Starting the Trip

The last thing I grabbed before I left my house that weekend was my brand new Personal Locator Beacon.

Did I need it? Is it too heavy? I’ve never needed one before, so why now?

Me and three friends decided to do the triple trail-run: Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro. The Tarawera Ultra had been postponed and we wanted an adventure.

At 4 in the morning, we packed our bags for the adventure ahead. My bag was full and the first thing on my mind was to leave the personal locator beacon behind.

Short trip, no need, right?

I was a new owner of the only PLB in the group. A lifetime in the outdoors I had never ever had one. On two occasions leading up to this trip I just opted not to carry it.

I had the PLB in my hand and at the last moment said, “I’ll take it.”

So, the plan was a training run in the mountains and we started on Ruapehu early Saturday morning. We got to the summit at about 7:30 in the morning. The beautiful blue sky of the day greeted us.

On the way to Tukino, I was scouting ahead for the group, down on a rocky trail following a stream. My mate said to leave my pack with them and check out the trail and they would bring it down with them if there was a way.

Needing Rescue

I stood on a boulder that was well over a ton (1500kg), scouting the road ahead of us, when it suddenly gave way from under me. Going over the lip of the boulder and it crushed me against the side of a glacier; locking me in from shoulders to hip. I passed out from pain and woke up about five minutes later when a friend got to me.

I tried making my goodbyes to my family.

But somehow, during the accident, my arm fell in front of my body, saving my chest from being punctured by the boulder. My friend managed to pull me out after about 10 minutes trapped. There was no cell service, so we set off the PLB and a helicopter came over the ridge 45 minutes later.

I was airlifted to the hospital – where I recovered from my injuries (10 broken ribs, avulsion tears to my hips, and crushed radial nerves), 8 weeks off of work and nine months later I am finally back to a near normal; surviving thanks to the one item I’d hesitated to carry.