X Marks the Spot by posthumus_cake (http://ift.tt/15tFFa4) This was one of the last images my camera ever captured…there was a car accident where the rental car took a joyride down to the bottom of the Spray River/Canal…destroying my camera and lenses. Somehow, my Sandisk CF camera card survived being in 15 feet of water for 20 hours, but regardless, I’m grateful to be alive.
Full Story:
My New Years holiday was a personal record for craziness. The most notable point is that I am still alive. I was in Canada for a 12 day (or so I thought) photography trip in Banff and Jasper National Park. After some New Years Eve location scouting on the Spray Lakes Reservoir and an excellent sunset, we were heading back towards Canmore…now at the north end of Goat Pond, the road makes a sharp left but there is a service road/parking lot that continues onward. As the road was a bit snow covered, we didn’t see that the road actually turns until the very lasts minute… [Dear Canada: I won’t think less of you if you use chevrons/sharp turn signs more frequently].
…anyway, we missed the turn, jumped over an embankment, went airborne for a bit, landed on a hillside, crashed through some brush, and slid into the river/canal. Neither of us was hurt but the we were in the river now and the current was pulling the rental car further into the river. We promptly got the windows open, but since we didn’t know how deep the water was, we stayed in the car (if the water was only a couple feet deep we could stay dry and avoid hypothermia). Unfortunately, the car kept drifting downstream, all while we were taking on water. We climbed out the windows at this point. No later had we done this than the car pitched forward and sank like a stone. I should mention that in some in some spit second impulse, I grabbed my spare down jacket before climbing out the window. I don’t know if anyone else has fallen through the ice or into water when the outdoor temperature is around 10 F (-12 C), but I assure you, it is not pleasant. Fortunately, my shell jacket trapped quite a bit of air, which made me much more buoyant…as such, my head never went underwater and I was able to sidestroke to shore while holding that down jacket above my head…as we were in the middle of the river, this was about a 40 ft swim to the western shore, and I am incredibly fortunate to have gotten out of the water in less than 20 seconds. My friend was in the water longer and seemed to be in shock; I helped get him up over the levee/dike and down onto the road. Within 2 minutes, a car came along, we flagged them down and they were able to drive us into town to a hospital so we could warm up and dry off. The hospital staff was incredibly helpful and was able to make new lodging arrangements for us in town. I should mention that when the rental car sank, it took with it all our clothes, gear, and camera equipment.
On New Years Day, some other photographer friends were able to help us out and drive me to the scene to help recover the gear. As the car had sunk in 15-18 ft of water, a diver had to be called in to rig the car for towing. Presumably due to pressure differential, the trunk had opened, but despite the open trunk, most of our gear was still in the car or had snagged on the trunk door and hadn’t drifted off. Almost all our stuff was physically recovered [granted, all our camera equipment and electronics were shot], apart from a few minor items. The most severe disappearance was my friends carry-on suitcase, which drifted downstream at some point in the 20 hours between entering the river and the towing/recovery. Unfortunately, the towing/diver expense was rather high, at $6540.07 CAD.
The next day we dried our equipment out as best we could and learned that the insurance policy my friend had added to the car rental not only covered the totaled rental car but also the towing/diving expense. My friend has an aunt who lives in Calgary and we were finally able to get ahold of her, and she was able to pick us up. His aunt and uncle graciously drove us around to see a couple of other locations nearby (as to not have a completely wasted trip), then drove us back to Calgary, treated us to a delicious Chinese dinner, and dropped us off at a hotel near the airport so we could reach our flights the next morning.
Through all this, there were a few miracles.
1) we were completely uninjured.
2) we didn’t hit anything substantial during our descent into the river and the airbags never went off. If they had we would have been stunned and disoriented while the car was sinking.
3) we were picked up within minutes of being in that frigid water. If the wait had been 15-20 minutes we probably would have gone unconscious, at night, during frigid conditions in the middle of nowhere.
4) my phone survived my swim and I was able to call home and make arrangements.
5) the insurance policy on the rental car covered everything, including the huge bill to tow the car out of the river.
6) the only things lost were material possessions that can be replaced.
7) everyone we were in contact with was very friendly and went out of their respective ways to help us out.
Sig Nordal 