The closest I came to dying was actually on Mt. San Gorgonio. Why?
First of all we climbed in the winter which was dumb because of the snow and cold. Now, many people don't think weather gets bad in California but they likely haven't climbed tall mountains in the winter time when there is snow and overcast there. I was 21 but the real problem was I was climbing with two young climbers that didn't really fully understand the problems we faced (and neither did I really either then).
So, I had borrowed a set of snow shoes that are the kind you see on eskimos and other older climbers from a friend. So, I had the leather ones with the wood hoops. However, I hadn't tied them onto my shoulder correctly and they were hurting my shoulder so I stopped to fix them because I wasn't in the snow yet on Mt. San Gorgonio which is the tallest peak in Southern California across from Palm Springs and Mt. San Jacinto where the Tram goes up to from Palm Springs.
So, the problem was (I didn't know it yet) that there actually were two different paths to the summit of the mountain and the 2nd problem was that these were boys I was hiking to the summit with not men. So, they basically acted irresponsibly like children would in this situation. I asked them to stop and wait for me and they said they would but they didn't. So, because I was 21 and they were 18 and 16 I felt as the adult present and I needed to sort of take care of these (children). As you can see how all the variables started to get out of sync.
So, I never saw them as I followed what I thought was the only trail to the summit. However, they took a different trail than the ONLY ONE I knew about. So, it was now about 4 pm or so and I was nearing the summit and still hadn't seen them.
The ice was blowing on the summit and cutting my face but luckily I carried plastic to slide down on the snow with that I wrapped around my head so I wouldn't be injured anymore. When I spied the summit and realized they weren't there I knew then something else had happened so I slid down the mountain and it was getting to be dusk and we hadn't planned (any of us) to spend the night up there. So, this was getting to be a problem for me. Also, I had no idea where these two idiots had gotten to (because I didn't know they had taken a different trail and hadn't told me what they were doing.
So, it's getting dark and I'm on snow shoes going across about 10 foot high Snow drifts which I found out the hard way were built on tall Manzanita Bushes. Another name for Manzanita is IRONWOOD for a reason because they are very sharp and tough branches. So, when I fell through the snow into a manzanita bush I was hung upside down by my snow shoes from the top branches. At this point I was so exhausted because I had basically hiked 10 miles already that day and needed to hike another 10 miles to get back to my car. So, basically I'm trying not to cry at this point because my face and hands are now getting bloody from ironwood. But, remember I'm hanging upside down from my snow shoes caught in the tops of this manzanita bush and the only way I could see out of this mess was to unlatch my snow shoes and fall and get hurt more so I could then climb out of there. So, that is what I did.
Once I had climbed up to the surface after hanging upside down in a 10 foot tall manzanita bush I gingerly put back on my snow shoes and this time after realizing what I was snow shoeing over I looked more carefully for the more rounded elements that showed where the manzanita bushes were. Also, I walked more carefully like you would if you were walking over ice on a lake that you didn't want to break.
Then finally I reached the lower trail again and it was all rocks covered with ice and that day I didn't have crampons to keep me from slipping. Luckily, my flashlight worked enough so I could sort of stumble along the icy trail. When I finally made it back to my car my father was there with a Forest Ranger because they were about to send out a rescue party for me as the older boy who was 18 had called my Dad and said they were worried about me. I was really angry about the whole thing and I was so mad at the 18 year old and the 16 year old that I made them hitch hike back to Palos Verdes that night because I had almost died because of their foolishness and not considering anything about my survival that day or night.
I figured they needed to learn a lesson because my trying to be responsible for them almost cost me my life that day and night.
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