Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve is a land of river canyons, flatlands, and gently-sloping mountains due east of Fairbanks, smack in the middle of Alaska’s long eastern flank. It’s very remote, it’s very rugged, and it gets very, very cold. To properly outfit yourself for an expedition there, you’d want plenty of wool baselayers, rain-proof outer shells, a four-season tent, a packraft, and, of course, plenty of food. And that’s just in shoulder season. In winter? Forget it. Let it snow, leave it to the bears.
From December 1943 until March 1944, Leon Crane spent nearly 3 months, through the dead of winter, in that land of icy rivers and freezing winds with almost none of those things.
Crane survived. That he did owes far more to his clear-headed resilience, and blind fortune, than it does to any wilderness skills.
Lt. Leon Crane’s ordeal began 25,000 feet above that lonely stretch of the Yukon on December 21, 1943. He was a co-pilot on a B-24 Liberator, a heavy bomber, on a training flight out of Ladd air base in Fairbanks, when they lost an engine 130 miles east of base. The pilots wrestled with the controls and as the big plane slipped into an uncontrollable spin, they told the crew to abandon ship.
Quite the story.
ReplyDeleteDevine providence. Hell of a story.
ReplyDelete'... without making big mistakes ...'
ReplyDeleteThe absence of big mistakes is what sets the survivor apart from the expired. The commission of just one big mistake may very well end on death.
In the study of case after case, it is apparent exacly where in the fight for survival did one sign his death warrant.
But avoiding big mistakes has two parts: ommission of the mistake; commission of the correct choice.
Action is required, but it must be the correct action.
Another feature among those who did not make it is that they appear to have acted hastily. When confronted by unanticipated circumstance, it is best to slow down to consider what must be your response. Your first response must be to think.
Your point is spot on. In the Alaskan wilderness or on the American frontier, avoid mistakes, do the correct things. It brings to mind this quote, oddly: "To survive the frontier, you must learn to recognize those who won't and be wary of their doomed decisions. They are to be avoided at all costs because their fear is tragedy's closest cousin, and tragedy is contagious in this place." — Elsa Dutton
DeleteIncredible story. Ladd AFB is now Ladd Army Airfield and part of Fort Wainwright where I did my last 13-months working for Unkle Sammy playing army and it's a long string of miracles that he survived.
ReplyDeleteGreat story. Thanks. - Nemo
ReplyDeleteDidn't John Wayne do a movie Island in the Sky about this story?
ReplyDeleteNot far from my backyard. Had the opportunity to attend the USAF Arctic Survival school just after I got stationed here. Long week, great school.
ReplyDeleteGreat story, thanks. I passed it along.
ReplyDeleteThat man had balls the size of church bells. I'm surprised he could even walk, with balls that big.
ReplyDelete