A Happy Ending to a Dire Emergency
Did you hear about the woman—Natalia Martinez—who found herself trapped on Mount Logan on Monday, May 1st after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake? Thankfully, she is an experienced climber and well-versed in the perils of the great outdoors, so after the initial quakes caused avalanches to occur nearby, she was able to maneuver herself to a safer location.
Unfortunately, a storm hit the area shortly after, lasting for days. Because of that, combined with the fact that she’s on a knife’s edge ridge, the area surrounding her was highly unstable, delaying rescue efforts.
On Thursday morning, she was still stranded halfway up the mountain.
Her partner, Camilo Rada, expressed his confidence in her skills and abilities. But with weather not expected to begin clearing for another day or two, her friends and family were extremely worried as they tensely waited to see what would happen. Even though Natalia had been unscathed by the avalanches and knew what to do, keeping her camp setup as secure as possible would be terribly exhausting.
Camilo and Parks Canada were in communication with Natalia via satellite phone, providing encouragement, support and information. And finally, on Thursday night, a pilot with the charter service Icefield Discovery noticed that the weather was beginning to clear up and urgently contacted a rescue team.
Everyone who had been following the story was relieved to find out that Natalia had been safely removed from the mountain and taken to the Icefield Discovery base in Kluane Lake.
We’re so thankful that Natalia survived this dangerous episode and our wish is that everyone who finds themselves facing an emergency like this is able to remain as level-headed as she did.
-Content created by Sophie Wooding – Writer, gardener, cyclist and emergency preparedness enthusiast!
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