(Featured Photo – credits Daniel Forbes: The Crevasse – Bergschrund after the fixed ropes)

Weather: -38 night, -30 day

As we wake up slowly and desperately wait for the sun to ‘warm our world’ as Kai puts it, we take a look at the summit ridge. It is in the clouds, it looks windy. It would be insane to attempt a push today and today was our last option to go up and down on time so Kai calls the shot: we are turning around, it’s too dangerous and too cold up there. The 2 only other climbers that were at camp 4 last night have already turned around and gone down. There was a party of 2 young British guys, climbing ‘alpine style’ (fast and light) and an older couple. They are all gone.

(Photo below: frost covering our sleeping bags as we wake up)

Daniel and Abdul are very disappointed. They know their summit attempt is gone. They wanted to stay and weather the storm and wait for a window in a few days but this is a ‘no’. We would run out of food, suffer, weaken and come down in even worse weather conditions and risk our life’s further.

(Photo below: our camp view from the cliff)

We proceed to breaking-up camp, gearing up, adjusting crampons and roping in. Once again we are carrying huge packs and we hit the ridge back to fixed lines at 16. Our aim is to sleep at 14.

The packs are intensely heavy and walking down the ridge is tough. Kai leads then I will lead further down and clip in all the belay loops that I will find to secure our rope while Kai can protect us from behind and double secure us.

(Photo – credits Daniel Forbes: gigantic heavy backpacks)

(Photo – credits Daniel Forbes: the ridge on the way back to the fixed ropes)

(Photo – credits Daniel Forbes: The fixed ropes, the last difficult section on the way down to camp 3)

We make good progress. Around 2pm we finally reach the fixed lines. Its the steepest section of the mountain with a 45% down climb. Heavy packs makes this for a treacherous descent. I lead our rope, it’s my final 2 steps to transition from steep slope to the Bergschrund where the fixed lines are anchored by the Denali National Park Rangers at the start of the season. I am hopping down the last meter when disaster strikes. I loose my balance, the backpack throws me off with its weight, and I take an uncontrollable fall down inside the belly of the beast, deep in the crevasse. Xavier and Pat, higher on the steep descent jump into arrest position, they hit the ground hard as by falling I pull on our team rope hard, this is my only safety line along with the remaining fixed rope that I was linked too with a safety carabiner and a pigtail.

A few seconds go by before I realise what has happened. I have hit the side of the crevasse while falling, I was wearing my Petzl climbing helmet, thank God. I am hanging by my harness, feet in the air, deep in the crevasse prob 5-10 meters down. But suddenly horror strikes a second time: my heavy pack flips me upside down. I am unable to remove my backpack which is huge and heavy, the top chest strap is sliding closer to my throat impeding my breathing, I start to panic. I want to remove this backpack. It’s the only way I will be able to self rescue from the crevasse. I try to move, to loosen the pack, I am prisoner of the weight, I am flipped over, I need help, I try to relax but I am panicking and, for the first time in the last few minutes, the thought that I might not make it out of the crevasse crosses my mind, it’s terrifying. I panic even more, I want to yell for help, but Xav and Pat are up on the steep descent holding for dear life to keep me from falling deeper. I hear a faint voice coming from over me “we are sending you a rope” a group of 3 climbers waiting to go up after our group’s down climb saw me falling deep down and have rigged a pulley rescue system to help me.

I contortion myself out of the backpack, through the tight shoulder strap. I manage to un-clip the backpack from the safety rope and harness and switch it to the fixed line rope. It is now dangling over the abyss but I am free. I don’t care about it’s content now, I want to live and get out of the crevasse NOW!

My brain replays at high speed the techniques I learnt about self rescue, my mind seems to clear and I list the steps: I clip my ascender to the safety rope, and yank hard to pull myself out. My crampons bite in some nearby ice, I give it all, I am fighting, freezing snow falls on my head, down my neck but I could care less I want out! I grab the climbers rope, clip into it and between my self rescue and their rope pulley system I am making my way up fast and soon hit the ledge. I am safe, I can’t believe it, I am out. My backpack is still dangling far below, this is low priority, and will be taken care of later. With my fall it’s chaos on the steep slope above. Everyone is stuck, ropes are tangled, Kai far above is yelling to see if all is good, I yell back “I am safe, I am ok!” I don’t believe a word of it, I am not ok, I am still in panic mode. It’s not the same to rehearse crevasse fall and to actually fall in head first with a 30kg backpack…

We work it out, everybody goes down to the the ledge safely. Kai does not remark too much on the fall for now, we need to move, we still have ways to go to camp. We pull the pack out of the hole, the tether did not break even under the heavy pack load. I am lucky. I have lost some of my bottles, insulators, trekking pole to the crevasse.

Soon we are off. We arrive at camp 3, we setup camp, eat & rest, it’s been an intense day.

Xav and Pat have arrested my fall and I owe them big. We are brothers, I love them.

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