Struck by lightning on the Aiguille du Chardonnet - 12546ft (3824m) | ||||||||||||
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Introduction | ||||||||||||
-Scorched | ||||||||||||
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Back on the ridge JC recalled what had happened. He had a kind of flash frame memory, like an image frozen by a single flicker of a strobe light. He remembered a bright orange glow on the rock beside him and me diving down the rocks below, then nothing. I fancy that I too remember a tiny moment where I started to tense powerfully as if someone had crept up behind me and unexpectedly yelled 'boo' in my ear. Neither of us had felt a thing. We'd lost consciousness in an instant. We couldn't tell for how long we'd been unconscious. I suspect it wasn't for very long because when I came to I was in a very uncomfortable position but didn't notice any aches when I started to move. When JC had come round he had seen the Dutch pair slumped motionless in front of him and then me in a heap below on the rocks. His first thought was that we were all dead. He showed me where some lightning had obviously hit him directly. Punched through the thick webbing of his climbing harness was a small hole with melted edges. Unbelievably, one trouser leg had been blown apart. The main seam had burst open down to his knee. Slightly higher on his thigh an irregular ragged hole about 20cm long had also appeared. This hole looked as if someone had stabbed wildly at the fabric with a knife. Ominously, through the hole I could see a large red weal on his skin. JC was later to discover that a red scorch mark twisted around his leg from the weal downwards, to stop at the ankle of his plastic boot. All the body hair on his leg had been burnt off. Curiously the fabric of his trousers did not look burnt at all. It's not uncommon for lightning victims to be found with their clothes blown off. The instant vapourisation of sweat on the skin's surface can occur with explosive force. This would explain the damage to JC's leg and trousers. It looked bad. As far as I could tell I had nothing like that. My unconscious tumble down the rocks on the south face seemed to have left me remarkably unhurt. I could smell that my hair had been burnt but I wasn't aware of any injury at all. JC patted his thigh and told me that he couldn't feel anything in that leg and he could not climb. I dearly hoped that would change and I said to 'give it a few minutes'. All four of us sat in a small flat spot on the ridge, facing each other. None of us were in a fit state to make a move. We were mostly silent, scared and deeply shaken by what had just happened. | ||||||||||||
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