Kyle91rs
Active VIP Member
75mph track speed going up a mountain face, beautiful sunny Sunday day being spent with good friends, pushing each other further and harder. Then stop. Rewind. You realize you didn't use any knowledge from any avalanche or mountain riding safety course, your 75mph track speed turns into 0 almost instantly when you run out of ground and you're just free falling. So how fast can your life change? Pretty fast if you ask me.
As I'm sitting here in my hospital bed, listening to people around me struggling to hold on to their lives, their every last breath, I close my eyes to try and escape that uncomfortable feeling, then that feeling of free falling off a rock face comes rushing back every time and I come to my senses, in a ball of sweat and the viscous cycle continues.
On Sunday morning, December 7, a group of 7 of us got out of bed at summit river lodge, all on our last days riding. We got fueled up, had another amazing breakfast thanks to terry and lisa, and we all converged out into the parking lot. First day that trip we had no idea where we were riding that day. I think we were all thinking if we didn't ride at all none of us would complain due to how sore we were from the 4 days prior, especially me. I planned on staying at the lodge, helpin terry out around the lodge and nap cuz I had to be at work back in fort Mac on the very next nkght. Then we decided Clemina would be the shortest, and I ended up going anyways.
My group and I isn't that familiar with valemount at all. We spend a lot of time in revelstoke, no peticular reason that's just where we'd usual end up. Valemount left a very positive mark on our group. The terrain is very assorted, the guys and locals you find there are top notch and always willing to lend a helping hand. This is where my story gets interesting. As we played around on goat ridge that morning, pushing each other further and further, I had a moment of mental collapse and misjudgement that really left a mark on me. I grabbed a full handful of throttle and blasted up over the top of goat ridge on my newly built pro rmk turbo and then panic set in instantly. I found myself free falling with no control on the backside of that mountain. All I could remember was pushing my sled away and closing my eyes. I landed on a small ledge of rocks. I could see my brand new sled tumble beside me and down the mountain. As I looked down, I noticed my leg was at a 90 degree bend around my thigh, exactly where my femur is. I quickly grabbed it, to straighten it out and the pain that came with that almost overcome me. I grabbed my radio from my pocket and started to tell frantically, yet desperately into the mike to my friends to "come get me guys I'm hurt really bad". I had punctured my tongue and nose from the impact so every time I would talk, blood would spew from my mouth.
Thankfully, there were angels watching over me that day. I guess if you really factored in every detail of my accident a lot of guys wouldn't put money on me surviving that day. But here I am, retelling my experience. Luckily for me, Curtis from varda, who we all know around here as "dpsnwlvr" was putting on an avalanche course in the area and watched me the entire time as I was having a ton of fun blasting up past my buddies high marks till free falling lord knows how far and wriving in agony on the hill. Curtis and Scott was the first to respond to my accident, in a very quick mannor. They both calmed me down over the radio, gave me tips on what to do to stay alive while they were calling search and rescue on their SAT phone. My memory of the events past this are still very vague. So if anyone has a story of their own to share from that day please do. I rememver the guys telling me to keep my leg elevated, to keep moving my hands, foot, arms, shoulders, everything I could to keep blood recirculating. I drank lots of water, and just prayed to hear that chopper come over the mountain tops...
Due to the high risk of my rescue given my location and nature of my injury, a highly trained team had to be flown in from jasper. So minutes turned into hours, the cold set in really heavily at this point, and I started loosing all hope that I was actually going to be rescued. Then I started to cry. I was overwhelmed with feelings from everything, I started to believe that I wasn't going to get rescued, and that I would eventually fade away on the mountain just to become another snowmobiling statistic. I thought about my parents, my grandparents, my friends, family, everyone that meant anything to me and it was then that I became rejuvenated with hope and a new sense of survival. I wasn't ready to die. So again, I started to shake, rub my hands together, followed the steps the guys were giving me earlier in the day and in no time I could hear the chopper flying over the mountain tops.
A big thanks goes out to the jasper search and rescue team, those guys did an awesome job handling me in so much misery on the mountain slope.
Curtis from varda. Bud I was always be in your debt, I truly believe you're the reason why my family isn't having a funeral right now. Thanks for everything.
And everyone else that was there to help lift me in and out of the chopper, ambulances, hospitals, everyone!
So currently, it's day 6 after my accident. I'm laying in my hospital bed at the royal Alexander in Edmonton now resting. My surgery went well on Monday, to put a rod and screws into my femur, and those crazy physiotherapy chicks have already managed to get me out of bed and hobbling around on 1 leg. My sled was flown off the hill 2 days ago, and it's rebuilding time for that as well. Doc says I could be here for another week, depending on how quickly I can get up on my own and hobble around on crutches and be able to use the washroom. I've received a lot of love and support from my family, friends, and even complete strangers here on s&m. If anyone has any pics or videos from that day feel free to post em!
Again, I can't say enough, thanks to everyone that saved my life that day.
As I'm sitting here in my hospital bed, listening to people around me struggling to hold on to their lives, their every last breath, I close my eyes to try and escape that uncomfortable feeling, then that feeling of free falling off a rock face comes rushing back every time and I come to my senses, in a ball of sweat and the viscous cycle continues.
On Sunday morning, December 7, a group of 7 of us got out of bed at summit river lodge, all on our last days riding. We got fueled up, had another amazing breakfast thanks to terry and lisa, and we all converged out into the parking lot. First day that trip we had no idea where we were riding that day. I think we were all thinking if we didn't ride at all none of us would complain due to how sore we were from the 4 days prior, especially me. I planned on staying at the lodge, helpin terry out around the lodge and nap cuz I had to be at work back in fort Mac on the very next nkght. Then we decided Clemina would be the shortest, and I ended up going anyways.
My group and I isn't that familiar with valemount at all. We spend a lot of time in revelstoke, no peticular reason that's just where we'd usual end up. Valemount left a very positive mark on our group. The terrain is very assorted, the guys and locals you find there are top notch and always willing to lend a helping hand. This is where my story gets interesting. As we played around on goat ridge that morning, pushing each other further and further, I had a moment of mental collapse and misjudgement that really left a mark on me. I grabbed a full handful of throttle and blasted up over the top of goat ridge on my newly built pro rmk turbo and then panic set in instantly. I found myself free falling with no control on the backside of that mountain. All I could remember was pushing my sled away and closing my eyes. I landed on a small ledge of rocks. I could see my brand new sled tumble beside me and down the mountain. As I looked down, I noticed my leg was at a 90 degree bend around my thigh, exactly where my femur is. I quickly grabbed it, to straighten it out and the pain that came with that almost overcome me. I grabbed my radio from my pocket and started to tell frantically, yet desperately into the mike to my friends to "come get me guys I'm hurt really bad". I had punctured my tongue and nose from the impact so every time I would talk, blood would spew from my mouth.
Thankfully, there were angels watching over me that day. I guess if you really factored in every detail of my accident a lot of guys wouldn't put money on me surviving that day. But here I am, retelling my experience. Luckily for me, Curtis from varda, who we all know around here as "dpsnwlvr" was putting on an avalanche course in the area and watched me the entire time as I was having a ton of fun blasting up past my buddies high marks till free falling lord knows how far and wriving in agony on the hill. Curtis and Scott was the first to respond to my accident, in a very quick mannor. They both calmed me down over the radio, gave me tips on what to do to stay alive while they were calling search and rescue on their SAT phone. My memory of the events past this are still very vague. So if anyone has a story of their own to share from that day please do. I rememver the guys telling me to keep my leg elevated, to keep moving my hands, foot, arms, shoulders, everything I could to keep blood recirculating. I drank lots of water, and just prayed to hear that chopper come over the mountain tops...
Due to the high risk of my rescue given my location and nature of my injury, a highly trained team had to be flown in from jasper. So minutes turned into hours, the cold set in really heavily at this point, and I started loosing all hope that I was actually going to be rescued. Then I started to cry. I was overwhelmed with feelings from everything, I started to believe that I wasn't going to get rescued, and that I would eventually fade away on the mountain just to become another snowmobiling statistic. I thought about my parents, my grandparents, my friends, family, everyone that meant anything to me and it was then that I became rejuvenated with hope and a new sense of survival. I wasn't ready to die. So again, I started to shake, rub my hands together, followed the steps the guys were giving me earlier in the day and in no time I could hear the chopper flying over the mountain tops.
A big thanks goes out to the jasper search and rescue team, those guys did an awesome job handling me in so much misery on the mountain slope.
Curtis from varda. Bud I was always be in your debt, I truly believe you're the reason why my family isn't having a funeral right now. Thanks for everything.
And everyone else that was there to help lift me in and out of the chopper, ambulances, hospitals, everyone!
So currently, it's day 6 after my accident. I'm laying in my hospital bed at the royal Alexander in Edmonton now resting. My surgery went well on Monday, to put a rod and screws into my femur, and those crazy physiotherapy chicks have already managed to get me out of bed and hobbling around on 1 leg. My sled was flown off the hill 2 days ago, and it's rebuilding time for that as well. Doc says I could be here for another week, depending on how quickly I can get up on my own and hobble around on crutches and be able to use the washroom. I've received a lot of love and support from my family, friends, and even complete strangers here on s&m. If anyone has any pics or videos from that day feel free to post em!
Again, I can't say enough, thanks to everyone that saved my life that day.
