PCT hiker slides out of control on Donohue Pass

thebobbyblaine
On Donohue Pass. I fell. I lost my footing on an icy ridge and began to slide towards rocks down a steep icy mountain. I attempted to self arrest in the 20 feet before the rocks below, and failed. I knew that I failed, and honestly at that moment I also knew that I was going to die. I positioned my feet towards the rocks in my slide and prepared for at the very least a broken leg. My feet hit the rocks. The momentum sent me forward, further down the mountainside. The rock outcropping my feet hit was a sheer cliff, that was about another 20 foot drop into the snow below. I dropped to the snow, slamming my hip into the hard ice, and continued to slide towards more rocks uncontrollably. I hit the next set of rocks with my knee and shin and began to somersault, head over heels down the side of Donohue Pass. At that moment I knew I wasn't dead yet. I flipped a few more times, hearing my ribs crack as I rolled down the mountain bouncing off of jagged rocks, and then regained control of my slide. I dug my crampons into the snow to stop my slide. Face down in the snow, I was no longer plummeting towards the bottom of the pass. I couldn't breath. The wind was out of the sails and I was choking on snow, but I was alive. It took me about ten seconds to breathe again, and it was terrifying. The fall was no more than six seconds, but it was the most intense six seconds of my life. During the fall I lost a trekking pole, all my weed, my water storage, my tobacco, my sunglasses, my sunscreen, my ice axe, but not my life. I got lucky. I retrieved all my belongings, except for one trekking pole and got to flat ground. I camped out for a whole day at the bottom of the pass, icing my body with snow and eating ibuprofen like candy. I hiked on. The struggle was not over. There were multiple "impassable" creeks that I literally swam across. Some creeks I had to hike up to 5 miles off trail to find a semi safe crossing. It was gnarly. There was no turning back. There was no rescue. There was no way out. My only option was to complete the hundred mile stretch on foot, and I did it. I'm not sure how I feel about what just happened, but it happened.

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