The rumbling and the noises reminded me of an avalanche I survived while skiing in the Back Bowl of Vail about 7 years ago. I had decided to take a vacation in Vail, Colorado for the first time in my life. If you do the math backwards, you'll probably remember why I had to spend some time relaxing - after some serious world issues were resolved.
At any rate, the scariest thing about the whole experience is how it came up upon me so quickly and the noises that I heard just before I became trapped in the snow. The weather was perfect and the snow was great on the double black-diamond Back Bowl area. But what I didn't realize is that the increase in temperatures and wind were the preconditions for the avalanche that soon arrived into the area.
Before I knew it, I heard the sound of snow coming down from the elevation above me. I would guess the wall of snow was probably 15 feet high, which is far taller than I am. The closing speed appears to be faster than my current rate of speed. The sound was a scary, throaty roar.
I moved toward the edge of the racing snow, but the edge seemed to keep extended outward. The wall of snow closed in on me. I unhooked my ski line that was very red in nature. I never figured I would need the emergency/rescue gear, but that appeared to be incorrect. Now, I am still skiing toward an edge that is not in sight and I have a long, bright red tail behind me - in the event that I become buried in the snow.
Well, the wall of snow hit me and it hit me hard. It knocked both skis off my feet and sent me down the hill very quickly. I used swim motions to try and keep going with the flow, but eventually I became covered in a blanket of snow.
I remember hearing that after 15 minutes, less than 10% of people caught in an avalanche survive. First things first, I bore out a big area. I needed to maximize my area and get some space for air. But the area had to be big to avoid the edges of the snow from freezing and locking me into this snowy grave.
With a big area around me and plenty of air for now, I sat idle and did some thinking. Which way was up? The last thing I needed to do was dig myself deeper from the top. After sitting idle for a few minutes, I felt the gyroscope of my body work with the gravity of the Earth to help me realize which way was up.
I took a deep breath and began to push in that direction. Just when I thought I would reach the top, I was greeted with more snow. But I kept pushing. From what I could tell, both of my legs were okay, so I used them to my advantage.
Since you know that I survived the story, the end of the story was more of the same. I kept pushing and pushing until I found a way out. That is what I plan to do to get me and Helena out of this mine.
I saw an elevator shaft. Maybe up is the answer, since looking around tells me that down is not the answer - unless we go down into that machine. Who knows what's in there!
So, we moved into the elevator shaft and started heading upward. Helena looked a bit worried at this point. I cannot imagine what she's gone through since being detained by the Korean People's Army (KPA) and Commander Kyong.
The elevator managed to flow upward about two stories before it stopped working. Something hit the engines or the shaft and now we are jammed. We are too high to jump down. Not sure what we would do once we were down anyway.
The mine area was really starting to fall apart.
Just then, we saw an opening in the mine. I could see the sky outside. If we had a VTOL we could fly out of here now. Otherwise, we need a miracle, because I cannot jump that high - especially holding another person. The Nanosuits are not that powerful yet.
The pilot from one of the VTOLs radioed me. They are going to drop in and evacuate us! There's our miracle!
I could now see the VTOL and the line it dropped to rescue us. The sound of a VTOL is always a great sound! Especially when you think you've reached the end of the line.
We managed to get Helena on the line with the rescue team. They pushed the rope upward and toward the VTOL.
Just after I saw her board, I saw the rocks come down hard on the elevator. Before they hit the cage, I knew there would be no way I was going to be rescued from this mine via the VTOL. Instead, I was about to hit the ground hard, surrounded by this metal cage.
My only hope will be to find another way out. I have a feeling I am going to get to see more of that huge machine soon.
I will be back in touch as soon as I can.
Nomad ... signing out.
