August 26, 2006: A Day I'll NEVER Forget
This is the account of one of the toughest days yet in my (Greg's) life. It was Saturday, August 26, 2006 and below I have posted a general email account I sent out recounting the day's events along with some photos from the fateful day (including me strapped to a backboard!).
MY MOUNTAIN (MIS)ADVENTURE
Hi to all,
Just to let you know the events of this past weekend...(looong email!).
From the outset I must say that I am fine...everything's OK. Read that sentence several times!!!
On Saturday I (Greg) led a group of 30 students to climb a nearby mountain. These were students from the
Bible school here in Mexico where I'm a professor. It was supposed to be a challenging activity where the
students would work together to overcome an obstacle (the mtn itself) to achieve a goal (the summit). Jan
and the boys were originally going to go but we decided that it would be better if Jan just took the boys into town for a day of fun.
Early in the morning on Saturday as I was preparing for the trip, I received a text message that the
director couldn't go b/c of a foot injury. That means I was now in
charge. At 6:30 am I met the students at
a sports park near the bottom of the mtn where I did a water check and explained the importance of staying
hydrated and such. So at 7:30 am we began the first of 3 major ascents up the mtn. I quickly discovered
that this mountain has no trails - we had to cut one in front of us with a machete which made for slow
going. The environment on this mtn is probably one of the most inhospitable and unforgiving ones you could
imagine - no shade with every plant having thorns or spikes, there were razor-sharp rocks and loose gravel
and stones all along the steep ridgeline, and, oh yeah, the place was a haven for rattlesnakes. All
compounded by the fact that it was a cloudless 100+ degree day. And to my further dismay, halfway up the
mountain one of the students informs me that several years back a student from the Bible school was killed
on this very mountain in a rockslide.
Yes, killed...one of our own students and here we were back on the same mountain. I was a little miffed that no one had bothered to tell me that (a) there were NO trails on the mtn., (b) that in spite of my warning no one had carried sufficient water, and (c) that a student HAD BEEN KILLED on the very mtn we were now climbing! All of that would've been very useful information for the group leader to know before attempting the climb.
So we reached the first and lowest ascent in an hour and a half and then continued up a rocky ridgeline.
By 12:30 we'd reached the end of the ridgeline. From there we had to descend about 50 meters and then
ascend about 100 meters up to the summit. On the way up the ridgeline, one of my guys got sick from the
heat and started throwing up so I immediately sent him back with another guy to help him. By the "base
camp" place at the end of the ridgeline, several more were feeling the
effects of the sun (especially a couple in their mid-40s) and so I announced that anyone who didn't think they could make it up the rest of the way
to the summit must turn back now. At that, 4 decided to turn back. I made sure they had sufficient water
and had them give up some of their water to the rest of us. What I *should've* done at that point was a
water check of the whole group's supply of water...
So with the remaining group we hit the steepest and most treacherous part - the final ascent. Halfway up
this final assault we stopped for a break and I noticed that lots of people were asking for water. It was here that I did a water check and, to my dismay, discovered that nearly everyone had drank all their water. Not good. I still had water sufficient for myself but definitely not for everyone. Despite my advice to conserve and ration their water they'd guzzled it down during the journey up the mountain - and
remember that it was over 
100 degrees without ANY shade so I can't blame them for doing that. At this break two guys said they wanted to turn back and so I gave them permission. So, being so close to the top, the rest of us pressed on and made the summit. Here everyone again was asking for water. So I told them I had good news and bad news: the good news was that I still had water - the bad news was that I was only going to give it to the girls in the group. Later I came to regret this decision as the girls' bodies handled the dehydration much better than the guys'.
After a brief time on the summit with a devotion we started back down - my throat cracking with dryness and my saliva now cloddy and pasty. On our way down one of the guys still with us received a call on his cell phone from the guys who'd just turned back - they were
lost, weak, and in a panic. The student was in tears and begging for me to come to him. So I put a guy in charge of the group while I took another student down with me - double-timing it to find the 2 lost ones as the rest of the group came down behind us at a slower rate. Further down I saw the two guys - they were way off from where they should've been. They had not reached the rocky ridgeline when you make the descent but instead had strayed off into what was going to be a deep gorge in front of them. I yelled and told them to retrace their steps but they said that they were too weak. So I waited at the bottom of a gully for the rest of the group to come down. As they came down they were dropping like flies from exhaustion and thirst. The guy who'd followed me down to find the two students had collapsed under the sparse shade of a bush. He said he was nauseous and dizzy - as was I but with the addition of a splitting headache - all signs of dehydration. So as the rest of the group caught up to us I had them find what bit of shade they could and lay down to recharge their batteries. At this point I could hardly talk b/c my mouth & throat were so dry. So I sent the two strongest and least exhausted students to go get the 2 strays while the rest of us ascended up to the ridgeline (which we would follow down the mtn). By this
time it was around 4 pm.
So I gathered up the group and pressed upward toward the ridgeline. One girl and two guys said they needed a little more rest and, after repeatedly trying to get them up and going and against my better judgement, I told them to follow us in 15 minutes. I was afraid that if they stayed there they would only get weaker, not stronger. So after hacking through dense, thorny scrub, I got the group to the ridgeline. Now began the long descent down. Around 6:00 pm as I was leading the group down I stepped on a boulder (about the size of a card table) and it completely gave way in front of me. Had I fallen forward instead of backward I would have been crushed probably to death.
Instead I fell backward and kind of surfed the rock down. But pillow sized rocks and debris followed behind in the rockslide and pelted me all over. I finally landed on my back - and pretty hard. I could hardly breathe, my hands and arms were sliced up, and the
scariest thing was that I could not feel my feet at all. The inside of my mouth was caked with dust and I had rocks on top of me but the students quickly came to my assistance. Fortunately no one had been in front of me when this happened - had someone been in front of the rockslide they would've surely been killed.
So I laid there for about 45 mins and they radioed and texted for help. My lower back and neck were in a lot
of pain but I finally got up and started back down the mtn. Now I've had first aid courses and I know that
you don't want to move someone with a back injury but you have to understand that at the time I wasn't
exactly thinking clearly. So we would go down for 15 mins or so and then rest. This is slow going and
nightfall was coming. One of the staff members who hadn't gone with us got the message that we needed
water and so she brought up water for us. When we heard her voice we were estatic but
just as she came
near to us we heard the rattle of a diamondback - right in front of us, between us and our desperately needed water, was a rattlesnake. Of all places for this snake to be! So Luz (the staff member) bravely
worked her way around the snake and gave us the water - but not just plain water - she had mixed up
rehydration salts in the water, bless her soul. By this time it was dark. The moon was only a sliver so it was dark, dark. Fortunately I had packed a flashlight and it had survived the rockslide. Around 9 pm we met a search party from below who had more water and were of lucid mind to guide us down. Around 11 pm
we saw more flashlights on the mountain and it turned out that the local police had sent out a rescue party.
We could see ambulance and police lights flashing at the bottom of the mountain. The police search party
got to us and took over the rescue. Soon we discovered that the 2 guys and girl who
were behind us had gotten lost. They were eventually found by the police team and didn't get off the mountain until 4 or 5 am.
It was around 1 am when my party finally, with the assistance of the police rescue unit - very professional and capable - got to the bottom. They didn't lecture us...they just asked why we'd tried to climb the mtn on such a HOT DAY. I was immediately attended to by the medics and, after examining me, they put a neck 
injury collar on me, strapped me to a board and put me in the waiting ambulance. They took me and another student who had also taken a spill to town where we picked up Jan - just seeing her added about 80% to my recuperation. They took us to a hospital emergency room in Monterrey where I was X-rayed and examined by doctors. We were there all night - we were released the next day at noon. Thank God I had NO FRACTURES in my spine or coccyx. I had some muscle sprain in my neck
and lower back but no
serious injuries. Also the injured student who went didn't have serious injuries - just sprains as well. We were very fortunate.
So the good news is that I didn't sustain any serious injuries and that the students are all fine. I had (still have) painful blisters in my throat and my lips are all cracked and swollen. The effects of thirst &
dehydration are something I now know firsthand. But we're all fine - still very tired and exhasuted but fine.
We're now analizing what happened and I'm making the students tell me what they've learned from the
experience. They're telling me that they realize better the limits of the human body, that they should plan more, etc. We all have a story to share with our grandchildren, I told them. Let's just make sure it doesn't happen again!
So there's the summary of my weekend.
Greg
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
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