HittingKickers.com

Stranded on the hill

Saturday, 12. 2. 2006  –  Category: Snowboarding

Spotted an article the other day about a snowboarder who got lost on the hill on his final run of the day (never call last run).

When Jay Blair realized his core body temperature was dropping, he knew he couldn’t just let the cold take over. A couple hours into a long night, he built a snow cave the size of a coffin and blocked the entrance with his snowboard.

“I was afraid to go to sleep because I was afraid I was not going to wake up”.

…on Sunday, a mountain that he thought he knew so well tricked him.

Nobody reported Blair missing, because nobody knew he was.

Once he realized he was lost, Blair followed a pair of ski tracks. But he soon lost that trail and found himself on a small ledge halfway down the mountain, trying to walk and crawl through thigh-deep snow, he said. He shoveled snow out of his path with his snowboard. He tried using his cell phone but there was no signal. When nighttime hit, “that’s when I started losing all hope,” he said.

Blair survived, but only just by the sounds of things. Quite a few lessons to be learnt from that.

Read the full article here.

Coincidentally, a thread come up at AdTrip recently about spending a night on the mountain. No one was talking about this type of situation though thankfully. And there was the recent case in Scotland of 2 young climbers that didn’t make it back.

Very lucky escape for Blair.

Tags: Mountain safety