CATEGORY: ALMOST DIED
WHERE: Near Cordova, Prince William Sound, Alaska
WHEN: Evening, Summer, 1990
AGE: 36 years old


I was walking on a glacier. All of my companions, except one, were further ahead. The two of us came to a wall of ice blocks and he started climbing over it. I saw what appeared to be a large puddle of water at the end of this wall. The water was milky white, unknown depth. I decided to test it, to see if I could wade across it. I stuck my rubber booted foot in this puddle, slipped and discovered that it wasn’t a puddle. It was a small crevasse filled with melted water. The cold took my breath away, but that was a minor problem. While I was falling, I turned around and was now facing a slippery wall of ice. My boots and clothing quickly filled with water and I felt myself being pulled under. I yelled. My friend started climbing back to help me. By the time he got to me, I was already out.

My fingernails left deep furrows in ice. I don’t remember how I dragged myself out.

PS: My walking companion left to catch up to others. My teeth were chattering and I knew that I could die from hypothermia. I took off all my clothes, wrung them out, and stood, naked and shivering, trying to warm up in the last rays of the Sun. When it dipped behind the mountain range, I pulled on my wet clothes and jogged to our vehicle. It was locked. I spent my waiting time running around that SUV, occasionally looking at my blue hands. When my friends came back, they laughed. I couldn’t.

I spent that evening by a campfire, thinking warm thoughts.