The Rome Ridge Disaster - 19 October 2020

 Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No.180

Rome Ridge 19 October 2020

After 20 years of tramping mostly in the South Island, Uncle Roddus finally had a fairly serious accident.

15 Trampers gathered at the start of Coral Track, just north of Arthurs Pass on a mild Sunday morning sometime past 10am. The weather forecast wasn't promising, but the actual conditions turned out to be pretty good for a day in the hills, there was a possibility of winds and rain later in the day but all looked good as we started the rather steep slog up Coral track through the stunning bush of the Arthers Pass area.

The pace was fast with this group and I soon found myself at the back as I stopped to shed cloths and take photos of the awesome views. It didn't take long to get past the bush line and after a quick stop it was on wards and upwards.through the low scrub and rocks. The ridge gets a bit more rugged near the tops with loose rock and a sharp ridge and more care was needed as we ascended. There had been some snow a few days earlier and we started to hit patches still left on the tops and when we reached about three quarters of the way to the top, the leader assessed the situation and decided there was still too much soft snow on the ridge and the avalanche risk and slipping risk was too much. 

We turned around and it was intended to to drop down a scree into the Bealy River. Unfortunately Uncle Roddus had other unplanned plans to throw a spanner in the works as he stupidly ignored advise from the vastly experienced person in front of him and decided in a moment of brain explosion to carry on and step onto the dodgy looking snow that was only a couple of short steps wide. Instantly his feet slide out from underneath him and he is sliding down the snow gathering speed. Not to worry, he thinks, self arresting is second nature nowadays and duly sets himself and his ice axe  into the correct position. This, though is quite ineffectual, as the snow is very slushy and no real purchase is found by the ice axe and control evaporates and downward speed increases. Free fall ensures as things become a bit of a blur, but it has become obvious that any control is totally gone and a loud scream of frustration and anger escapes his lips in the form of the famous expletive that starts with the letter F.

The next thought to go through his mine was, "This is it, I'm dead.!" The rocks were racing past and some sort of fatal impact seemed immanent, body seemed to even be air born for a moment but there was an almost calmness to the prospect of impact. And yet, it didn't come. Somehow, Uncle Roddus ended up in a gut, almost buried to the waist in snow in some semblance of an upright position. As some snow started coming down on top of him, he tried to extract himself from the snow and get out of the way but he was buried deep and couldn't move. Luckily the snow coming down the chute was of little amount and soon stopped.  Assessing things quickly as realization dawned that he was actually relatively unhurt, he still had his ice axe and used it to dig out of the snow and gingerly crawl over to bare rock picking up the nearby walking poles that had dislodged from the side of his pack. Blood was pouring from a cut on his hand but all limbs and extremities were functioning correctly without extreme pain. 

Other members of the party were seen at the top of the chute and arms were waved and loud vocal affirmations were made to attract their attention to the fact that someone was still alive down here, then it was a case of just sitting down and shaking until some of the party arrived to check on the situation. Uncle Roddus was beginning to realize how fortunate things had turned out, even to the fact that he was still wearing his hat, glasses and his cell phone in his shorts pocket was undamaged. 

Some of the team arrived and comforted the injured party until the rescue helicopter arrived and winched  Uncle Roddus into the chopper(perhaps the scariest part of the adventure so far(until he had to confront his wife with what had happened))

Next day he went back to work.