After realizing he had lost his jerry can, his matches and food, Fort Resolution resident Peter McKeough knew he was in trouble. While hypothermia was setting in, he paced the shores waiting to be rescued.
Terry Halifax
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Mar 05/01) - Peter McKeough is feeling lucky to be alive, following a sleepless night stranded between Fort Resolution and Hay River.
The 44-year-old nurse accompanied a patient to Hay River, planning to drive approximately 60 kilometres to Fort Resolution on his new snowmobile on Feb. 22.
"I got a little bit lost; I got turned around in a big bay," he said from his Hay River hospital bed. "It was really rough. There were pressure ridges sticking out about 10 or 12 feet, like big shards of glass."
McKeough managed to find his way out of the maze of heaved ice. He then realized the supply bag he'd attached to the back of his snowmobile with a bungee cord was missing.
"I lost my jerry can, my gas, the bag with my matches and food in it and all I had, was a bag with my extra clothes and an axe in it," he said.
"I went back in to try to find it and couldn't, so I went back out."
Stuck in the middle
Once back on the right path, he realized he wouldn't be able to get back to Hay River or all the way to Fort Res.
"I just drove towards Res, until I ran out of gas," he said. "I went back in towards the shore with some tree cover, dug a little hole and filled it up with spruce boughs.
"I crawled in there to wait out the night."
It was too cold for him to sleep and his feet were freezing. He got up and walked to keep warm.
He knew help would come, because he'd told his co-worker, Gail Beaulieu, that he'd be returning along the lakeshore and to expect him by 8 a.m. the next day.
"It wasn't too bad at first, because I knew somebody would be along," he recalled. "But when the sun came up, that was the worst part because nobody had shown up yet."
He didn't sleep at all that night and said hypothermia had set in. He became confused as he paced up and down the shore, trying to spot a cut line or power pole to give him a point of reference.
McKeough figured he had paced for hours before he heard the buzz of the approaching aircraft.
Land and air search
Sgt. Larry Wright of the Hay River RCMP said they were notified about the missing man at 10:30 a.m.
"We did a search locally and didn't find anything in town so we put a plane up," Wright said.
"They headed out the road he was believed to have followed and that's where he was located."
Landa Aviation owner Darcy King began the air search at 3 p.m. Feb. 23. Following the information that McKeough would be travelling along the lake, they flew in that direction.
"We followed some trails out of town and they disappeared up around the Buffalo River," he said. "We came up with nothing there and continued our search along the lake.
"We finally spotted him about 30 miles straight east from Hay River."
The lake ice was broken and heaved and King spent about 30 minutes trying to find a suitable area to put down his Cessna 185.
"Because of the way the winds blow over the lake there, it's very rough and icy," he said. "We found a place that wasn't any more than big enough and to tell you the truth there wasn't anywhere out there that was suitable.
"He was darned happy to see us," King said. "We didn't have to ask him twice if he wanted a ride."
"After we got him into the plane, I told him he weren't leaving without him."
King said McKeough was smart to stay with the snow machine and said it's also a good idea for travellers to carry a strip of reflector tape on their machine to make themselves more visible from the air.
Feeling the effects
Although he's now safe and dry in the hospital, McKeough is not yet out of the woods.
His nose was badly burned by the cold and he may lose some toes or part of his feet due to severe frostbite.
"It feels like somebody's cutting my feet with a knife," he said of the constant, throbbing pain. "I've been in car accidents, had broken bones, but I've never felt pain like this before.
"The doctor said we might get really lucky and I won't lose anything," he said.
He said he feels lucky to be alive and has learned some hard lessons that he hopes others won't have to.
"I made some big mistakes," he admits. "Never travel without a toboggan, that's the first thing."
