Epic Pack Outs

[Becca]

Was yours compound Tib/Fib becca? I palped his pulse on dorsalis and he still had a decent bilateral pulse. So I was assuming it wasn't much for internal bleeding/damage. With this type of injury I don't think you could make it out yourself. The pain from walking would have you pass out like Becca said.

I was tremendously blessed that my tib/fib was not compound (I.e. the bones didn't come through the skin), that being said we could see and feel the edges of the bone through the thin skin on my shin, so it was a very near miss. I couldn't tolerate the pain involved in getting my boot off in the field, but I had good feeling in my toes and could move them. The nurse in me drove myself crazy constantly making sure I wasn't losing sensation on the trip down the hill.

My surgeon told me later that getting dragged down the mountain caused a tremendous amount of damage to the muscle and microvasculature in my leg from the sharp bone edges tearing up the tissue with movement. By the time I got to anchorage 22 hours post injury, the swelling was so great that I was starting to risk circulation to my foot, and they opted to take me to surgery emergently to reduce the risk of potentially requiring amputation.

Good work on doing what you had to do to get him out of there Ohhiitznik!

 

[Daniel_M]

Tib/fib breaks suck! I ordered one up with I was 14. Worst pain I've ever felt. Apparently folks on the 5th floor heard the "F" word as the surgeon was setting my leg.

 

[luke moffat]

Certainly on paper doesn't sound as impressive of some of the sheep pack outs that I've been involved with that were 15-25 miles back. But packing 135 pounds off the mountain for 4 miles in typical Kodiak alder, grass, and brown pokey stuff was the most my 150 pound frame at the time could handle. Aside from the extreme heavy (for me atleast) weight and the crappy terrain I was mentally exhausted from the trauma to my wife the previous night and thinking about getting off the mountain ASAP knowing with logistics of where we were it'd be 4 days before I'd see her again. Like I said 4 miles with 135 pounds doesn't sound that impressive, but for me it was probably the hardest pack out I've done to date, even if it wasn't the longest time or distance wise.

 

[ohhiitznik]

Certainly on paper doesn't sound as impressive of some of the sheep pack outs that I've been involved with that were 15-25 miles back. But packing 135 pounds off the mountain for 4 miles in typical Kodiak alder, grass, and brown pokey stuff was the most my 150 pound frame at the time could handle. Aside from the extreme heavy (for me atleast) weight and the crappy terrain I was mentally exhausted from the trauma to my wife the previous night and thinking about getting off the mountain ASAP knowing with logistics of where we were it'd be 4 days before I'd see her again. Like I said 4 miles with 135 pounds doesn't sound that impressive, but for me it was probably the hardest pack out I've done to date, even if it wasn't the longest time or distance wise.

I could only imagine what it would have been like to have your wife break her leg like that on a hunt. Talk about stress! At least I didn't even know the guy I had found!