When: April 14th 1989
Who: David Nyman and Jim
Sweeney
Where : Alaska’s
Denali National Park
What Happened:
The two climbers had set out to climb the north face of a challenging
peak called Mount Johnson. Jim was climbing a chute called the elevator shaft,
when the 35 foot tall sheet of ice he was climbing collapsed, dropping him 100
feet. His anchor rope stopped his fall, but the ball of his femur wrenched out
his hip socket and was knocked unconscious. Lacking a radio, David pulled his
friend to safety, revived him, and reluctantly left his friend to find
help.
A passing light aircraft sees Dave's improvised SOS signal and tries to
land some distance away but damages its landing gear in the process and is
unable to help.
The following day, Dave returns to Jim, puts him in a nylon sling and
began dragging him. Suddenly, a storm strikes. Dave drags his friend through
several days of 100 mile per hour windblasts and survive seven avalanches where
the pair of them are hurtled down the mountain at breakneck speeds. Dave and
Jim refuse to give up and struggles to dig the both of them out each time. They
lose most of their equipment including their axes and crampons. The last
avalanche plunges the two men into a deep crevasse where Dave lands
miraculously on a ledge as Jim spreads his legs painfully bracing himself
against the sides of the icy walls of a funnel shape crevasse leading to a dark
and deep abyss. Luckily thewalls were made of hrad snow and Dave managed to
climb out towing his partner by clenching the rope between his teeth.
Eight brutal days following the initial fall, the two men made it off
the mountain, reaching Ruth Glacier. The weather cleared up just enough for a
plane to rescue them.
Useful tip: Always bring a radio when climbing in
a national park. Have the radio tuned to a channel monitored by wardens.
Here’s what the men had to say about their survival story: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/alive/articles/survivors-story-escape-from-avalanche-valley
