THE UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS.
* TIMING...HEAVIEST ACCUMULATIONS WILL OCCUR AFTER 900 PM MDT AND INTO SATURDAY MORNING.
* LOCATIONS INCLUDE...DRIGGS...DUBOIS...ISLAND PARK...ST. ANTHONY...EDIE RANCH...MONIDA PASS...ASHTON HILL...TARGHEE PASS...PINE CREEK PASS
* WINDS...SOUTHWEST WIND OF 25 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 55 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED ON MOUNTAIN TOPS AND ALONG RIDGES.
* IMPACTS...MODERATE SNOWFALL...COUPLED WITH DRIFTING AND BLOWING SNOW...CAN MEAN TEMPORARY ROAD CLOSURES AND DIFFICULT GOING FOR MOTORISTS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
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As those of you that live in this corner of the world might know, this has been a rather dismal season for snowfall in our mountains. With winter over and spring now rolling in, the amount of snow in the mountains is just plan horrible. Much of what little there is has been melting away rapidly.
Last Tuesday we had a similar storm blow through and drop 6-9 inches of fresh powder up in the mountains. On Thursday I was able to gather up myself and my son for a day of Snowmobiling that turned out to be the best of the whole year. So when we saw this next storm we will filled with eager anticipation of even better opportunities. We thought we could make a quick dash up the mountain first thing in the morning. Get in a few hours of riding, come home, and make it to the Priesthood session of Conference with no problem.
(
Insert theme song to Gilligan's Island and the 3 hour cruise
)
We awoke Saturday Morning to HOWLING winds and blowing snow here in Rigby. A good strong 25mph in my front yard. Got on the computer and started checking all the weather reports, and things looked better up in the mountains than they did here, AND the Winter Storm Warning was supposed to expire at Noon. My only concern was pulling the trailer in high winds, not something I greatly enjoy. So we waited a bit. Sure enough the winds settled down and the storm seemed to pass. We hopped in the truck and made the 90 minute drive.
As soon as we climbed up into the greater Island Park area the weather changed. Gentle snow falling again, and EVERYTHING was white with fresh powder! The storm over the night had brought copious quantities of the white stuff. Our spirits soared! As we pulled into the Big Springs Warming Hut parking lot, our best possible expectations was totally exceeded. There was a full foot of fresh snow in the parking lot, and not a another snowmobiler to be seen.
We quickly unloaded our sleds and fired them up to let them begin warming up while we donned our all of our snowmobiling clothing and packs for what appeared to be an "EPIC" day of sledding.
As we pulled out of the parking lot and onto the first trail, we were JUBILANT beyond imagination. Its hard for me to convey to a non-sledder just how awesome what we saw really is. Every where we looked was fresh untracked untouched virgin powder in one of the most popular riding areas in the whole USA. This wasn't just RARE, it was EXTRAORDINARY!! We were GIDDY like schoolgirls.
We rode across the fields.
We rode between the trees.
We rode along the creeks.
We rode standing up, we rode sitting down.
But mostly we rode towards the mountain, knowing full well, that if it was this good in the valley, it must be UTTERLY AWESOME up on top of the mountain.
And so we began our way up the mountain on the Black Canyon Trail.
And we climbed, and the snow did get better.
More Snow.
Deeper Snow.
Darker Skies.
Higher Wind.
And on we went.
For the next hour or so we made our way up a long, winding, wind blown, drifted trail.
The snow came down HARD, visibility dropped to 1/8th of a mile, the wind was howling.
We were having the TIME OF OUR LIFE!
At this point I was in the lead, with 2 sleds following behind. My primary job was "Drift Busting". Since I was riding the biggest sled, and was the best rider, the opportunity to bust the drifts fell on my shoulders. Since as long as I could break through them, the other 2 sleds would have an easy enough time following after me. Most of these drifts were small, 2-3 feet in size, and made for nothing more that great fun as we went up one side and down the other.
But of course the higher we climbed, and the greater the winds become towards the top of the mountains, the BIGGER the drifts got. Eventually these drifts got into the 5-6ft range and things got a bit more "challenging" to get up and over each of them.
Allow me to try and paint you a picture since none of us thought to take our cameras out of our pockets.
You are riding on a trail at 8,600ft along the side of steep mountain.
To your left the mountain rises steeply, to your right, it falls away.
Across the trail are an unending series of wind blown drifts, one right after another in an unending series. Sometimes you have trees on both sides to block the wind, sometimes you are on barren exposed mountainside where the wind and snow blow without any obstruction, and this changes back and forth every few hundred feet.
Between the mountain on the left and the big drifts on the right is a small little channel of "low snow" where the winds curling don't allow the drifts to fully pile up. Its a sort of hollow. Sometimes this makes for a great way around the bigger drifts, and other times its a huge trap that has to be avoided because there is no bade of hard snow at the bottom of it.
Its tricky, its challenging, its what makes the riding EXCITING. And trust me, it didn't get any more exciting than this. We were nearly to the summit where the trail makes an abrupt turn and begins it's descent back to the valley. Knowing that once we got over the top, things always got much easier on the way down, we pressed forward. Undaunted by the larger and larger drifts! After all, this is WHY we came, to conquer, to overcome, to show our mastery of the elements.
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Then it happened.
One small mistake in my maneuvering.
Too much weight on the left of the sled, not enough on the right.
Rather than climbing up and over the next drift, the sled rolled left into the hollow and was swallowed by it.
It was around
2:00pm.
The sleds were spaced out about 100ft apart in single file on the trail, the boys both following in my trail. I surveyed the situation and quickly determined that we would NOT be able to recover my sled. The 3 of us just didn't have enough man power to lift or shovel that sled out of the hillside given that it weighs in at over 600lbs and it had nosedived down into a hole at the base of a large drift and buried itself. But NOT to worry! We had 3 sleds. Enough for us to double up on, turn around, and ride out safely. After all, I take this preparedness stuff seriously.!!
I walk back to the #2 sled to see what the situation is.
I size up his situation quickly and figure we have about 1 hour of work to get his sled turned around. He is in a narrow spot, and its going to take some work, but we should be able to Lift, Dig and Turn him around to ride back down. We begin....
2:42pm
I send the following message to my wife.
"
We are badly stuck, All 3 sleds. On top of Black Bear Canyon. We may need help, not sure yet.
No reply...
2:45
I decide we should stop working on sled #2, and instead focus on Sled #3, since it MUST be turned before we could use Sled #2 anyway.
We all go to work on Sled #3.
2:45pm
I send the following message to my wife.
"
Correction. Black Canyon Trail, between marker 22 and 24.
No Reply...
We start working on turning sled #3.
By now we have been working HARD for a good hour digging/shoveling, lifting and dragging sleds. The wind has picked up, the skies have grown more cloudy, and the temp has dropped. I am getting a bit nervous now because we have made so little progress, and I can see where this is all headed. The high altitude and the harsh conditions are taking their toll on us rapidly. Riding the sleds takes a LOT of energy, but manhandling them takes several times more. We are all getting tired quickly.
3:15pm
"
We are abandoning 2 sleds and trying to get off the mountain. We may need rescue".
Reply, "Be careful"
The 3rd rider with us in a friend of my son's whose father is also an avid mountain rider. Dalton sends a message to his dad letting them know our situation. In about 30 minutes they have loaded their sleds and are on the highway coming towards us to offer aid.
At this point, having been on the other end of search and rescue as a team member for many years, I make the decision to call for help.
Its obvious to me that we are NOT getting off this mountain anytime soon without significant help.
And while we COULD continue working the problem and possibly take care of it ourself, if we were not able to resolve it, it would make a rescue attempt all the harder on the team members to come up in the night.
3:30pm
I dial 911 and contact the
Freemont County Search and Rescue Team.
They inform me they are 2 hours away at best, but will begin assembling a team.
Because of bad weather in the valley, they suggest we continue to work on Self Rescue.
Side Note:
I have been on the other side of the Search and Rescue equation many times. I was a volunteer member of Saddleback Search and Rescue in Orange County California, and in Civil Air Patrol as the Emergency Services Officer for many years. The one thing that I remember was wishing that the people had called for help Sooner, rather than waiting till the last possible moment. One of the reasons I made the call so early in the day was because of this. I knew it would take hours, under good conditions, to assemble a team, and that it would me significantly easier on them to get going in the mid afternoon, rather than in the early evening. While it's entirely possible that I could have walked all the way off the mountain, trying to do so would have increased my risk and that of the young men significantly more! Its always better to have help and not need it, than need it and not have it. I don't remember ever going out on a rescue call where I was angry or ticked off about being there. I volunteered to help and loved doing it myself. I was hoping it would be the same with these guys...
3:45pm
We continue working hard and finally manage to get the 3rd sled unstuck at
And now the moment of truth arrives.
1 sled, 3 riders, late afternoon, high in the mountains, big storm, cold weather, high winds, two teenage boys.
What to do.
What to do.
While I do NOT relish the thought of spending a night on top of a mountain in these conditions, I WAS prepared to do so!
Both Chris and I had well stocked "overnight" packs on for just such an emergency.
1st attempt, 1 rides the sled, the other 2 walk out.
I will ride the sled and break trail for Chris and Dalton to walk behind me and we will try to get off the top of the mountain and back down into the trees to get out of the wind and blowing snow. We go a couple hundred feet at most, and Chris is spent. Walking in deep snow with Snowmobile boots on takes a HUGE amount of effort. This is just not going to work. I walk the boys back to one of the big drifts and have them sit down and dig in on the side to get out of the wind.
I decide I will ride the sled out part way and re-break trail, but my #1 concern is that if I get stuck the group will be broken up. I absolutely have to ensure that I do NOT get stuck, and that the boys know what to do if I don't get back.
It's very hard to convey in words the
HORRIBLE feeling I had in riding away from the boys and leaving them on top of the mountain.
On the one hand I knew I could get myself back down the mountain on a sled by myself.
But at the same time, I was worried that with two on the sled it would bog down and we would be stuck yet again.
So I wanted to ride back down the trail and see if I could clear it enough to take out one of the boys with me on a 2nd trip.
Of the three of us, I was clearly the most knowledgeable in alpine survival, and would have the best chances of staying on top of the mountain over night if push came to shove. But on the other hand there was a real possibility of getting one or more of us off the mountain before the weather closed in. Even though Rescue was coming, SELF RESCUE is always the best choice. Things happen, things that are unplanned and unforeseen, opportunity knocks but once. The rescue team could be stopped because of weather or some other bizarre event. Just because they are coming doesn't mean they will arrive. So I was faced with making a classic hard choice in a bad situation with limited time.
4:00pm
I mount up on Sled #3 and start down the hill.
The boys have instructions to fire off the Emergency Locator Beacon at 4:30 if I am not back. This will ensure the rescue team can locate them no matter what the weather does. 15 minutes later, I am off the top of the mountain, well down into the relative safety of the trees and make the turnaround and begin climbing back up to them.
There are only a few times in our lives, at least in mine, when a constant prayer is on our lips. Where every moment we are asking for assistance, guidance, companionship. The ride down the trail was one of those. Each bump, each drift, every time the sled leaned hard to one side or the other, I was right there asking for his help in spite of my foolishness. All the while knowing full well, that the boys were only stuck on that mountain because of ME!.
The scriptures tell us that "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." While I wasn't feeling all that righteous at the moment, those prayers were 100% fervent!!
4:30pm
I am back with the boys having traversed the mountain twice and opened up the trail.
I find the boys laying against the snow drift, down low, protected some from the wind, but not nearly as much as I would have liked them to have been.
They have a heavy duty space blanket laid across them, but are laying on the snow and it blanket is not tucked in.
I don't think either of them fully understood the situation they were in quite yet, and the consequences of not taking steps to conserve heat and energy.
It seemed like I was constantly telling them to put their gloves on and keep their heads covered with more than a sledding balaclava.
My son was COLD, and already feeling the combined effects of the altitude, cold and previous exertion.
Dalton and I are for the most part fine, but it's time for Chris to get off the mountain.
I put Chris on the sled with instructions for him to ride down off the mountain to the parking lot to meet the search and rescue team. He climbs on and takes off moments later.
Dalton and I decide that our best option at this point is to try to walk off the exposed portion of the top of the mountain.
While we could dig into one of the big drifts and make a very adequate snow cave, given the opportunity I would MUCH rather do the same thing in the trees.
Its 4:30pm, and I know we have at least 2 good hours of light left.
I contact Search and Rescue and let them know we are on the move.
We begin the hike down.
This is SLOW going, each step I take, I sink in.
All I can think about is how glad I am I got a Tread Climber for Christmas and have been faithful in using it every day.
Every step I take reminds me of that machine.
We walk for the next 2 hours and cover perhaps 3 miles.
It is grueling work, after the first hour or so I have to take increasingly frequent breaks to catch my breath and let my heart slow down.
My goggles freeze from my breath, my helmet makes breathing harder because it traps a little bit of my exhalation each time, but it keeps my head very warm.
My shoulders are cold from the biting wind, but the walking keeps us warm. So long as we don't stop moving, we will NOT freeze.
We stop for no more than 15-20 seconds at a time and press on, every on.
We sing as we walk, and enjoin the Lord to help us get off this mountain.
And then that moment happens that stays with you for the rest of your life.
You are tired, BONE TIRED, nearly exhausted, Cold, Giving it everything you have. Doing all that you can do.
The wind is howling, the snow is blowing, the clouds are threatening.
And suddenly, everything calms for a moment, the clouds part, and ray of sunlight shines down on us as we are walking across the barren wind-swept snow. And you KNOW, absolutely KNOW, the Lord is right there with you. You KNOW everything will be fine. Its not going to be easy, no miracle per-se, but a confirmation that your prayer has been heard. And then the clouds closed in again and the snow began falling and the wind picked right back up. But for that moment, all is well.
As we walked down we are in constant contact with Search and Rescue.
I should mention this just in passing. But each time the phone would ring, I would DREAD answering it.
Why, because that meant I had to take my hands out of my gloves to get the phone out of my pocket, and because the metal of the phone would be FREEZING cold on my hands, and the wind and blowing snow would pelt my fingers.
5:15pm
Chris arrives at our truck and meets the first member of the Freemont County Search and Rescue Team who had arrived at the Big Springs Warming Hut.
5:41pm
The Search and Rescue Team is assembled their required minimum team and departs the parking lot with 6 sleds.
6:20pm
The team finds us on the trail and "rescues" us. We had made it well off the top and into the trees where we could have safely spent the night out of the worst of the weather had everything turned ugly.
Much to my surprise they decide NOT to take us down off the mountain, but rather to go back up to the top and recover our sleds.
Mixed emotions.
I am
VERY tired at this point, not completely exhausted, but well spent.
Climb onto a sled and ride back up to the top of the mountain. I am amazed at how long it takes to ride back up and finally realize just how far we have walked.
At the top the 6 man rescue team is joined by 2 more.
How hard was it snowing? By the time we got back to the sleds mine had 2 inches of new snow on it. A couple more hours and it would have been invisible and become part of the drift!
The 8 of them quickly set about extricating the two stuck sleds.
I stand in amazement as I watch, by pure brute force, 6 men left my sled up and turn it around in less than 1 minute.!
(Note to self:
3 sleds and teenagers is NOT enough for high mountain riding, bring more BIG GUYS next time)
The sleds extracted, I climb back on mine for the 45 minute ride down the mountain.
My calves are aching, my thighs are on fire, and I have to stand up almost all the way down.
It is not dark yet, but the sun is now going down and its getting late in the day.
Its Cold, and I am COLD, and all 3 sets of my goggles are frozen over.
Most of the ride down is done with no clear vision at all.
I stop, change goggles, scrape the ice from the inside, and press on, as there is no real alternative and I REALLY want to get off this mountain.
The farther we ride the colder I get as there is NO windshield on my sled, my chest and head take the full force of the wind all the way back to the truck.
With the heaters on the handlebars and thumb turned up, it feels as though my fingers are going numb.
7:15pm
We finally get back to the parking lot and I am astounded to see the whole lot is FILLED with rescue vehicles.
I had NO IDEA what a massive undertaking it had been for them to send those 8 sleds up to rescue us!
Even though they knew exactly what our situation was, and our location and condition, they had still brought the whole support team just in case.
A dozen vehicles and 16 people were there "
just in case".
After many thank yous and hand shakes, and some deep expressions of my gratitude for their willingness to come out and help us off the mountain, we loaded the sleds, changed out of our gear, and climbed into the warm cab of my truck for a long drive home over what everyone there was describing as treacherous highways. Apparently it was far worse down below than it was up high on the mountain. While there were 16 people that came to the rescue, there were far more that could not get out of their homes to respond to the call because of the horrible weather that afternoon.
8:00pm
We drove down the mountain slowly to Ashton, where we pulled into the big gas station to get some food.
It had been a very long day and while we had emergency food in the packs, none of us had taken a bite of it. We were all hungry and thirsty.
There we encountered the majority of the rescue team, all refilling their sleds with fuel and topping off their support vehicles.
8:35pm
We invited the whole team to come into dinner as a way of saying thanks. From the looks on their face I would have to guess that no one has ever done this before!
The comment "Your Kidding" was said repeatedly.
In the end, only 3 of them were able to accept the invitation.
