Who's the U-Boat Commander?
There is a funny scene in the Tom Cruise movie, “RiskyBusiness” where Tom Cruise has his father’s Porsche 928 out for a drive with his “girlfriend” and sinks it in Lake Michigan. I had an incident Thursday where I felt much the same way as I realized I was not where I thought I was and ended up falling through the ice on an ATV with a passenger, with me. Well sort of the same way as T.C. minus the girlfriend and the Porsche.
It’s quite funny now writing about it but in the darkness, cold, and blizzard conditions it was not. I would not rank it in the ‘deadly serious’ category as no one was in real danger (or seemed to be) but gives me another reminder that the arctic can be deadly if not prepared or ready for anything.
Here’s what happened starting the night before the early morning incident.
It was nighttime in Kipnuk Alaska, the coffee pot was almost empty and the conversation between several of us was pretty well finished. I had arrived earlier in the day and inspected the water plant we had finished earlier and was working on a few punch list items to close out the project. A couple of people heard I was in town and dropped by the bunkhouse for coffee and story telling. It was a nice evening. The local who dropped by to chat headed out for the door to get on his ATV and drive home. As he opened the door there was a driving wind and blowing snow. It had started after I arrived at the bunkhouse and was now snowing pretty hard. There was about 18” of snow drifted in the doorway and spilled into the mud room when we opened the door. He started his ATV and headed out into the darkness of the blizzard and out to the cold.
We closed the door and settled in for the night ready for a good nights sleep since I left the house at 4 am for the airport. I woke several times during the night from the sounds of the wind, freezing rain and snow hitting the window above my head. Finally about 3:30 am I could not go back to sleep and lay in the darkness listening to the different strange sounds, both outside and inside the bunkhouse. The wind was blowing probably 40 to 50 miles per hour and seemed to be taking pieces of ice broken up in the river just outside and sending them sailing up against the house. There were creaking noises and minor shaking similar to a light earthquake but different.
After about an hour I noticed a light coming from the kitchen and smelled fresh coffee brewing. A good cup of coffee about now would hit the spot so I rolled out of bed, folded and stowed my sleeping bag and dressed before heading to the kitchen. Al was there drinking coffee and looking at plans for several projects upcoming in the village shortly. I pour a cup and sat down as we talked about various subjects including his graduating from Georgia Tech where I grew up. It would still be dark out for several more hours but since I was scheduled to leave just after daybreak at 10 am we decided to go over to the water treatment plant to work on a few more of my punch list items.
We both dressed in our arctic wear and headed outside just after seven o’clock to crank the ATV to warm up the engine before heading over. I had trouble finding the pull cord to start the machine with my heavy gloves and had to take them off to “feel” the handle. In the darkness and wind howling it was difficult to do normal things. I put the choke on and pulled the cord . . . nothing. I pulled again and the machine came to life so we waited while the ATV warmed up. My frozen hand went quickly back into the glove but it felt like it was burning on fire. It is like a thousand needles sticking you even though every thing is ”numb”. It doesn’t exactly make sense but that is how to describe how it feels. After several minutes the numbness was gone, the fiery pain subsided and it was time to head over to the water plant.
I drove off into the darkness with snow blowing fiercely about us. The wind was about 50 gusting to 60 mph and drifting in any low or dead wind area. The wooden boardwalk I was driving on was frozen over and quite slippery with a mixture of ice and snow. Al sat on the rear luggage rack and I was careful not to get to close to the left side to keep his legs off the hand rails of the bridge. The wind was blowing us side to side even though I drove slowly. We approached the bridge and started up sliding a bit but climbing toward the top and over the local small river below. I knew in the darkness below us were many small fishing boats on the banks frozen in place on the shifting tides. At the apex of the bridge I was having trouble seeing through the mixture of ice, snow, and freezing rain pelting my goggles and snow suit. The ATV headlamp tried to cut through the darkness but the blizzard conditions limited all sight in any directions. I could see the outline of the boardwalk we were driving over but drifting snow was making it almost impossible to see distinct edges of the wooden surface.
Suddenly out of the darkness was drifting snow about 3-4 feet high across the boardwalk between two houses. I saw it but had little time even going slowly to react to it for stopping so I tried to power my way through the snow pile. It started up but quickly settled down into fresh snow bogging down with the rear wheels spinning. Al climbing off as I tried to back out but nothing happened so we each took and end of the machine and either pushed or pulled to clear the ATV from the berm. I tried to keep my hand on the throttle to keep it running but it stalled anyway so we moved it back and restarted the machine again. The second try with just me on the machine did not fare any better as once again I became stuck and after some effort we decided to reverse course and go the long way around the village to the water treatment plant.
It continued to howl as we went up and over the bridge ice pelting us and sticking to our clothing. Lighting in the village is almost nonexistent with only about 10 ‘street’ lights (there are no streets in the village) scattered about usually on major buildings like the school, clinic, water treatment plant, and post office in the village of about 850 people. We slowly made our way from the bridge and headed towards the school and teacher housing buildings. There are a few houses around but most are on the far side of the school from our present location. Most villagers sleep in until about 9 am so there was no one out and about probably a smart thing to still be tucked warmly in their beds.
As we made our way around there is a branch in the boardwalk with one path leading to a dirt type trail around one side of the school. It is normally permafrost frozen in winter but somewhat thawed in summer having a bouncy, mushy feel as you walk or drive over different sections. This trail winds its way around two main areas of the village with school and houses where we were and farther around it passes the water plant and goes past a larger area of houses before ending up at the barge landing at the river’s edge.
As I approached the trail I quickly decided to turn off the boardwalk and on to the trail figuring as I came into the area with many houses I would run into more drifting snow like the other side of the village. My thought was the trail being more in the open would not have drifting snow. The wind was strong my goggles mostly iced over and I could barely see. I was lucky to see 40 feet in any direction even the ATV headlamp did not cut through the snow. I made the turn and it was not long before we were driving across about 3” of standing water with ice chunks floating/blowing about in the wind. I slowly drove into a large pothole and sank to about 10” deep of water. No worries, just power the ATV through up and over the other side.
Another hundred feet or so and again dropping into another large hole, water is now coming up about halfway up the wheels and I can feel water hitting my bunny boots which are about 18” above the ground and are sitting on the pedals of the machine. After a few seconds we climb back out to solid ground still in about 4” of standing water.
Continuing another 200 or 300 feet the school’s light starts coming into view lighting up the area around me letting me discover that the whole area is totally flooded. When it is clear out and in the light of daytime I know this area and have driven it many times. It is a small path with about a 6 to 8 acre area that is usually marshy in summer. There is a small creek that runs from the river across this area with some fishing boats that are stored there waiting to head out for halibut fishing. Once I see the amount of water I quickly realize this is not just from the overnight rain/snowfall.
I had heard from the locals that at times the high tide and high winds caused a large tidal surge which has flooded the village and it was quickly becoming apparent that this was what was happening. The wind was blowing 60 and we were at the high tide mark so I was witnessing first hand this phenomenon.
I cannot go forward as I know deeper water is a head of me and I need to turn around to the left as the right side is the deep marsh area. I slowly steer to my left to begin reversing course when we dip into another large hole. I gently increase the throttle to keep from bogging down the engine in the deep water as I did not want to stall out at this point. The front wheels start climbing out and we get back to about 6” of frigid water. This is when the Tom Cruise moment happened. I slowed just a bit to keep from splashing water up on either of us when I heard a loud ‘SNAP’ under water and felt the rear of the ATV quickly drop into the water with Al sitting on the rear. He was in the water and I could feel my boots filling with water as it climbed up my legs and onto my back as I sat on the seat.
I reached out to help steady Al who was struggling not to fall face first into the freezing water surrounding us. My arctic gear was becoming heavy to move in as the water filled the fibers. I am off the ATV now standing holding on to the ATV with one hand and steadying Al with the other. We try to turn the machine and pull it up out of the hole but cannot move it. I turn it off and we start to wade across to the closest house. Large chunks of ice are hitting us mid thigh and as we try to walk we have to step up onto submerged ice only to step off the other side dropping back down into the water.
We have been in the water now for several minutes and the adrenaline rush is coming under control and the icy cold is setting into our feet and legs. The feeling of a thousand needles sticking me in a burning sensation was felt all over. I realize that my hands and arms have been under water so my gloves, hoodie arms, and jacket sleeves are soaking wet. The areas exposed to the wind and air quickly freezing making walking tougher than one would expect.
Al and I continued to make our way out of the water and back onto solid ground. Slowly walking over the snow trying to find our way back to the snow covered boardwalk as the wind was almost blowing directly into my face as we ventured between the houses. Snow was drifting in several places which covered old snowmachines and ATV’s. They are abandoned around the houses all over the village.
After several minutes we reached the boardwalk and found its outline in the drifting snow. We turned in the direction of the bunkhouse which put the wind at our backs strongly pushing us along. It took another six to eight minutes to find our way back to the bunkhouse as we traveled along one section of boardwalk and found the turn heading to the house. The gloves were frozen solid around my hands and I struggled to get one glove off so I could dig out the key from inside my pocket to unlock the door.
Once inside we were both thankful to be in the mudroom and out of the wind and snow. We looked like frozen “Gumby” characters walking very stiff legged as the water logged and frozen jumpsuit cracked and creaked as the ice dropped off the exterior as I took them off. The coldness had set in so we knew we needed to get out of the clothes and into something dry. After getting out of the clothes in the mudroom we went inside to the warmth of the house.
Al had on leather boots, now soaking wet, wool pants, and a beaver skin parker jacket, all if it wet. As I took off my clothes and got to my boots, oddly the water in my boots had warmed up like they were meant to do and my feet felt warm. My legs, arms, and hands felt the biting pain of the cold. Hats and jacket off were off along with the jumpsuit but I struggled getting the boots off. The water inside created suction while my frozen hands made it difficult to get them off and as I did I poured water out of them.
Once I started getting out of my clothes and exposed skin I could see bright red tones on my hands and a combination of red and bluish splotches on my feet, ankles, and calves. I took everything and loaded up the clothes dryer and started to dry everything and went to my bedroom to get dressed again in warm clothes. As I change clothes I realize my body has decided to go “turtle” on my as my testicles have drawn up inside me and I assume it was to get to a warmer place not liking the freezing cold water. Hopefully I’ll see them again before the holidays, lol. Getting my core temperature back up to normal may take a little while.
Now inside the safety and warmth of the house we spent the next several hours waiting for the clothes to dry, and looked back at what happened. This is another example of how the simplest things can spiral out of control and become a dangerous situation.
Luckily I was familiar with the surroundings even in the dark and blizzard conditions and knew where to go for shelter and warmth. Thankfully it was not the dead of winter with minus 45 degree temperatures. For a point of reference, at -45° any liquid instantly turns into ice so you do not have a chance for “wet” clothes, only frozen ones. For this trip I wanted to pack ‘light’ so I would not have to deal with checking a bag with Alaska Airlines. If I did not have the convenience of a clothes dryer this would probably not be as funny as it is now.
I called a couple of my local crew members and told them where I had abandoned the ATV and once the tide and flooding had gone down they could go drag it out of the water and take it to the maintenance shop to drain things to make sure water had not gotten into the engine causing more problems. I know that they will undoubtedly give me a ribbing the next time that I am back in the village. I am also sure Al will have the opportunity to give me crap for years to come for sinking our ride one early November morning.
The wind may blow, the snow blinding ones view and the morning might be frozen and dark but with a little humor and determination when everything goes to shit that slight smile as your teeth chatter from the cold will get you through things and on to the next adventure in life.
It might be a minor inconvenience (brought on by my own limitations) but there are many people out there having a much tougher day than I’m having.
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