Frankie Cordeira Jr.

Description: RESCUE DAYS AWAY? An Argentine mountain climber is stranded alone about halfway upCanada's highest peak braving high winds and awaiting a rescue that may still be days away. Natalia Martinez 37 was ninedays intoa solo traverse of Yukon's Mount Logan (5959 metres) when a pairof earthquakes rattledthe territory on Monday morning. The quakes magnitudes 6.2 and 6.3 set off a series of avalanches on the mountain sparingMartinezbut leaving her surrounded by unstable terrain. "Right now she's doing her best to stay safe keep the camp safe to keep the tent sound"said her partner CamiloRada from Vancouver where he is a student. Radahas been keeping intouch with Martinez by satellite phone. She's now camped at an elevation above 3000 metres. "Things are not settled yet and another aftershock is possible. So it's dangerous for her to move basically whether up or down so the plan is to get her a rescue by helicopter." Martinez 37 is an accomplished mountaineer. 'She knows how to make a camp strong and to keep it safe in a storm' said her partner Camilo Rada also a skilled climber. (Arran Whiteford via Icefield Discovery Tours) The weather though is not co-operating. A helicopter rescue won't be possible until it clears and Rada said that is not expected to happen untilFriday. Martinez is a highly accomplished climber back home she's a professional ski instructor and mountaineering guide and Rada says so far she's handling her situation well. Last nighthe says she had to go out every few hours with ashoveltokeep her campfrom being buried in the blowing snow. Today she's exhausted and nursing a sore back but otherwise OK. "She had a really tough night keeping the camp safe but she managed to do it" he said. "She has a lot of climbing experience in Patagonia which is notorious for the bad weather. So she knows how to make a camp strong and to keep it safe in a storm." Partner of stranded mountain climber holds out hope0:36 'The mountain was falling apart' Rada says Martinez was camped high above the clouds on Monday morning when the first earthquake hit early in the morning. "Of course she didn't know it was an earthquake she only knew it was like the mountain was falling apart" he said. "She felt that all the ground under her camp subsided and moved a lot and of course she was very scared." Martinez's planned route up Logan's east ridge to the summit then down through King's Trench. She's now camped at an altitude above 3000 metres. (Icefield Discovery Tours/Facebook) Martinez emerged from her tent to see evidence of "huge" glacial serac avalanches all around. A serac is a chunk or ridge of glacial ice which can often be unstable. She had chosen her campsite wisely thoughit was untouched. Nevertheless she realized that continuing her journey was out of the question. The terrain was still highly unstable. She made contact with Radaand they immediately began planning for her rescue. Then the second quake hit Radasaid and it was also clear that the rescue would not happen right away. Martinez moved her camp to a narrow ridge that offered more protection from any falling debris "so it was a safe place in that sense" hesaid. Dangers lurking Sian Williams ofIcefield Discovery Tours the outfitter that flew Martinez to her initial base camp says Martinez is now in a "relatively safe location"but still surrounded by danger. "I mean the St.Elias[Range] is a very wild part of the world.We're expecting storms with high winds over the next couple of days and she is still up on the ridge" Williams said. The ice fields of Yukon's Kluane National Park with Mount Logan in the distance. At 5959 metres it's Canada's highest peak. (Cheryl Kawaja/CBC) "Hopefully everything that was loose came down already but there could be other dangers that are kind of lurking there that are just on the edge of going. So the route conditionhasbecome very unstable. "I'm sure it must have felt like the whole world was coming to an end with serac falls and avalanches all around her." Radais doing his best to stay calm and positive trusting in his partner's skills and experience. "Of course it's worrying" he said."But I'm positive in the sense that she will do everything that is possible to stay safe and she [will] know what to do. "All of her family knowsshe's a really strong woman so she won'tgive up and she will stay put there and strong."
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
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