When the Help for the Dave Metcalfe motorcyclist arrived, he had almost hoped that he would arrive at all.
On Saturday arrived around 20 hours after digging a hole to take refuge in its place in the middle of strong winds, heavy snow and freezing temperatures in the highlands of Cabo Breton.
“I’ve been in the snow all night, I’m starting to be wet, starting to soak up and was frozen,” he said Sunday morning. “I really thought I was going to die there.”
Metcalfe left Gace Bay on early Friday with his friend, Hughie Whalen, to go to snow motorcycles in the National Park, a popular recreational site for enthusiasts in the area.
The weather was not ideal, but the two were ahead after driving almost two hours until the Oregon Road path in Victoria County.
But the two realized that they were in trouble when they returned to their truck after dusk. Snow derivations began to find masses in snowstorm conditions.
Finally, lost and with a sled trapped in the snow, they made the decision to separate, Metcalfe said. Whatn left on his snow motorcycle to seek help around 7 pm
Metcalfe crouched down, digging a hole and using part of his snow motorcycle to protect himself from the wind.
But as the hours accumulated and could not handle much, he worried that the worst would have happened to his friend.
“It’s like one of those things you wake up from a dream and you think, ‘Oh, my God’, it was a terrible dream,” he said.
“Only every time I nodded and woke up, it became increasingly real.”
Whale found first
Around 7 in the morning, the rescue teams had located Whamen and took him to a safe place, but Metcalfe was still out there, the people certainly looked for him and that his friend had been found.
At 1 in the afternoon, he began to lose hope. He worried especially for his 76 -year -old mother, who lost another son suddenly last month.
“I had it in mind during the last hour or two that I am 100 percent … I will freeze until death,” he said.
When it was finally located around 3 pm, I could barely believe what was happening.
“A couple of guys stopped on a snow motorcycle,” he said. “I thought I was seeing things.”
They brought Metcalfe to the pig and whistle, a recently rebuilt shelter that has long been a pillar in the highlands of Cape Breton.
When he entered, a fire roared, and was fed, hydrated and was given dry clothes to wear.
He is grateful for the kindness of people in the community who joined to make sure he has a safe way.
“I am a total oblivious to these guys,” he said. “It’s so overwhelming.”
Lesson learned
Metcalfe said they told him that he did almost everything right to make sure he survived.
He kept his snow costume all the time, and the hole that digged helped limit the damage.
Whatn was in more difficult conditions when he was found before, said his wife, Stephanie Whalen, Sunday.
She said that the first to respond found him sitting at the end of her sled, without responding, with her undone jacket and visor in her helmet.
He suffered from hypothermia, he said, but he is expected to recover completely.
“I’m lucky to have him back,” said Whalan. “I still get excited to think about it.”
She hopes that this rescue will throw a light on the dangers of not taking the climatic conditions seriously.
“I know my husband learned a lesson,” he said.
“We don’t want to see people stranded there, because I can’t imagine the fear that was both in Huey and Dave in the middle of the night, especially when they are separated.”
