A backcountry skier in Colorado suffered an unusual—and dangerous—injury when he was clotheslined by a hidden steel wire. Ryan Copenhagen was descending a gully on January 26 when the metal line struck him across the neck. He was injured, but survived.
In an interview with Outside, Copenhagen said that the incident occurred near the popular ski town of Silverton, in a gully east of Corkscrew Pass, just after 4:00 P.M. during his final ski run with a friend.
Copenhagen said the wire appears to have been an old steel telephone line, roughly a quarter-inch wide, hung between two trees about 35 feet high. One of the trees had fallen, however, bringing the wire near neck height.
At Copenhagen’s request, the local search and rescue organization, Silverton Medical Rescue (SMR), posted photos of the aftermath on Facebook as a warning to the ski community.
“There were moderate to considerable avalanche hazards, so we wanted to get up high,” Copenhagen said. “We were making good decisions, being very conservative, then at the last second, I went into this gully on the left to get a couple more turns in.”
That’s when he struck the line. “I didn’t even see the thing coming,” he added.
Copenhagen wasn’t seriously injured, and with the help of his friend, he headed to the hospital. He spent the night in the intensive care unit. Doctors told him he’d only suffered minor damage to the hyoid bone in his neck and cricoid cartilage around his voice box.
“It was difficult to talk and swallow for a couple of days, but luckily, that was kind of it,” he said.
Because he also had some bruising to his upper arm and chest, doctors believe the wire struck his chest first, absorbing the initial impact, before sliding up to his neck. Copenhagen said this almost certainly prevented him from more serious neck injuries and may have saved his life.
He and his friend returned the following week to cut the wire down with a grinder. He then shared the photos with SMR, an organization where he works part-time, to post as a public service announcement.
While this wire was due to a fallen tree, Copenhagen said his collision serves as a reminder of the myriad hidden dangers lurking in the Colorado backcountry, many of which are now exposed due to the state’s record-low snow levels. As of February 1, drought monitoring agencies report that overall snow cover across the western U.S. is the lowest on record.
“We write to warn our followers and friends on the mountain that debris, posts, wires, and other trash is far more exposed this year than in other years,” wrote SMR on Facebook.
SMR and Copenhagen advise backcountry users to treat familiar terrain with extreme caution because descents that are usually safe to run may harbor new threats. Skiers should scout lines carefully and manage their speed; the margin for error this season is thin.
The post Rescuers Issue Warning After a Wire Clipped Skier Across the Neck in the Colorado Backcountry appeared first on Outside Online.
