HeXp£Øi±
Well-Known Member
Hope everyone had a good Christmas and newyear. Mine was filled with highs and lows. This was only my second trip to see Leahs family since we've been together so i was really looking forward too it. The first five days or so were a blast. The village of wales is about 120 miles NW of Nome, the western-most tip of mainland Alaska and has a population of about 150, a third or half of which are related(if not more). the days prior to Christmas consisted of Eskimo & Illongmu(inupiat for white man) games.
Half the village would show up and play games until midnight. My daughter although only five joined in and enjoyed herself. The weather was constantly extreme and when not collecting water or emptying the "honeybucket" for leahs dad who has been sick and unable to leave the house i'd spend much time wandering the shore ice looking for bears and just enjoying the lanscape. All was going well until our christmas eve church service. Right before walking out the door this young guy came up and introduced himself (as the entire village does). We chatted for a quick minute and then my family and i went home.
A blizzard had whipped up and by the time we made it home it was blowing a consistant 60mph with higher gusts and with the snow it was a complete blackout. There was a streetlight not 25 meters from the house that was literally blackened by the blowing snow. The guy i had just met got home and decided to go to a friends house and although the next house closest to his was only fifty feet away he became lost.
Exactly what happened here is unclear but the power blacked out a few times and possibly this is why he didn't even make it next door. Anyway somehow he wandered away from the village and became completely lost. The weather just blasted that night and there was little we could do with zero visability. The next morning the weather was still ferocious. We hurried together a search team and met up at what's called the multi-purpase center of wales to create a plan. Upon reaching the center we found that overnight the front door had been completely barrocaded by a snow drift. Just gives you an idea of what we were dealing with. We started the morning out with seven men on foot and three snow machines.
This was extremely ineffective however as we had to stay within eye contact of one-another and because of the blizzard eye contact was no more than forty feet which obviously is a small area. With lack of communication and gps we headed back to base where four of the seven on foot for one reason or another decided they couldn't go out again. I think mostly it was exhaustion from walking against a 60mph wind and through a foot of fresh snow. The weather cleared slightly as the remaining three of us ventured beyond the village. After another half hour i stumbled upon four unopened coke cans that had exploded from freezing and a few minutes later the other two that had been opened and consumed.
We then went back to base and contacted the snow machines who moved in the direction where we'd been and they soon found one of his shoes in the snow. He was only wearing shoes and in that pitch black after it had slipped off there would have been no way for him to find it.
By evening i was exausted and freezing from sweat and riding a snow machine so i gave up not wanting to lose a hand or foot. At that point we'd found footprints that looked like one shoe off and one on. The following days were left up to the snow machines and night before last they found bloody footprints seven miles from camp. On my way from Wales to Nome i saw the dog they had sent up from Anchorage to searh for him but after five days i'm sure there is no hope of him being alive. Honestly i think he was probably dead wihin 8-12 hours if not sooner.
Besides the fact that he simply wasn't dressed for the weather i'm completely amazed that he made it 7+ miles with only one shoe in those conditions. I can only imagine what could have been going through his mind. One second he was celebrating christmas by bringing some gifts to a friend and the next he was completely lost in painfully cold blowing ice and snow and complete darkness. Wales was scheduled for a christmas potluck that day but it along with all the other festivities and village functions effectively shut down for the following week.
The rest of the time i spent with Leahs family getting to know them much better and listening to stories from the older people who had lived the hard life. I came back with so many good stories but this one still resides in my mind. It was truly a bitter sweet holiday that i won't soon forget.
Half the village would show up and play games until midnight. My daughter although only five joined in and enjoyed herself. The weather was constantly extreme and when not collecting water or emptying the "honeybucket" for leahs dad who has been sick and unable to leave the house i'd spend much time wandering the shore ice looking for bears and just enjoying the lanscape. All was going well until our christmas eve church service. Right before walking out the door this young guy came up and introduced himself (as the entire village does). We chatted for a quick minute and then my family and i went home.
A blizzard had whipped up and by the time we made it home it was blowing a consistant 60mph with higher gusts and with the snow it was a complete blackout. There was a streetlight not 25 meters from the house that was literally blackened by the blowing snow. The guy i had just met got home and decided to go to a friends house and although the next house closest to his was only fifty feet away he became lost.
Exactly what happened here is unclear but the power blacked out a few times and possibly this is why he didn't even make it next door. Anyway somehow he wandered away from the village and became completely lost. The weather just blasted that night and there was little we could do with zero visability. The next morning the weather was still ferocious. We hurried together a search team and met up at what's called the multi-purpase center of wales to create a plan. Upon reaching the center we found that overnight the front door had been completely barrocaded by a snow drift. Just gives you an idea of what we were dealing with. We started the morning out with seven men on foot and three snow machines.
This was extremely ineffective however as we had to stay within eye contact of one-another and because of the blizzard eye contact was no more than forty feet which obviously is a small area. With lack of communication and gps we headed back to base where four of the seven on foot for one reason or another decided they couldn't go out again. I think mostly it was exhaustion from walking against a 60mph wind and through a foot of fresh snow. The weather cleared slightly as the remaining three of us ventured beyond the village. After another half hour i stumbled upon four unopened coke cans that had exploded from freezing and a few minutes later the other two that had been opened and consumed.
We then went back to base and contacted the snow machines who moved in the direction where we'd been and they soon found one of his shoes in the snow. He was only wearing shoes and in that pitch black after it had slipped off there would have been no way for him to find it.
By evening i was exausted and freezing from sweat and riding a snow machine so i gave up not wanting to lose a hand or foot. At that point we'd found footprints that looked like one shoe off and one on. The following days were left up to the snow machines and night before last they found bloody footprints seven miles from camp. On my way from Wales to Nome i saw the dog they had sent up from Anchorage to searh for him but after five days i'm sure there is no hope of him being alive. Honestly i think he was probably dead wihin 8-12 hours if not sooner.
Besides the fact that he simply wasn't dressed for the weather i'm completely amazed that he made it 7+ miles with only one shoe in those conditions. I can only imagine what could have been going through his mind. One second he was celebrating christmas by bringing some gifts to a friend and the next he was completely lost in painfully cold blowing ice and snow and complete darkness. Wales was scheduled for a christmas potluck that day but it along with all the other festivities and village functions effectively shut down for the following week.
The rest of the time i spent with Leahs family getting to know them much better and listening to stories from the older people who had lived the hard life. I came back with so many good stories but this one still resides in my mind. It was truly a bitter sweet holiday that i won't soon forget.
)
