Hypothermia Waiting
A while back, some twenty but less than thirty years ago, I went to visit friends back in my old home town of Bellingham, Washington and two of them took me to the Cascade Mountains for a little climbing adventure. This was my one and only encounter with the whole outfit of mountain gear; ice axe, rope and crampons. My buddies David and Karl had the chops to lead and I tagged along, happily following their instruction.
We hiked up the Ruth Creek Trail through the Mt. Baker Forest and then started up towards Ruth Mountain. We hit glacier and roped up for the ascent. The pictures make it look daunting but it was actually a manageable grade and great fun.
About an hour of ice walking later we were on the top.
The view was what you might imagine; spectacular. Mt. Shuksan and the Nooksack Cirque were southwest right across from us with Mt. Baker behind it. More knock-out views north to Canada and east to the rest of the Cascade Range.
On the way down I was feeling beat. I was probably not drinking enough water. Back on the Ruth Creek Trail I fell behind the other two. At first just a little, then 100 feet or so. Soon they were out of sight. I began taking frequent breaks. I was alone. The mountain air chilled, it shivered me and I realized I was sweating profusely. I sat down feeling a little bit dazed. It was quiet and peaceful. I slipped into a strange reverie and had thoughts like “I’ll get up in about five minutes”, and after that, again “I’ll get going soon”. But I just sat there. My mind started to empty. I was in the early stage of hypothermia. I had stopped shivering.
The next thought that came to me was, “It’s better if I just wait because they will come back for me.” That’s a classic passive thought pattern of that condition and one that can easily lead to death.
After some time, my companions returned to find me sitting there as if nothing about this was actually life threatening. They were like, “What are you doing?” until they realized I was in jeopardy.
David had me strip off my sopping wet jersey shirt and gave me a spare that he had in his pack. That and a good drink of water did the trick. Saved my sorry ass. Saved my life no doubt. After about ten minutes I was back on my feet and headed home with two very good people.
