Chapter 11

I didn’t say a word. Frankly, I was at a loss for words. I mean, there was so many things speeding through my mind at that point, coherent thought was not on the menu.

By now, he had reached me. I sat there watching him pull on my leg, babbling that I was his savior. Close behind was a group of kids. None of them looked older than 19 or 20. I could tell that they were in bad shape. Hanging onto each other. Several of them were weeping.

Using my best command voice, I called out, “alright, I’m here. And we’re going to get you to safety as quickly as possible. Show me your camp, and we’ll start getting loaded up.

When we got to their camp, I wasn’t surprised. They didn’t have a thing they needed. There were two tents, thin nylon. Not even waterproof. As they were packing up, I saw that they were using lightweight summer sleeping bags. One of the boys didn’t even have that. He was making due with a couple of wool blankets, which were soaking wet from laying on the ground. They did have a fire, but I could tell that they might have had half a day’s wood available. And there didn’t look to be anything dry in the area.

Their clothes were inadequate too. Ski pants and down-filled parkas, great on the slopes when you had a comfy heated lodge at the bottom of the hill. But in a high country blizzard, useless. Shoes and boots, while stylish, didn’t do a thing to support a hiker, or keep their feet warm.

I didn’t say anything about what I saw. It wouldn’t do any good. But I did explain the situation.

“Ok, folks, I’m here to take you to safety. It’s not back to civilization. But it will be warm and dry. There will be plenty of hot food, and you’ll be safe until the weather gets better. And we can get you back to your loved ones.”

“Right now, the weather is calm. But we have a blizzard coming in. Worse than last night. It’ll be here in a couple of hours. So, we’ll need to hustle. Once we get your gear packed and loaded, we’ll get you mounted, and we’ll be on our way.”

I noticed that St. Gaudens was detailing the kids into packing his gear. I didn’t say anything at the time, but I knew there would be a confrontation between him and me, later.

It started quicker than I thought it would. As we were finishing loading the gear, he approached me and asked. “When will the helicopter be here to pick me up?”

I looked at him, and even covered up like I was, it was apparent I was confused. “Helicopter? There isn’t any helicopter. Won’t be one for a minimum of 48 hours. The weather’s just too bad and getting worse.”

“Look, mate, “ he persisted, “I need to get back to civilization. I need to announce a very important discovery to the world. I can’t be delayed.”

“Sorry, mate, ain’t no chopper. Won’t be no chopper. Now you can sit on your butt and freeze. Waiting for something that isn’t going to happen. Or you can join the others and survive.”