Yukon – Worst day of my life
As I continued hiking up the mountain, the weather changed and before I knew it I was in the middle of a snow storm. Everywhere the wind was blowing snow. I looked for a shelter, a place to sit down while the storm would pass but found none. So I continued going up, slowly, trying to keep the snowflakes off my eyes. Before I could find a place to spend the night, I reached the summit. I wanted to keep it for tomorrow morning but Mother Nature decided otherwise. I knew that if I went down in the forest, the trees would offer me some protection against the wind. So I walked down, taking a different path, still hoping to find a refuge in the mountain where I could spend the night. I would then be able to climb up the mountain first thing in the morning tomorrow.
More and more snow accumulated on the floor, but the wind was in my back, so I kept going that way. I had to use my wooden stick as a third leg to keep my balance. I found a spot just big enough to spend the night, behind a big rock, blocking some of the wind. But as I was settling in the wind changed and snow started to cover everything, so I left.
The snow was getting softer and deeper. No traces, nor human nor animal, no traces at all. Suddenly I fell. I was in deep snow and couldn’t keep my balance anymore. I fell in the snow and couldn’t stand up anymore. Even the wooden stick, which was over 2m high, would not help me and sink in the snow. I had to swim. Literally, I had to swim in the snow to keep going. Usually, when I encountered deep snow where I couldn’t stand on, kneeling would work, spreading my weight on my front legs. But in this snow, even the 2m stick was useless, as if it was water, spreading my weight on the stick by putting it flat on the snow was of no use. Snow was starting to get in my shoes. My hands in frozen gloves, I was getting cold. But I didn’t really have many options. The wind was blowing the snow so strongly that I couldn’t turn back. I simply saw nothing. If only I had my glasses.
After much cursing (Yukon for not being colder) and struggling in the deep snow for what seemed like forever but probably was only 4 hours, I managed to get passed it. The nightmare was over. Or so I thought, because strangely I could see the forest but the snow stopped. A connection between the two was missing. I carefully and slowly walked until I understood. Below was a cliff. About 25/30m high. I looked on the right, same thing, on the left, same thing. I can see the forest down there, where I’ll find refuge for the night, but there is a cliff between us. Behind me, deep snow that I simply don’t have the strength to cross again. No way I’m going back. So I take my stick in both hands and use it to slow down my descent. Bit by bit, I’m slowly going down. Not very graciously nor very comfortably, but at least I’m getting closer to the forest.
And after a while I’m off the cliff and I can start walking again, in deep snow, again, but this time only to the waist. But very quickly, I have to stop. Another cliff. And now I can see what’s above: more cliffs. My feet and hands are freezing (not yet literally but they might if I don’t quickly reach the forest to make a fire and warm them up). So I accept the facts, it’s the worst day of my life, I’m tired, cold, I wish I was home, but nobody will do it for me or come and rescue me here, so I just start sliding down the cliffs, one after the other.
After a while, the sun manages to pierce through the clouds and I find a spot where I can sit down, undo my shoes socks and gloves to dry them up. Only seconds after my socks are off, it starts snowing again. Heavy wet snow. It’s just not my day. I put my wet socks, shoes and glove back on and continue going down, only a few more cliffs and I’m in the forest. The only good thing I manage to find about all this is that it made me forget my worst day.
I reached the forest just before the night, though I was still walking in deep snow (up to my knees at best). But I decided it was time to start looking for a place to build a shelter and start a fire, I would try to find a track (packed snow) in the morning. The usual, first collect the wood for the shelter, then stuff to make a mattress, and finally wood to make the fire. By the time I got the fire started, I was knackered, so I snuggled inside my sleeping bag, letting the shoes and socks to dry near the fire. My trousers were still wet but I really had to rest. I felt asleep watching the last ambers turn into ashes.
In the morning, my socks were as hard as frozen fishes and when I tried to put my feet in my shoes to go and collect some wood to start a fire, I simply couldn’t put them on. They were frozen. Hard as ice, they wouldn’t flex to let my feet in. So I burnt the house. Sitting on the slipping bag, I started the fire using wood from the roof. My shoes and socks unfroze but even after an hour my shoes were still damp (more on the wet side than on the dry one). So I once again had to put wet shoes on, not a great way to start the day, walking with wet shoes. You’d think that at least they would be warm, but only seconds after being taken away from the fire, they got freezing cold. My sleeping bag was wet too, from the wet trousers, so I walked carrying it on my shoulders as a big scarf. And again I was walking in the deep snow.
The happiness I first felt when I discovered a track quickly transformed into something else when I realized I wasn’t following someone’s track but a bear track. It took me a while to realized it, but suddenly it all made sense, why the track was going in bushes when they could be avoided, why it seemed to have no real direction and why it was turning for no reason. I stopped following it and went back in the deeper snow, making my own track towards the town, out of the forest. I saw the bear track crossing my path another couple of times. It snowed all night, so it was definitely fresh tracks. I kept my axe in my left hand and my eyes and ears wide opened.
I walked for a few hours. The snow was getting heavier and heavier as I was going down. My feet were cold so I stopped in a sunbathed opened space. I took my socks and shoes off to dry them, sitting on a log, my feet warming up in the sun. Breakfast time. If only I had proper snow trousers instead of my snowboard ones that keep letting the snow go in my shoes I would probably have dry and warm feet. But I was happy to do with what I had. I just had to make sure I would stop and take my shoes and socks off a few times a day to let my feet dry up and I shouldn’t have any problem.
I continued for a few more hours and saw a horse’s track but walking in it or not didn’t make much difference so I continued making my own. And finally, covered by fresh snow but just about visible, a trail. Only slightly better than nothing but I knew that following it would eventually bring me on a hard snow packed one. And it did. After an hour or so I was walking on hard snow, how resting. It went all over the forest. I sometimes had the sun in my face, sometimes in my back, sometimes on either side, but I didn’t care, I was walking on something hard, I had all the time in the world. The track crossed with a cross country skying trail and I finally went out of the forest, giving me a chance to have a look at the mountain I climbed yesterday. I also saw the cliffs and wondered how I managed to get down that way.
Quickly after I started walking on the dirt road towards Whitehorse a car slowed down by my side and asked me if I wanted a ride. You bet! I would have normally refused but walking with wet shoes on the dirt road didn’t thrill me more than that, so I accepted. He opened the boot of his car and asked me if I minded sitting on the tail as his dog was occupying the passenger sit. The poor dog just had an operation and couldn’t be moved. For the better, as it meant staying outside and watching the mountains getting smaller, much nicer than being inside a car. I enjoyed the few minutes ride. I got dropped off a few km away from Whitehorse as he was taking another road. I walked slowly under the sun, watching the town getting bigger and bigger, more and more cars passing by. I was already starting to miss the mountains.
In town I looked for an outdoor shop and found none, so I went to Canadian Tires which I hoped would have camping mats. And a lighter, I also bought a lighter. Sitting against a wall, in the sun, I took my socks and shoes off and dried everything. The sun was shining high and the wind blowing hard so not before long my trousers and socks were dry. I bought some food and filled my water bag before going back in the mountains.