British Columbia, Tantalus Mountains, Mt. Niobe. On 20 September Nigel Eggers (23) and the other 12 members of the party were practicing ice-ax arrests on hard snow. The immediate slope was steep, but the run out was ample; it was chosen specifically to practice arrest. Everyone was doing simple arrests, but Nigel was ambitious and eager and tried the arrest described on p. 252 of Freedom of the Hills (on the back, head downhill). While flipping over, he lost control and dropped his ax. The ax was momentarily vertical and at that moment he fell and pierced his side. Paul Starr went up to him and asked if he was o.k. He said “yes”, but when Starr raised his sweater he saw a great gaping hole in his right upper abdomen. They laid him down on an Ensolite because there was no way to move him. They covered him with all the jackets they could muster and took off his wet boots. They chopped a platform in the snow. He was in great pain due to the bile and the blood released into his abdominal cavity, so he was given a Darvon compound and ½ grain of codein (later he was given another ½ grain).

The plan for evacuation was the following: Starr and another companion returned to the cars while one more person was to go to the Alpine Club Hut (about one mile away) for sleeping bags, stove, and the light-weight litter. Only this person was to return. Three more were to stay with the patient. The rest of the party returned to the cabin. Four remained with the patient, attended to him and carried him to a place where the helicopter could land (about 200 feet vertical below the site of the accident).

The accident occurred about 5,000 feet above the nearest road and about 7 miles from it. That distance was covered in about 1½ hours. There was also a 300-foot-wide river to cross by boat. The accident occurred at 10:00 a.m. They were in the Squamish RCMP office by 12:30 p.m.

There was some delay in obtaining a helicopter because Air-Sea Rescue was unavailable. A private helicopter was chartered by the RCMP and the patient was evacuated by 3:00 p.m. He was operated on within an hour of arriving at the hospital. He spent approximately three weeks in the hospital and was almost completely recovered by December.

Source: Paul J. Starr.

Analysis: One should gradually develop competence in the various ice-ax-arrest techniques, e.g., learn to walk before one runs.