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Rescued skier returns
Published Sunday, March 20, 2005
By MIKE NOWATZKI
The Forum
Jack Landers could hear the Black Hawk helicopter hovering above him,
but the Montana mountains' thick forest kept him hidden from view.
"It was actually right above us," he said.
The 19-year-old from Fargo touched down at the Fargo Jet Center about
4:40 p.m. Friday, just 26 hours after a plane spotted him and his
college friend, Charlie Gruys of Maple Lake, Minn., in the mountains
near Kalispell, Mont., where they'd been lost since Wednesday evening.
About 20 family members and friends cheered as Landers walked into the
jet center carrying his backpack.
His grandparents, Ed and Marjorie Hoag of Fargo, got the first hugs.
"I just said, 'Jack, you rascal,' " Marjorie Hoag said.
Landers, a 2004 graduate of Fargo South and freshman at Montana State
University in Bozeman, shared the story of how he and Gruys got
separated from their spring break skiing crew and survived two days in
heavy snowfall in the Jewel Basin area.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Landers said he and Gruys decided to break off
from the six-man group because they were the only skiers with avalanche
beacons.
The beacons are for self-rescue and have a range of about 60 meters, he
said.
When they first felt they might be lost, they followed ski tracks down
to a lake, thinking the tracks belonged to their friends.
"That's how we first got lost and separated," Landers said.
The pair hiked for about hour trying to find a parking lot before
calling their friends about 5 p.m. via cell phone to tell them they were
lost.
As night fell, they used their avalanche shovels to dig out a snow
shelter under a tree.
"It was pretty small, just big enough for us to curl up in," Landers
said.
A ham sandwich was all the food they had to eat. With the temperature
hovering around 20, they slept for only a couple of hours before hiking
again to stay warm.
They reached the top of a ridge Thursday and were able to contact
rescuers by cell phone. By then, a major blizzard had hit the area,
dumping 25 inches of snow over two days.
Rescuers told them to stay put. But after two hours atop the ridge in
the driving snow and wind, and fearing an avalanche, they skied back
down the mountain into a valley. The forest grew thick and slowed their
movement.
That's when they heard the National Guard helicopter and saw its
navigation lights.
"They were using infrared, and I guess it was forward-pointing, so we
had to be right in front of them, and they were above us, plus all the
trees were getting in the way," Landers said.
At least they knew searchers were looking in the right place, he said.
They slept the night under a snow-covered bush, as the temperature
warmed to around 30.
Friday morning, they hiked farther down the ridge and found an old
logging road.
"I was getting worried," Landers said. "If we had to stay that night it
would have been bad. We were cold and wet and tired."
They walked down the road and past a house where no one was home before
a plane flew overhead and spotted them. Soon after, a truck picked them
up.
Landers' parents, Doug and Debbie Landers, learned of the rescue just
after landing in Montana in a private plane.
"The emotion went from the worst of your life to the best of your life
in 10 seconds," Doug Landers said.
The relieved father thanked the "phenomenal" Flathead County sheriff's
office, the 80-some rescuers who searched for his son and North Dakota
Emergency Management Director Doug Friez. He also expressed gratitude to
people in Fargo-Moorhead who prayed for his son, and to Gov. John Hoeven
and Sen. Kent Conrad, who both offered assistance.
Jack Landers was grateful for the reception - and just to be home.
"This was great," he said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Mike Nowatzki
at (701) 241-5528 |
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