Alec Luhn, 38 years old, an American journalist passionate about hiking, hopes that the lessons learned in his attempts in a national park in Norway can help others.
The wild landscape in the folgefonna
Alec Luhn and his wife, Veronika Silchenko, traveled to Norway in July for a holiday. After realizing that they were staying near a national park with the third largest glacier in the country, Alec Luhn, an American journalist specialized in climate and experienced trip, decided to extend his journey to make hiking there.
On July 31, Alec Luhn sent him by SMS his wife's itinerary, who had returned home to England, and then started alone on a rear backpack, heading for the Folgefonna National Park, a nearby city, writes Nytimes.
His wife did not expect to hear him only in a few days due to the uneven phone signal in the park, and Alec Luhn was planning to finish his hiking on August 4, to take a bus to Bergen and to return to England by plane.
At the beginning of the hike, things started to go wrong. The left boot sole began to detach him after a few hours. He decided to stick the sole with a sports band, which compromised the adhesion of the boot.
“I should have returned and go to Odda and buy some new boots“He said.
Instead, he continued. It passed by the beautiful landscapes and reached a height of almost 1,200 meters.
“It was a very steep ground but I continued to go and made another bad decision“He said. After 10:00 pm, Luhn found a good camping place. But instead of installing his tent, he decided to go further, although he did not have a GPS tracking device.
A steep fall and serious wounds
It was late and the land was steep. Then Alec Luhn took a wrong step – he slipped and fell.
“I remember the terrible sensation”he said. He began to speed, and his backpack hit the stones, making the equipment fall.
“I was swirling very quickly and I started to jump around, like a pinball ball that lowers the mountain“Said Mr. Luhn.
He landed on a stone, breaking his femur, fracturing his pelvis and a few vertebrae, severely scratching his hands and hitting his head.
Then he said, he must have fainted.
No water, no phone and could barely move
Luhn woke up on August 1 aware that he was in a very serious situation.
The water bottle had fallen from the bag during the fall, so he had nothing to drink.
The iPhone had fallen out of her pocket. He tried to shout to Siri to call the emergency services, but his phone was either too far or had been set on the plane mode (another mistake, he said).
He realized two things: no one will know how to look for him until Monday, when he was going to return to England. And will not be able to get out of there.
“I will have to stay here and handle until at least someone worries for me“He remembered that he was thinking. Then” MUlte things had to go well so I could survive. ”
Dehydrated, Luhn took desperate measures.
Saturday, he began to worry that he would run out of water. He had his mouth so dry that it was impossible to eat the granola sticks and the peanuts that had not fallen from the backpack.
He could only think of a single solution. “I urinated in one of my envelopes with water and then I drank the urine to hydrate myself“He said.
He added: “I had a big bladst on one of my fingers, I even suck the blood in it to try to take a little liquid. ”
Only on Sunday, when the storm came-the weather that would make it difficult for his search-he could drink water again. He sipped the rain from the boxes of his sleeping mattress and sucks a wet bandana.
50 rescuers searched him for two days
Monday and Tuesday, as the rain continued, he began to lose hope.
It was wet and it was cold. The legs had begun to lose its circulation.
But, without his knowledge, his prediction had been correct: when he did not appear on the flight, Mrs. Silchenko alerted the authorities, and on Monday night a major rescue mission started.
Over 50 rescuers from the Norwegian Red Cross, using experienced dogs, drones and climbers, were looking for it, and the search lasted almost two days.
“Most searches end in a few hours“, Anja Kristin Bakken, spokesman for the Common Coordination Center for Rescue operations in Norway, said in an email.”This was particularly difficult because of difficult weather conditions. ”
But, she added, “Finding Alec Luhn in life is a very good example of why we continue. “
As he stood on the mountain coast hoping to be saved, Mr. Luhn said he had focused on the present. When the mind was wandering, he was thinking of the people he loved, including his wife and family.
“I really felt that I want to survive and have a second chance at life“He said.
“Maybe I missed my only chance”
On Wednesday, August 6, after the coldest night so far, the sun has risen for a short time.
“About then, I heard a helicopter”said Mr. Luhn.
Although he could not stand up, he began to do with his hand. “He was so close to me but couldn't see me“He said. After about 45 minutes, the helicopter left.
“I thought: Well, I might have missed my only chance.”said Mr. Luhn.
Mr. Luhn wrapped his red bandana around a tent pillar in the hope that he would be seen. About 45 minutes later, a helicopter returned, and Mr. Luhn started doing again.
“Finally, the side door of the helicopter opened and a guy signaled me with my hand”, he said. “That was the moment when I knew I could pass.”
Alec Luhn was taken to a hospital in Bergen, where he underwent surgery.
Two weeks later, on Tuesday, he was still receiving treatment there and said he couldn't work because of his feet.
Alec Luhn said he hopes to return to hiking one day. “I encouraged many people to go on hiking, you just have to be cautious about it ”, he said. “This I plan to do in the future. ”
But first, he said: “I owe my wife a holiday in a warmer climate, where there are no glaciers. “
