A close call (Fairbanks, Craig, Cantwell: live, ferry, tree)

[Alaskan_Adventurer]

2 nights ago, my good buddy rolled his pickup going 65 just past Cantwell. He was in 4 wheel drive, and something happened to it which caused all 4 tires to seize up. The truck slid and went off the road, causing it to roll 3-4 times. In the end, it was about 50 feet from the road in about 6-10 feet of snow.

This is a guy who rarely wears his seatbelt. Amazingly he wore it that night, which obviously saved his life. He remembers the roll, lots of pain and then he blacked out. Awhile later, he woke up. He was in the bed of the truck, in which the snow coming through the windshield forced him out of his seatbelt and through the rear window. This is where survival instinct kicked in and he pushed his way back into the drivers area. He was so confused at this point and all he could think of doing was flashing his low to high beams in hope that someone would see them. Eventually a passing semi saw the lights, pulled over and yelled for him. Keep in mind that he was very, very buried under a pile of fairly packed snow and could barely move. The trucker had to throw him a rope just so that he could get out. The snow was too deep to simply walk out, so he tied the rope around his waist. In the end, he only suffered minor injuries and was only in the hospital for the night. The next day my father and I helped him get the truck out. He didn't realize it at the time, but the truck had been stopped by a tree which was only a few feet from about a 40 feet cliff. The truck was totaled, but he was alive. I was supposed to drive to Fairbanks with him that night, but couldn't due to work. We were all so damn lucky, it isn't even funny. Another thing to keep in mind. It was about -20 that night with the wind blowing about 40 mph. Being under the snow where he was insulated also was a factor in saving his life. I just thought I would share this with you guys. Besides some minor cuts, a few bruises and some pretty bad nightmares from waking up in total darkness, he had no other injuries. Pretty wild stuff.

[warptman]

I'm glad he's going to be OK, that is pretty crazy. Someone was watching over him that night.

[Rance]

Gnarly! It's a good thing he slid into the ditch rather than into the oncoming semi!

[DannyL]

ditto on him coming out of that one ok, something tells me his guardian angel was working a double shift that day.

[Metlakatla]

That sounds pretty horrifying. I was gonna make a similar post to this one last week but never did...the ex and I hit black ice on the downhill side of the Craig/Hollis highway on the way to the ferry. There was about two minutes of spinning and sliding and me thinking that it was going to be hard on the Prince to lose us both at once. Thank God he knew how to drive in the stuff and that he kept his head; I don't think I could have done it.

[Barkingowl]