I made a friend here in Yakutat about two weeks ago. He's an Italian man who arrived straight from his home and family in Sardegna, Italy, to Yakutat. Here he was to begin a solo trek from Yakutat to Cordova, by foot, bike, and packraft. Thats about 300 miles of coastline, and in some of the most pristine wilderness on Earth. When he arrived to the airport, he went into the fly shop next door and began asking questions about maps, etc. for his trip. The woman there who I know quite well, as you do most people in a place like Yakutat, thought immediately of the trip I had just been part of and gave me a call. I told her to send him my way. So then, on my way back from picking up my scooter with fresh new tires, I saw him by the Yakutat sign. I knew it was him. He had his bike, a large dry bag, paddles strapped to the sides, and just looked like an Italian. So, I cruised over, still in my uniform and on my lunch hour. I pulled up and introduced myself, telling him I was Jared, the ranger she had told him about at the fly shop. Nothing but smiles, he shook my hand and I took a photo for him in front of the "Welcome to Yakutat" sign. It was a beautiful, clear day and Mt. St. Elias was towering in the background. I told him to come to the ranger station and from there, I don't think we stopped talking for the next 5-6 hours. I would say his English was somewhere around 30%. My Italian is probably about 1/4 of that, but I did know that Spanish was similar in many ways, so between my English/Spanish, and his English/Italian/Spanish we could conversate almost fully.
He was a lot like me in many ways. He was happy, friendly, and here because he truly loved exploring. He wasn't in a race, or trying to prove anything to anyone else, he just simply loved being out there, and he had chosen one of the greatest places in the world to take a trip like this. I could see the passion in his eyes. He was so eager to learn and willing to accept advice from anyone who was willing to give it. He was determined, but in a wise way, and he knew the power of all the elements. We talked for hours, discussing, tides, glacial rivers, bears, and all kinds of things that would come into play on his trip. I can hear him now! When I would mention something that was intense, or he shared a story of something similar, he would say; "Mamma Mia!" I had traveled to Italy several years ago and spent a few weeks roaming around, but I never met anyone who said it like him. I go him set up with a tide book, let him use my laptop and internet so he could upload a few recent photos to his blog, and we talked about his emergency backup plan. He's a smart man, and already had his own SPOT unit, which is basically a personal emergency locator. You can program a list of emails into your account online and send out messages via satellite while in the backcountry. Though they are limited to OK, and HELP for the most part, you at least have a lifeline if you should get into any trouble. I added my email to his list of recipients and also asked Freddie, who works here with me to add his because I knew I would be out of town for a few days during Mauri's trip. We also sent an email to his family back in Italy from my account so they would have a contact should anything happen. Everything looked good, and I felt confident that he would be successful. Not long after that was all taken care of, he took off for Harlequin Lake. He told me he would stop back in after a night or two there, and before he took off on his expedition.
Just as I figured, a few days later, there he was outside my office window. Still all smiles, as usual, he polished off a huge sub sandwich and came in to chat. Once again, we were talking a mile per minute and just figuring out a few last things before he took off. The safety clip for his bear spray had gotten pulled off at some point while he was out at Harlequin lake, so I gave him one from our old, out-of-date stash. We talked a bit about how to deal with bears, but I'm sure he already had some experience around them, seeing as he's already had several adventures in Alaska.
By now, he seemed more like a friend to me than just some other visitor or person passing through. We shared a lot of the same excitement about this place, and just enjoying the outdoors in general. I was glad to have met Mauri, and it was evident that the feeling was mutual. Once we had all the logisitcs worked out, and it was time for him to take off, we shook hands and I wished him the best. We thanked each other, and made attempts to express how nice it was to have met, despite our language barrier. He knew that I understood as well as anyone else in this world the challeneges he had ahead of him and that created a link between us that only him and I could fully understand. If you've ever been on a great journey, whether it be a 2 week trip in the wilderness on your own, or a 6 month backpacking trip in several countries, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Its something you just can't explain to the people who haven't experienced it for themselves. Mauri's trip would take him much further than I had gone, and I knew he had some serious obstacles, but I was sure he would make it. He had told me about his wife and chidren back in Italy, and I knew he was smart enough to make the right decisions. He knew what was most important in life and his love for them all was apparent.
So, for about 14 days, I went about my business here in Yakutat, tracking Mauri the entire way. When you receive the emails, it automatically links you to a google Earth map, and shows you the person's exact location, coordinates and all. I watched as he paddled across Yakutat Bay, crossed several of the rivers I had crossed, and eventually he passed my ending point and crossed Icy Bay. I kept up with my email as best I could when I knew he would be doing a major crossing. I thought Icy Bay might be one of the toughest because the Bay is quite wide, but ulitimately I knew that the glacial rivers, flowing directly from the highest coastal mountain range on Earth could be the greatest danger. That was something I stressed a lot in our conversation before he left, and I could tell he already understood it himself. The Icy waters of these rivers are 100% unforgiving. It doesn't matter how strong you are, or how experienced you are. If you allow yourself to get into a bad situation with these rivers, they can take your life in an instant.
Mauri continued on quite steadily though, and he eventually made it to Cape Yakataga, where I knew he had Les, the pilot I have flown with on most of my adventures here, drop him a cache of food. That would be the last chance he would have to restock his pack with food before reaching Cordova. I called Les as he approached the pick up point and let them know that Mauri was almost there. They had the food there waiting for him, as I knew they would. I thought to myself that day; "I'll bet he's having a damn good meal out there today!" When you're in the backcountry for several consecutive days, your tastes and cravings for certain foods are magnified in a way that you can't even imagine. So, Freddie and I watched him as he made his way closer to the Copper River Delta. I had spoken to other explorers who come through the area, and I knew this would also be a difficult part of the trip, but I was heading out to Juneau for the weekend and wouldn't be able to keep up with my email as frequently. I talked to Freddie and he was sure, as he had been the entire time as well, to keep a check on it and make sure we kept seeing that "OK" message come through. I went, and returned from a great trip to Junaeu, and got back on Saturday, the 6th of August. Everything was still looking good. There were a few days when he didn't seem to make much ground, but I knew that was par for the course, and the weather had been quite undesirable during that time. So, the days continued to pass and Freddie and I had began to get used to seeing that "OK" message in our inbox each day. I knew there were times when I just couldn't be there to watch my email consistently, but I also knew what its like to be out there all alone, so I made sure to do the best I could and be there for Mauri just in case he needed my help.
Well, on August 9th, that time came.
I took this photo from his blog. It shows the conditions he was up against well, I think.
Freddie and I didn't have to come into work until 10am because we would be heading out to work on a cruise ship, and we work until 7pm on those days. We came into the office and it was just another ordinary day. We sat down at our computers as we do about every morning, logging into our gov't accounts, and began to check our emails. I was logging onto my computer when I heard Freddie say; "Jared, he just sent us a HELP message!" For a split second, it was a bit surreal. We looked at each other and the reality of what those 4 little letters meant sank into us both very quickly. So many thoughts ran through our heads during those 2 seconds, and we knew we had to get moving on something. So, without wasting any time, which is the most precious variable in any rescue, we wrote down the exact coordinates of his location and quickly determined that our next action needed to be to call the U.S. Coast Guard. We didn't have the number just lying around, so I opened up another window on my computer, and found a number for an office in Juneau. They immediately transferred me to the Chief there in Juneau, and I informed her of the situation. I told them where I was calling from and that I had been tracking Mauri for over two weeks. I told her that he was experienced and I knew without a doubt that if he sent out those HELP messages, then he really needed it. I didn't want to waste a second! I thought about his family back in Italy and I knew they had received that same HELP message. I can even remember his wife's name, Lisa. I knew he had children, and during our conversations back at the ranger station before he left, the love he had for them was obvious! We continued to get the HELP messages on average about every 10 minutes. This was a good thing because it showed us that he was still coherent, and able to continue sending the message. 100 different scenarious ran through my head. My mind never stopped calculating and trying to determine what every little sign meant, and what had happened. I knew that he was only about 10-20 miles from reaching his destination, but he still had to cross the Copper River and I knew this was one of the toughest obstacles. Judging from his location on google Earth, I thought there was a great chance that he had tried to cross and got caught in water that was too shallow to paddle. The worst thing about that is you can't just get out and pull your raft because you often sink up to your thighs in glacial silt. Many people have lost their lives in situations like this. The suction created by the mud around your legs can make it impossible to get out and if you happen to be in a tidal flat, its just a matter of time before the water rises over your head. So many different scenarios went through my mind, and I just kept imagining what he was going through at that moment. I knew that he was thinking of me, because I was his main connection to any help. I remembered telling him distinctly before he left, and as I shook his hand; "If you get into trouble, don't worry, there will be help on the way!" I stayed in touch with the CG and eventually set the emails up where they were being forwarded directly to them. That way they knew the most recent coordinates, just in case he moved. The chief told me that she had approved the use of a helicopter through their chain of command, but it just happened to be up in Seward refueling. That meant it would be an hour before they could reach Mauri. All I could do was say ok, and tell her to keep us informed as things happened. It was tough though because I knew he was probably out on a flat in the Copper River. If he had lost his raft somehow and gotten into the water, I knew they might be too late. It was all a guessing game for us at this point.
Not long after I talked to the CG the second time, the emails stopped coming. He had been sending them every 10 minutes for about an hour, then, they just stopped. 30 minutes went by, and nothing. I started to get really worried at this point. All I could think of was what he could be going through at that moment. I knew he was thinking of his family! Another 15 minutes passed, and nothing. The worst part about all of this was that Freddie and I had to leave within the next 15 minutes because we had to head out to do our thing on a crusie ship at the Hubbard Glacier. I thought to myself, how the hell am I going to get up in front of 1,000 people and just pretend that everything is perfectly fine. Nothing else really mattered to me right then. It was my job, but I even considered skipping out on the ship. Ultimately, I knew that there wasn't much more I could do from here, so I decided that I had to go. Pamela, who works with us, took over watching the emails and could forward them to the CG should any more come in. The fact that he had sent messages consistently for about an hour, then just stopped all of sudden, made it impossible for me not to imagine the worst. I know it wouldn't have been my fault at all because I had done everything I could to help him, but there's still a sense of responsibility you feel in a situation like that. I thought that maybe I should have been more assertive in talking to the CG and letting them know that I knew he was in real trouble, and we needed to get to him as fast as possible. Ulitimately, I knew I had done as much as I could at that point. It was all up the the U.S. CG from there.
Freddie and I got on the ship and did our thing, all the time wondering what was taking place out at the Copper River right then. Once I finished my presentation, one of the crew members on the ship snuck me down to his office and let me use the internet so I could see if there was another SPOT check from Mauri. I was nervous walking down to check that email, as I had been for the past few hours. I knew it would be the moment of truth for me and when I opened it I saw there had been more messages sent from Mauri, maybe an hour after Freddie and I left the office. At least this let me know he was still alive at that point, and the helicopter was due to reach him around then. That was a major relief for me. Its amazing what you can infer from certain behaviors or how things tend to occurr. I felt there was more of a chance that his situation was not quite as critical as it could have been. From the beginnng, you don't really know if the person only has a few more minutes, or hours to live because you don't have any other clues. Still, I didn't know what the case was and after another hour or so I was having dinner with Gerry, who had taken me to use the internet the first time. He asked me if I'd like to go check it again. He understood exactly why we were concerned and would want to know the status of everything, so he took me right back down to his computer. It was then, that I finally saw the short reply Pamela had sent to his family in Italy. "We are not sure of his condition, but we do know that Maurizio is now safe in Cordova. He will fly from there to Anchorage, then to Italy." All I can say after that is RELIEF! I knew the Helicopter that was heading his way was based out of Cordova, so that was all the information I needed. Maurizio had told me that he was going to call me when he made it to Cordova, and as always, he did what he said he was going to do on the next day! Our conversation was limited a bit more by being on the telephone, but the messages we both wanted to send were clear. I could hear the emotion in his voice as he thanked us and told me how he had gone as far as he could go. It had been raining non-stop, foggy, windy, muddy, and he had no food left. There, on a sandbar, in the Copper River, the US Coast Guard picked him up with a helicopter. He was only about 10 miles from his destination, but because he knows his limits, and wants to make it back to Italy to hold his children and his wife, he decided it wasn't worth it. He was right, and because he made that decision, he is there with them now. Smiling, I garauntee it! He said "Jared, out there, I think of You, and my Life. Grazie, Grazie!! I said; "Prego, Prego!!", then switched to Spanish and told him that we would talk soon mi Amigo." He said; "Si Si , Mi Amigo For Life!"
Thank you U.S. Coast Guard!
That's Real!
To see Maurizio's blog and some of the photos throughout his trip just click here!
http://maurizio-doro.blogspot.com/p/avventura-in-diretta.html
As you can see, they come quite close to the boat at times.
