Okay so slight turn of events… I broke my ankle yesterday. We were hiking with the UBC outdoor club again over the weekend in Phelix. We did some pretty gnarly off-roading up the FSR to the trailhead – only one of three car bumpers was lost in the process – and walked up in the dark with our flashlights, arriving at the hut just after midnight. The stars were unbelievable, and I saw the best shooting star of my life!
We woke up to the most incredible views the next day. The hut sits next to a big lake surrounded by mountains all named after Lord of the Rings characters – I was told off for never reading or watching Lord of the Rings (maybe now I can't walk anywhere I'll finally get round to it). Anna had tracked down a guitar again. I guess that's just a common feature of the mountain huts here.
We left for our hike up Shadowfax Mountain around 9am and made it to the summit in great time for the best views ever. The group was very well prepared, experienced and organised. We all had helmets and appropriate gear. It was reassuring to feel I was among so many capable people who love being outside as much as I do. I LOVE MOUNTAINS. And the mountains here are just built different.
We'd made it maybe a quarter of the way down when someone shouted "rock!" from above me. I turned and saw it coming but couldn't move fast enough before it took me out at the feet.
Luckily half the group had some form of medical training – one of them a very experienced mining rescue lady, another in the military. They patched up the cut on my ankle, and once it was apparent I couldn't weight-bear, we had to make some decisions. And quickly. The clouds were starting to roll in. Two of the guys ran down to get a stretcher from their hut (about 2km away, but a lot of elevation). I slid down the worst of the slope with a bag of snow tied to my ankle with a bandana, got wrapped up in everyone's spare layers and emergency blankets, and was strapped to a wooden spine board with rope. Everyone took it in turns carrying me down the mountain – across boulder fields, over rivers, through mud. We stopped every few minutes, and it took 5 hours to cover the distance. I spent most of it staring at the sky, so I didn't really clock what was happening until I watched the videos today – turns out I'm featured in a lot of them.
Before we lost signal, someone made the call to contact emergency services, and we were met by a HELICOPTER at the hut. By that point I was shaking quite a lot, from cold and adrenaline both. Then we FLEW over the mountains!! Anna held my hand the whole time. And they gave me sweets. #winning. It was so beautiful. The helicopter crew actually thanked us for calling them – apparently they never usually get to fly in that part of the range. They were all volunteers, and lovely, pointing out all the best sights (although I'm not sure I was truly present for it).
I was taken by ambulance, with a very kind British paramedic, to the Pemberton emergency unit, where I was wheeled straight into one of the three berths at the tiny clinic. Five minutes later I was being x-rayed. It's quite something thinking about what that would look like back home in Cornwall – I'd probably still be sat in a corridor waiting to be seen! The doctor came shortly after with the verdict: bad news, my ankle is indeed very broken. Good news, it's a clean break, and I didn't need surgery. I felt sad about it, but in a way it also made me feel justified for all the theatrics. I'm in a boot with crutches for the next six weeks or so.
A hero from Vancouver called Joseph drove all the way out to pick us up and take us home – a five-hour round trip, for someone we'd met all of three times. I feel slightly overwhelmed by his kindness. We bought him lots of snacks for the journey to say thank you but I think I also owe him many many beers. While we were waiting, we made friends with a man at the clinic who'd been beaten up in the one and only pub in Pemberton and who kept trying to escape. We gave him some mango.
We made it back safe, and are now brainstorming ways to make the most of our new, slightly less mobile situation. This will likely involve lots of kayaking, Anna cycling me around in one of those baby seats on the back of a bike, and me finally training to do pull-ups. I've realised that since being here I've quite literally never sat still. We're always doing something, which is nice in hindsight because it means we can safely say we've made the most of the last three weeks. It seems we're now entering part two of our Vancouver adventures. Stay tuned, because we're certainly going to find entertaining things to do regardless.
I feel so grateful for a lot of things right now. This could have gone a lot worse. It's a very sharp reminder of being responsible on mountains (they're beautiful, but they can be dangerous), of making the most of every opportunity, and of the value of having incredible people around you, especially Anna and the UBC gang.