One of the most terrifying and dangerous things that can happen to an alpine mountaineer is falling into a crevasse. If you’re alone when it happens, the odds are near-zero that you’ll survive it, unless you’re a Reinhold Messner. Even if you’re with a group, it can be really hard to extricate someone. In any case, it’s enough to ruin your whole day. My friends Ross and Sonja Lillie experienced such an event. They have graciously agreed to tell their story here. I know it’s been stressful for them to relive it, but I’m very grateful to them for letting me publish it and share it with all of you. So here follows the tale in Ross’s own words.
My old friend the Desert Mountaineer has urged me to tell about a crevasse accident from 1981 that occurred on Mt Rogers, 10,530′, near Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia. It has sat in the back of my mind for 33 years so it’s time to let out. Firstly, I should tell you how the DM & I met, a simple start to an almost 40-year friendship. It was spring, 1977 and my wife Sonja and I and Brian Rundle were heading up the Fraser Valley past Hope B.C. for a hike when we picked up a couple hitch hiking. It turned out to be the DM and his wife hitching a ride up to a trailhead so they could walk a nine-mile trail back to their car. It didn’t take long to realize DM was a climbing fanatic. We talked about future trips and exchanged phone numbers and long-term friendships were born.
The first climb I had with the DM was Mt. Adams, Washington on July 02,1977. It was a brutally cold day where it snowed in basecamp while we were 5000′ above the clouds. The wind was brutal but four of us made it: Ken, Brian, me and the DM.
L to R Ken, Brian and the DM on the summit of Mt. Adams
The DM and I also did the first ascent of Robertson Peak in Feb ’78 and a winter trip in March ’78 into Castle Towers, Garibaldi Park with Brian Rundle.
Flash forward to 1981. It started with a summit on New Years Day in the Chehalis Lake area followed by a February 8th climb of Mt Ratney with Brian Rundle and a strong female climber named Tish. Then April-June was a series of frustrating weekends as anyone living in B.C. or Washington knows. Then July brought good weather, finally, and I broke my drought with 9100′ Mt Matier on July 5th with Brian Rundle & Colin Shaw. The next week was a long drive up to the Monashees, where I picked up Phil in Armstrong and we proceeded along logging roads to Coursier Lake, where we spent the night. The next morning we climbed Cranberry Mountain, 9460,’ on July11th. Then, on July 26th, I did Mt. Weart, 9300′, (the 2nd highest in Garibaldi Park) with Ken as a day climb. I had done a lot of driving and had three nice summits. However, in waiting in anticipation of seeing my photos, I found out my camera had a shutter malfunction and I had no photos. How I wish I had digital in those days, as I later lost other climbing photos, including Mt Shuksan.
The B.C. Day long weekend was coming up and I wanted to go to Rogers Pass and do Mt Rogers (10530′). The weather was looking really good, so we traveled together as 2 groups. Sonja and I drove up to Phil’s and picked him up. Ken and Bev came by themselves, and Brian and Colin came up to do the NW arete of Mt. Sir Donald. We left Surrey at 4:00 AM, arriving at Phil’s at 10:15 AM, and Rogers Pass at 2:30 PM. These were the bad old days before the Coquihalla Highway was built, where any trip to the interior was a long, slow process. We packed up and started on the trail up to the Hermit Hut and meadows. We found a beautiful spot to camp and set up. We had fantastic views to the south towards Mts. Dawson and Bonney.
Our camp at Mt. Adams
The next morning dawned clear – it was going to be a wonderful day in Rogers Pass. For some reason, we got off to a pedestrian start the next morning, starting out at 7:00 AM. That missing time would prove to be crucial much later. We chose a direct route up towards the south ridge over easy ground, intersecting it at about 9500′. We found that we didn’t like the look of the ridge, so we dropped down over the bergshrund (on two ropes, Sonja and I on a doubled 9 MM and Ken, Bev, and Phil on the longer 2nd rope) and proceeded across and up steep snowslopes towards the east ridge. My wife said she was scared at one point – it was steeper and more exposed than anything she at been on. I reassured her and we proceeded.
Sonja on the south ridge of Mt. Rogers
We finally reached rock where we had 100′ of Class 3 to the upper east ridge. From there, it was a pleasant ramble up the east ridge to the summit. We took a long time – it was now 4:30 PM, which meant a short stay up top. The weather and views were incredible, with Mt.Sir Sanford, the Rockies and Bugaboos clear as a bell. We wished we could have stayed a lot longer, but we wanted to be back at camp before dark.
Ken, Bev and Phil on the east ridge, coming up to the summit
Sonja, Bev, Ken and Phil on the summit of Mt. Rogers
Looking south from Mt. Rogers
We certainly didn’t want to go down our route up, so we chose to go down the east ridge to the col between Rogers and the Swiss Peaks. From here we could go down the steep headwall of about 600′ to the top of the Swiss Glacier. This was done easily and we were now on the Swiss Glacier. We proceeded down the right side of the glacier and soon we got quite far ahead of the 2nd rope. We went over a rise and down the other side, where we went out of eye contact with them. I saw the depression of a crevasse, which was totally covered, cutting across our path. I stopped at the edge and probed with my axe. I determined that it was jumpable, which I proceeded to do. I then started walking away from the crevasse. When I had gone maybe forty feet, I was suddenly jerked backwards off my feet, landing on my back. I slid maybe another five feet before I could self-arrest. When I turned to look back, my wife was nowhere to be seen.
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion in Part 2.