ESC

College Professor Falls 70 Feet Into Crevasse, Survives, Climbs Out on His Own

On Monday, Western Kentucky University Professor John All was conducting climate research in the Himalayas when he fell 70 feet into an icy crevasse breaking a rib or ribs. While figuring out what to do, he filmed a series of videos. The first words of his first video were, “Well I’m very well fucked.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlQFvAi8zdo

It took him four to five hours to climb out, make it back to his tent and call for help.

“It probably took me four or five hours to climb out. I kept moving sideways, slightly up, sideways, slightly up, until I found an area where there was enough hard snow that I could get an ax in and pull myself up and over,” he told HLN’s “RightThisMinute” on Thursday.

“I knew that if I fell at any time in that entire four or five hours, I, of course, was going to fall all the way to the bottom of the crevasse. Any mistake, or any sort of rest or anything, I was going to die.”

The amount of adrenaline running through his body must have been insane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDw_V6Mg_30

John explained that a ledge had stopped his fall but his biggest problem was his entire right side was essentially useless. “I had to do everything with just my right foot, but not the upper part of my right leg, and my left leg, and then my left arm.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRtbJohxtdQ

When he did make it out of the crevasse, John said he half-walked, half-rolled to his tent. Surprisingly, John was glad there wasn’t a second person with him. “If somebody else had been with me, we both would have died. There’s no question. Because I would have fallen in the crevasse, they would have fallen on top of me, and we would have killed each other.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykxQ8vfoKag

All was flown to Kathmandu and transferred to a hospital there. He said, “It’s amazing how broken a body can be and still be functioning.”

Yea, no. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that because I’m the worst in a crisis. My first thought would have been, “Guess I’m going to have to drink my own urine now,” and then I would have tried to pee in my mouth.

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