The White Death Page #5

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and spit it back out.

Every second. Every hour.

Every minute there's something

there wanting you

to lose control of your senses.

And you know I'm thinking

about my family

and the position

I'd be leaving them in

and a couple of times

I almost thought

my wife was right there with me

because I could smell her perfume,

it was just as distinct as...

I know it was there.

I could smell her and it

and that was good

because that kind of

gave me some strength

to know that I was,

somebody was thinking about me.

Many people were thinking about him.

Word of the missing miners reached

Sheriff Bill Gardner.

As soon as I heard

I knew that this was the real thing.

I can't describe the feeling.

It... My heart sunk.

My stomach turned and

literally chills went up my spine

because I knew

what we were up against

This was a significant winter storm.

We had snow of at

least two inches an hour.

We knew that we had winds of

in excess of 50 miles an hour.

And we knew that the site

was totally isolated.

That the only way to the site

was either by air,

or through a canyon that

was literally avalanche alley.

Avalanche safety expert Chris George

was brought in to bomb the area,

clearing it of potential avalanches,

making it safe for the rescue team.

The road into the Bessie G up

the La Plata canyon was already

a serious hazard

I mean just driving that road.

Just because one avalanche runs

doesn't mean to say

that everything else is secured.

You know you'll have one or

two people trapped somewhere.

You send another 40 people in there.

It's not secure.

It's something we have to do.

After almost 22 hours of digging,

Lester finally inched closer

to freedom

I could tell I was seeing

a little bit of light

and so I was about,

maybe two feet under

and of course

the adrenaline started pumping then

and I just started digging

and beating and jumping

and I can remember just breaking out

and just screaming

Thank God, you know, I just,

I made it.

I can't believe, I made it...

and then, to get out

in a freezing storm, snowing,

blowing, that's when I got cold.

Bitterly disappointed

with no rescue in sight,

Lester was forced to return

to his snow tunnel for warmth.

He attempted to settle

in for the night.

I tried to go to sleep

and wake up real quick

and think I was in bed

and had a bad dream.

But a very sad thing when

I did wake up,

I was still in the cave.

Then another avalanche hit,

burying Lester for a second time.

To hear that crack and

that sliding sound

and I just assumed it

was gonna squash me like a bug

in my little hole there.

Luckily it just slid over the top.

Morning came I knew I'm gonna get

started as early as I can.

I'm gonna dig my out again.

So it was about six.

I started digging my way out.

Course I only had a couple

three feet of snow to go through.

and I got out. I just started...

the only direction

I could move was down.

Finally in mid morning

the winds abated enough.

We sent in Chris George to do

our first aerial surveillance

of the accident site.

And we flew by the east portal

looking for tracks.

There was no indication

of where that portal was,

it was just

one smooth angle of snow.

I had absolutely no idea

that Lester had gotten out

and was at the foot of

the mountain which is quite

a desperate descent under

any circumstances.

I'll never forget that

helicopter flying

approximately the same elevation

that I was, but they were looking,

I could look in and see them

and they were looking up

at the avalanche,

of course, they didn't expect me,

where I was and then,

yeah it made me mad,

I was, I was mad.

They just flew past me.

I could almost I thought

I felt prop wash they were so close.

This must have been

a half hour later.

I heard the thunder or

what I thought was thunder

and then I realized

they were dropping bombs

on the slope to secure the slope

for the rescuers.

So I knew I had to get out of there.

I finally got up

and got behind a tree

and it wasn't 15 minutes,

I could hear the roar.

It was louder than any

thunder you've ever heard.

If the first two didn't get him,

the third avalanche certainly

wouldn't

Lester was almost to Junction Creek

when he heard the sound

of the helicopter overhead.

This time they saw him.

He was flown 10 minutes away

to Mercy Medical Center

where he was treated

for severe frostbite.

They wanted to cut off several

fingers but Lester held on.

With physical therapy and

personal strength,

his fingers remain.

I can't express the mixture

of joy and wonder

that someone survived this.

I mean veteran mountaineers

and search and rescue people

were looking at each other.

People were hugging each other.

And we were going

we can't believe this is true.

I have read hundreds of reports

of avalanches.

I've been teaching snow safety

for 35 years.

I've been in mountains, you know

for 40 odd years.

To me it's one of the greatest

survival stories I've ever heard of.

It's good for me because it gave me

a new outlook and I,

I'm a lot tougher than I was

and I appreciate things

a lot more than I did.

Like a nice warm house

and a loving family.

I'm rich, I didn't need to extract

all the gold out

of this mine to get rich.

I know now what rich is

and I'm rich.

Experience teaches

when we pay attention.

Wisdom arrives after we learn.

Winter will always come.

Snow will always fall.

All things obey the law of gravity.

In the mountains,

ignorance and arrogance can place us

in harm's way.

We have a choice.

But if we remain unaware

and the mountains continue

to lure us,

the white death will strike again...

and again.

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