Returning to the Trees

We've packed up our camp on Davis Peak and are dropping into the trees. Howard isn't wearing a pack – he'd slipped on steep snow not far below camp, and jammed his ice axe shaft into the snow. When he slid past it, the axe held and arrested his fall, but it yanked his arm out of the socket. We couldn't reduce the dislocation; the best we could do was divide up his pack, so he could hike down the remaining 4300 feet / 1300m with one good arm. It was a painful, delicate trip that took nearly all our remaining daylight, then a long drive to the hospital.

January 6, 1985