Stikine XI

XI

After excavating and building a series of rappel stations to the curving snow ridge, trying not to slide down the slope now above its logical melting point, and falling into the bergschrund, I returned to my skis to find my ski boots filled with water. Shawn called Wally in Petersburg to schedule a pickup ASAP. He said he'd try to get to us. Thanks Wally.

The helicopter took longer than anticipated because Wally's regular route to the Thumb was too cloudy. Shawn and Quentin volunteered to go on the second flight out, and made sure to have enough food and shelter in case Wally couldn't return for them that day. We flew out over the Baird Glacier, the emergency escape route by foot and air, and I was thankful to be on the helicopter instead of the maze of deep blue crevasses and gravelly moraines below.

When Wally returned to the hangar after his second trip to get Shawn and Quentin, his face was sullen as he told me he had to leave my partners on the icecap. The weather finally closed. The potential of the situation was too real not to believe, until Shawn and Quentin burst through the doors laden with backpacks. Thanks Wally.