Cathy Woodhead reads from 'Reaching Beyond', the autobiography of Denise Evans

Watch Cathy Woodhead reads from 'Reaching Beyond', the autobiography of Denise Evans - Tindle News on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00I'm reading from Reaching Beyond, the autobiography of Denise Evans, and I'll just basically pick

00:13this at random, but this was on her first ski touring expedition or trip that she had

00:21with her brother Ian in the Alps, and this is what happened.

00:30It was a fine day, and all went swimmingly well at first, though I found the uphill work

00:35quite taxing and must have been a bit of a drag, as I was conspicuously slower.

00:41As I plodded up, keeping an eye on Ian's rope, I suddenly became aware that it was no longer

00:47snaking out in front of me.

00:50Looking up, I could see no sign of Ian, who had simply disappeared.

00:55I fabricated a belay with axe and ski poles and hauled on the rope, which did not budge.

01:02Minutes passed, but there was no sound and no movement.

01:07If Ian could not extricate himself, we were going to need help.

01:11We had brought no whistles, so I gave six calls in my loudest voice and repeated them

01:17after a few moments.

01:20Later I learnt that I was heard by the guardian of the Monterosa Hut, who had happened to

01:25come outside just then.

01:28After what seemed like another age, a head and a hand appeared, and I was able to tell

01:33Ian that I had called for help.

01:37S-I-T, S-H-I-T, he said, no doubt worrying about the hefty bill we might have incurred.

01:45Luckily, Ian had not fallen more than about 30 feet, rattling against the icy walls onto

01:52some kind of ledge, beneath which the crevasse went down further to darker depths.

01:58He was able to remove his skis and eventually to post them up and across the crevasse and

02:05use them as a mantel shelf out of.

02:09Apart from straining his left shoulder, he was unhurt, and we were able to start skiing

02:13down, and we hadn't gone very far before a helicopter flew over us.

02:17We made rigorous signals to show we were all right, as we skied back to the Monterosa Hut

02:23where we spent another night.