Some photos

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

The rescue
Once I convinced the Vera's office stuff to dial 911 for us, I said to her "Now we will be fine". So I started organize gear still thrown around in great disorder. I left the sat phone turned on, despite concern it will run out of battery and not even sure why to have it turned on when the signal is so dismal. I remember I was busy pushing our ropes under her for insulation, when I heard very weak ringing - it was sat phone ringing! ( I wish it had much louder ring - but that was its max volume ). I picked it up and someone on the other end said "Are you Serguei? And your partner is Vera? This is NSR." Then he asked "What kind of injury?" - I replied - open fracture (back then we thought it was a fracture of her finger), something wrong with legs, can't move. Then the phone died. "No network found". "Good" I thought - they got the SPOT coordinates. I put the phone back on the snow. In a few minutes it rang again "Do you think Vera will survive the night?" - "I don't think so". "What's your coordinates?". I started reading GPS location and then the phone died again. It never rang again. I texted the NSR with our coordinates and turned the sat phone off - to save the battery.

I said to Vera - we will have help in two hours (I lied of course) and it  will be over. She said (through her semi-coma dream) - it's too fast, they can't be that fast. I didn't reply.

I stopped looking at my watch - the time seemed not to move - what I thought was 30 minutes, was actually three minutes. Not sure how long it passed, but I remember I saw a flash on the North Wall of Widowmaker. I said - "They are coming!". Vera replied "Can't be that fast". Not sure how she could track the time but she did. I stared at the North wall to see the flash again, but it remained dark. "Could be the drifting snow reflecting of my headlamp" - nothing else. I kept the headlamp turned on through the night, occasionally turning off for short breaks, when I sat next to Vera, secured rope wrapped around my arm, so I won't  slip down the slope in case I fell asleep.

Then Vera said "I hear voices". I stopped doing what I was doing, but heard nothing. I thought I saw the flash again. Then again,darkness, drifting snow. Vera would occasionally ask to put the SOL bivy bag over her head - it seemed she was getting really cold.

"I don't think she will make it"


To be continued...

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

The rescue
I didn't know if the ground crew will come at night, the sat phone lost its signal so I couldn't know. I knew that last year they let a lost hiker to spend overnight at St Mark's at -20°C. We had "only" -6°C, so I was not sure. In brief breaks I would temporarily turn the headlamp off and sit listening and looking for the signs. It was a moonless quiet  darkness with the silhouette of the Goat ridge in front and Widomaker on right. Snow drifting down the Spindle Couloir. And then I saw it - the flash of a very powerful headlamp down in Hanes Valley. I looked again to make sure - yes, it was a single light jerking and disappearing and coming back again indicating the person was moving, towards the  base of the Spindle Couloir. I said to Vera "I see them!", she asked "How many?". I turned my headlamp in emergency flashing mode so that they could see it's us.

PHOTO: The center piece is what has left of Vera's radio.

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Q: Did the paramedics destroy Vera's boots?
A: No.

I remember in 2012' Crown rescue the first thing that they did was to cut and remove victim's pants that were tossed down in the bush, where they are probably still resting. This time nothing was touched.

PHOTO: Vera's brand new (insulated) boots, her inaugural climb with.

vera

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

13号那天，直升机把我降落在Capilano Dam Area，将我直接送上了在那里等候的救护车。我记得车上两个人，年纪大的坐在我身边，年纪轻的忙前忙后。首先是要初步全身检查，这位年长者很gentle，调节好车内暖气之后，先移走裹着我右手的fleece，再慢慢地帮我脱去外套，还有防风衣，一层一层；因为我的左腿不能动，年轻人在旁边有顾虑地问，Boots能脱吗？当时我想，那可是我刚买的新boots，万一保不住的话，太叫人伤心了。我还没说话呢，年长的说，试一试，松鞋带，尽量脱下来。（听得我好感动）后来，他跟我说，他也是个climber，以前去Logan时也发生过accident，他知道gear对我们意味着什么。话说间，到了baselayer，他停了下来，可能怕我ribs受伤会疼，问我是否介意用剪刀剪开袖子，我说不介意（他已经这么斯文地保住了我几乎所有的衣物，我哪里还有什么要求）。即便如此，他又想了一想，稍一停顿之后，还是没有拿起剪刀，而是尽量顺着我的手臂，帮我脱了下来。就这样，一步一步，包括goretex的长裤，都没有丝毫受损。传说中rescue时通常被用到的剪刀，一点也没有用到。

事后我发现，他们把从我身上取下的所有东西都放在了塑料袋里装好，一直随人带进了急诊，从头至尾，一件也不少。博士和我都很吃惊：原来剪刀不是必须的！

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

The most impressive was that paramedics even didn't cut Vera's climbing harness which was on her - one must know how to take it off, even then it is a lot harder and time consuming than just split it with a knife.

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Gear Performance - Magnetron VaporLock  (failed)
Again, be sceptical what say on YouTube. The Magnetron VaporLock biner was recommended on YouTube and we liked it ("it won't freeze"). So we replaced our standard midsize screwgate biners with this type. On Spindle climb one of those VaporLocks failed to open, despite many attempts. It was left on my harness still locked. Imagine how it would feel if this biner was the one on the rappel security cord master point which you need to release last, standing on the edge just before leaving and it can't open.

Magnetron at 11m53s

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Q: Vera现在怎么样？
A: 越来越好

照片：在家里跟Lulu (2018.02.23 15:26)

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

This pair of Vera's wool gloves I found together, side by side, when I was downclimbing. They were stripped of her hands during her 213m fall.



This pair of Gore-Tex shells was stripped too.

vera

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

从脚下一滑的瞬间，我就从来没有想过我会停下来，连1微妙这样的念头都没有。我只是觉得今天是死定了，这样的col，混凝土一样硬的表面，时而凸起的冰块就像冰冷的岩石，我身上有两个ice-axe、脚上穿着crampons，不能走、只能爬着上的slope，怎么还有生还的机会？身体早就失去了控制地翻啊、滚啊、撞啊，goretex的裤子也没有什么摩擦力，真的很给力。

真的停下来的时刻，我根本不敢相信，趴在那里，只是止不住地全身颤抖，怎么也停不下来，浑身冰冷，而且呼吸特别急促，两只袖口都移到了上臂，整个胳膊肘和手的皮肤都暴露在外。我就这样闷着头抖了很久，才睁开眼睛，眼前的雪地上斑斑点点的血迹，再看一眼右手，中指的下面一节骨头都在外面，白白的，一点血色也没有。平时对此类情境根本不敢看的我，顿时觉得一下子不能呼吸。怎么办？我会失去手指吗？这样的情况还能戴上手套吗？我好像也没有那个胆量碰它。再看周围，离我一米开外，我的右上方，一只goretex shell的手套静静地停在那里。

我还是不敢动，我怕一点点move，就可能引发第二次下坠。尽量不动声色地将hammer的镐尖插进雪里，可是我的力量不够，插进去很浅，再来第二次，好了一点，此刻觉得身下什么硬硬的杠在那里，原来是第二个ice-axe，在保持身体重心不变的情况下慢慢地把它挪上来，再将镐尖甩下去，嗯，好些了。我想爬上去拿手套，但是发现我的左腿动不了了，糟了，我不能自己下山了！

这下严重了！我知道唯一的希望就是等待直升机救援。这样的terrain，谁也不能带我下去。马上查看背包上的radio，我首先要告诉博士我还活着！可是，等待着我的仅仅是radio上的一个piece！那一刻，我的心里是说不出的难受和无奈，我活着，却不能告诉他，那这一路下来，他的心情会怎样？我想叫，但我知道他不可能听见。再看SPOT，也不见了，那就意味着我只能等到和博士联系上后才能发出求救信号。此刻我知道离天黑大约还有一小时，也就是说，今天得救的可能性几乎为0.

既然形势已经是这样了，我只能等待。我用牙齿将左边的袖口拽回来，左手可以拉回右边的袖口。从背包里拿出备用的一件fleece裹住我的右手，希望可以保点温，将双手放在脸下，这样呼出的暖气也可以带给双手一点温暖。然后，我就趴在那里，开始了不敢计时的等待。

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Brand new camera was damaged in the fall too.

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

The Crown group, taken from Mt. Seymour Dec 7,2016. Yellow line is what Vera and I climbed (Spindle Couloir). We both like it and believe it is one of the most aesthetic alpine lines around here, could be even better than Garibaldi NE Face.


Hanes Valley Group of 6.

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Q: How is Vera doing?
A: Not bad. Being a only one-legged person, she is suddenly busy doing things that was very hard to do before: 1) meet friends 2) eat yummy food 3) select and frame our best mountain pictures 4) read good mountaineering books  5) learn new things (e.g. GPS) 6) watch Denali videos on Youtube. 7) reorder new gear that we lost on Spindle (helmet, radio, SOL, snow pickets, prusiks, camera, etc.)

This is a BIG PLAN for sure - she is concerned two months of recovery is not enough to finish it !)

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Eight days in the VGH were very busy days, so that I only recently started sorting our gears still thrown on the floor in my apartment. I went across this pair of Vera's Gore-Tex pants - with a sizable hole at the back. It seems it was ripped by her ice-axe during the fall and explains her great pains in the hip area, although there was not a single scratch on her skin. The doctors checked and double checked x-rays, reassured - "just a minor muscle tissue injury, not a hip fracture "

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Guess what Vera said when I finally arrived.

"不好意思，我给了你这么多麻烦！"

And I said - "This time you and I will certainly be in the news.."

And shortly after that, she said, from inside her sealed SOL  bivy bag that I put on her, already losing (or lost) consciousness  "I will climb with you again, I will climb with you again.." as if continuing some inner conversation which I was not aware about but she and I were part of. She can't recall that.

At that time we even didn't know if she will survive the night, whether the rescue had received our SPOT SOS, and Vera with her fractured ankle, huge hand laceration down to bone, left swollen almost entirely closed eye  and the blood splattered on the snow nearby fell asleep. I got busy, I was still very warm from donwlcimbing and I knew that soon I will start losing the body heat, so better put all warm things on me.

PHOTO: 2018-02-25

vera

长这么大，我从来没有体会过被这么多人关心的滋味，从12号到现在，快两个星期了，没有一分一秒不是在大家的关怀中度过的，内心的感激和感动，是没有任何言辞可以表达的。相信大家也一定能理解我的心情。（小猫：我一定谨记你的忠告，加强练习，不管做什么，必须把安全放在第一位，一点也不能大意。另外，你们做的饼好好吃哦！林妹妹：不好意思，答应你一定要安全的话这次又没做到。Yin G：你的经历给了我很大的鼓励，你的坚强是我的榜样！）

现在向大家汇报一下我的近况：

- 回来后只吃过一次Tylenol （左腿常有酸的感觉，但并不疼了）
- 本来左侧大腿10/10 on pain scale, 在医院的时候每4小时3mg的hydromorphone （是同剂量吗啡的5倍）+ regular Tylenol也不能止痛，回来后的第二天就减轻了，目前已经几乎不疼了
- 和医生的appointment：27号见plastic surgeon（手指），28号见orthopedic surgeon（脚踝），关于transportation，在医院的时候在social worker的帮助下就申请了handydart的服务，回来后经电话确认，我的名字已经进了系统，所以接送时间都已经安排好了（一切搞定）
P.S.  HandyDART is a door-to-door, shared ride service for passengers with physical or cognitive disabilities who are unable to use conventional public transit without assistance. The driver will come to your home, help you board on the vehicle, and get you to the door of your destination safely.
- 回来后，每天大家都来看我，还带来那么多食物、水果，生怕我在家没法照顾自己。博士依然每天来“上班”，比full time还要full time。所有的这一切，每时每刻温暖着我的心。我想要说的是，我现在可以在家里蹦着走路，你们就让我做点力所能及的事情吧，别把我惯坏了：）

等我见完医生后，会update我的恢复情况，一定尽力配合治疗，不辜负大家的关心！

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Recovery

2018.02.27

HandyDart door-to-door service from Ttranslink is a great help.


A hospital seems to be a very appropriate place to read a book about climbing K2.


Removing 10(!) stitches was "more painful than breaking the leg."

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

The Rescue
"How many?" - Vera asked, her head lying on the emergency foam pad, facing Widowmaker. I said "I can see only one light, but I hear voices".  Then slowly, one by one three more lights appeared down in the Hanes Valley. They still had to climb 250 vertical meters, up along a dark and icy Spindle couloir. I estimated it will take them one more hour. Vera had been breathing with difficulty through the night, and despite four Tylenols was groaning from chest pain, I was really concerned she had internal lung bleeding and won't make it. When I couldn't hear her, I would shake her hard, waking up, making her talk. It would take some moments of silence as if bringing someone out of a very heavy dream, and then she would slowly say "yes". "Just don't die for that short time and then it will be over". She would ask "How much more time?" They still were far down. Eventually, I could make out a silhouette of the first one, he reached us, requested Vera's state and reported it on their radio to NSR. Shortly after, three more arrived. They cut a horizontal platform, placed two air mattresses and put on her thermo-vest. They also put her inside their SOL.  

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Recovery
Catching up on reading. The part of the BIG daily plan. 8)

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

Recovery
2018.02.28 VGH

PanShiBo

2018.02.12 Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir (contd.)

This kind of events makes one realize that life is very unpredictable and therefore could be a lot shorter than expected. You don't have to fall 213 meters to get hurt. In hospital (VGH Trauma Unit, 7th floor), we saw people badly injured in safe urban surroundings, for example, going out to put salt on an icy sidewalk (to prevent slipping) and then slip and fall and get ankle fracture, or get squeezed by own truck, or pressing on gas at the wrong time and hit a tree so hard that on impact the ribs puncture own lungs.  Some people even don't make it to hospital.

Do what you got to do, now. Say what you got to say, today, or it could be too late, who knows - tomorrow may never come.

The fact is that there are people ready to leave their homes anytime, e.g. right now, when everybody prepares go to bed. Or in the middle of weekend family dinner. Their personal gear is ready, and some extra rescue equipment is cashed in certain locations. These people are North Shore Rescue volunteers, we rarely know who they are by names,  but some of us, very few, will meet them (when nobody else could come and even pick up the desperate phone), and then they will be remembered, for the rest of life. Great respect.

PHOTO: Screenshot of SMS sent by North Vancouver RCMP. Two officers actually entered my apartment to make sure I was not there.