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- [00:01]
Sponsor Voice
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- [00:33]
John Hopkins
It'S 8:20pm on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007, near the top of Mount Ruapehu. It's an active volcano that rises from the heart of New Zealand's North Island. The Maori word Ruapehu means pit of noise, but tonight the crater is quiet. On a plateau near the summit, a tiny alpine hut perches on the rocky ground. Inside are 22 year old teacher William pike and his climbing companion James Christie. It's dark on the mountain and inside the basic wooden shelter which is almost frozen over by ice, it's minus 8 degrees Celsius. Cocooned in his sleeping bag, William tries to get some shut eye. They'll be leaving at 4am to tackle the summit and the view from the top promises to be something truly special.
- [01:31]
William Pike
To be up before the sunrise, to be walking along the ridge of Mount Trapehu and cresting the summit. You know, just on sunrise was the perfect thing and I couldn't think of any better to do. I was just so pumped about that.
- [01:46]
John Hopkins
James is already asleep. Flat out. After a draining day of climbing, William shuffles around attempting to get comfy. The spooky silence of the mountain closes in around him. Then from nowhere, there is a low rumble and a strange tremor. William sits up. The ground beneath him starts to vibrate. The rumble builds into a roar. Scream. Almost in the darkness outside, disaster is unfolding and something enormous is approaching.
- [02:25]
William Pike
All of a sudden the door was just beyond my feet. This blew open with just tremendous force. In fact, it broke off its hinges. I got up onto my knees and I skidded across the floor in my sleeping bag and grabbed the door frame to kind of look outside and in front of me I could see Mounts Ruapehu erupting.
- [02:49]
John Hopkins
The volcano is venting its fury. A tidal wave of hot rock and icy water comes tumbling towards the hut with stunning speed. Before he can do anything, before he can even scream at James, William is swallowed by the black flood.
- [03:08]
William Pike
It kind of collected me and smashed me up against the wall. The rocks were tumbling and I could feel my legs bo breaking flesh being ripped off my leg. I was screaming. So much water came in in that first instant that I was submerged, thinking that we were going to drown.
- [03:34]
John Hopkins
Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives. In this episode, we meet William Pike, a teacher and adventure seeker from Auckland. He's in love with the great outdoors and thrives on taking himself out of his comfort zone. But in 2007, his limits are pushed further than ever before. On the moonlit slopes of Mount Ruapehu, William and his friend James are Suddenly assaulted by 1.5 million cubic meters of rock, mud and ash. Consumed and entombed by the volcanic flood, William has one hell of a mountain to climb.
- [04:31]
William Pike
Five minutes before that, we've been warm and comfortable and injury free inside our sleeping bags. And now we're literally on the cusp of a life and death situation.
- [04:41]
John Hopkins
I'm John Hopkins from Noiser. This is Real Survival Stories. It's early afternoon on September 24, 2007, in the heart of New Zealand's North Island. An old rust speckled car goes chuntering down a rural highway. Friends William pike and James Christie are on a road trip. James, with fair skin and red hair, is at the wheel. William's features are darker. His hazel eyes look eagerly down the road, waiting for the first glimpse of his beloved mountains. The two trainee teachers have handed in an assignment and jumped in James car to drive four and a half hours from Auckland down to the Tongariro National Park. It's a dual World Heritage site, home to three active volcanoes, sacred sites revered by Maori tradition. At the volcano's feet are forests of beech and cedar. It's early spring and daisies, buttercups and orchids are starting to poke out in the grassland and heather. Higher up there are spectacular waterfalls and between the volcanic craters lie emerald lakes painted vivid green by mineral deposits. Mount Ruapehu is the biggest volcano at over 9,000ft. It fills the sky, its sharp peaks covered in pure white snow. It makes William's heart sing to be here, especially with James.
- [06:46]
William Pike
I remember the first day at teachers college. I turned up and in front of me was 29 women. Thought this is a good start. And one bloke at the back and that was James. So I was too shy to go and sit with the girls, so I went and sat with James and we got on really well. Our, I guess friendship developed not just in the classroom, but I believe outside of the classroom and in the outdoors. We ended up landing a job at the same school, which was extra cool. And we would take the kids across the road and into the bush and would build bivouacs and would make hot drinks and climbed the top of the hill and had a great old time.
- [07:31]
John Hopkins
Outside of school, the pair have spent many hours exploring the hill country on long hiking trips. They've proven they work well together in the wild, thanks in no small part to James's relaxed, can do temperament.
- [07:45]
William Pike
Yeah, he's a respectful, kind. He's got great sense of humor. You know, he's a kind of guy that you'd. You'd be happy to go on a, on a bushwalk with and, or a climbing trip into a remote situation. And he's upbeat and positive and optimistic, and that's the kind of people that we all need in our lives. And I said to James, look, we've done all this bushwalking together, mate, but, you know, you've never been mountaineering, so I want to take you to the place that I love in the Tongariro national park, and we're going to climb three mountains. Mount Rupehu, Mount Ngarahoe, and Mount Tongariro. Mount Nahoe's Mount Doom for those Lord of the Rings fans you see. So three popular mountains in a close proximity. And look, was it going to be a bit much for someone's first mountaineering trip?
- [08:31]
John Hopkins
Yep.
- [08:32]
William Pike
But could he have done it? Yep. Absolutely.
- [08:38]
John Hopkins
It's a clear, beautiful afternoon as they reach Tongariro's Department of Conservation Center. Clambering out of the car, the air is pristine, and William and James gaze up at Mount Ruapehu. It's an active stratovolcano, a wide, expansive mountain formed hundreds of thousands of years ago by layers of erupting lava and ash. It's broad, angular, and complex. The lower brown black slopes rise up gently until they meet the fringes of the snow line, and the volcano grows to a series of craggy white peaks and summit craters. This area was used as a location for the Lord of the Rings movies. But unlike Mordor, Ruapehu isn't dark and forbidding. It's ethereal. But looks can, of course, be deceiving, which means William always prepares for the.
- [09:35]
William Pike
Worst just because of the nature of where it is, because the coastline, the ocean is not that far away. It does bring in very moist airflow. You know, the wind can be blowing and you can just be covered in rime, which is really just ice forming on your jackets or your face or your hair or whatever that may be. It's renowned for having fast changing weather to be extremely icy underfoot and when weather goes bad can be a very unforgiving place to be.
- [10:16]
John Hopkins
William methodically checks the contents of the two 20 kilo rucksacks he's packed. They've got a tent, enough food and water for six days, sunscreen, plus the tools for technical alpine climbing, walking sticks, crampons, an ice axe, shovels and ropes. Plus they have their mobile phones. But they can't rely on getting reception on the mountain. So before they start, William runs through his planned route with the rangers at the Department of Conservation. He is a conscientious adventurer.
- [10:49]
William Pike
I'm the kind of guy that likes to cross his T's and dot his have a plan A and a plan B and I just like to be well prepared. So generally young people in their 20s are quite optimistic and even reckless. But for some reason I wasn't. I knew the risks of mountaineering and I didn't want to become a statistic.
- [11:22]
John Hopkins
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- [11:45]
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- [11:47]
John Hopkins
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- [11:57]
William Pike
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- [11:59]
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- [11:59]
William Pike
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- [12:00]
John Hopkins
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- [12:00]
William Pike
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- [12:01]
John Hopkins
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William Pike
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- [12:03]
John Hopkins
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- [12:07]
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- [12:15]
John Hopkins
It's 4pm and the snow grinds underfoot as William and James start their slow climb up. Just moments ago, a ranger from the conservation center dropped the boys off in his station wagon, leaving them at a ski field and wishing them all the best on their trek. Now they're ascending steadily, getting the muscles going, the blood flowing as they tackle a relatively gentle first section. They walk like this for an hour and a half, making good progress before the sun begins to dip. William is about to start unpacking the tent when he spots some disturbed snow ahead. Closer inspection reveals a snow cave, a shelter dug into the powder that offers warmth and protection from the wind. Inside, they find a group of college students cooking dinner. There's room and food to spare, so William and James join them for a cozy night in the cave. It's been a Good first day. September 25th. It's the following morning and things couldn't be better.
- [13:28]
William Pike
That morning we woke up, it was a beautiful bluebird day. No cloud, no wind, just crisp.
- [13:34]
John Hopkins
A bluebird day is when the sun is bright, the air is still, and the slopes glisten with clean, fluffy snow. They strap on their crampons and start to climb. William's in his element and beginner. James is doing well. He's becoming more of a mountaineer with every step. William plans to set up base at a small hut close to the summit so they can refuel and regroup before making the final ascent. The hut is called the Dome Shelter. It was built to house volcano monitoring equipment, but climbers are permitted to use it for short periods. After three hours of climbing, they eventually come to an area of flatter ground. A large open plateau freckled with snow and volcanic rock. The Dome shelter is meant to be here. They must be near the spot. Except William can't find it.
- [14:31]
William Pike
I like to think that my map and compass skills are pretty damn good, but when we got there, I was looking around quite muddled, not knowing where this building was. But it so happened that it was only a stone's throw away. But this dome shadow was completely encrusted in ice and only the tip of the building was showing.
- [14:49]
John Hopkins
Finally, spotting the roof of the hut peeking out of the snow, they pull out their shovels and dig out the front door. But before heading inside, the friends stop and take a moment to stare at the panorama spread out beneath them.
- [15:04]
William Pike
This dome shadow sits at over two and a half thousand meters above sea level. It's got commanding views right across the North Island. There's this large crater lake there, which you can see there's peaks around you. It's a very special place to be that. Yeah, phenomenal.
- [15:20]
John Hopkins
Right from this plateau, the view stretches on forever in all directions. It's a spectacular snow dusted smorgasbord of forests and fields, rocks and ranges. Close to the hut, only about 500 meters away, there's a crater lake. Its waters change color with the sky, sometimes black. Today, turquoise blue. Crater lakes can be beautiful, but also occasionally deadly. They have been known to spew out suffocating gas and lahas not lava, rather fast moving volcanic mudflow which can destroy everything in its path. But the last major eruption in Mount Ruapehu was more than a decade ago in 1996. Inside the small single room shelter, the men sought out their essential kit for the final climb. They're leaving James pack behind. William wants to ease the load on his less experienced friend. He straps a shovel to his pack and swings it onto his back. With the summit ridge now only about 100 meters higher than this plateau, they set off hungry for the finish line. William takes the lead. The sun is warm, the snow sparkles. But it's quickly apparent that the conditions aren't as good as they appear. Looking down at his feet, William notes that the snow under his boots is too soft. He uses his ice axe as a lever to help him climb, but it doesn't hold, it just crumbles away. It's the same with his crampons, his feet are slipping.
- [17:09]
William Pike
The conditions weren't right underfoot. The snow was incredibly soft, had a bit of an icy layer underneath and that spells a few things. It's potential avalanche. If you do start to fall, it's very hard to stop and I knew that the mountain was going to be there another day. So to actually stop and sit down and have a music bar and a discussion with James and say, look mate, I just, I just don't think this is on, you know, I got a bad feeling about it.
- [17:41]
John Hopkins
William's natural caution has kicked in. Yes, he wants to reach the top of the volcano, but he doesn't want to die trying. James agrees and they turn around. By the time they get back to the dome shelter, it's gone. 7:00pm Even inside the hut, it's intensely cold, minus 8 degrees, but it's better than nothing and they don't plan to be here too long.
- [18:09]
William Pike
I said to James, well, I'll cook dinner. After dinner. We just decided to get to sleep because our plan the next day was to be up before the sunrise.
- [18:20]
John Hopkins
James is asleep before his head hits the pillar, dead to the world. William stretches out in his sleeping bag, facing the door. He's buzzing with anticipation, making it hard to drift off. If the snow is solid tomorrow, they have a good chance of seeing the sunrise from the summit. But then from the darkness, there is a low, disturbing rumble which shudders through the earth. It grows deeper and louder. William sits up and is sleeping back, his heart suddenly cracking against his ribs. The hut starts to visibly shake. There is a change in the air pressure and the rumble explodes into a ROAR Whatever's out there, it's heading straight for them. Suddenly, the hut door is blown open, revealing the extraordinary, terrifying sight of Mount Ruapehu erupting. The nearby crater lake is spewing out a deadly deluge.
- [19:25]
William Pike
Ice, boulders, water, everything came crashing down. It burst its way into the dome. SHOUTER Because I was in, literally in the middle of the doorway, it kind of collected me and smashed me up against the wall. The rocks were tumbling and I could feel my legs, bones breaking, flesh being ripped off my leg. I was screaming. It sounded like this jet plane was taking off outside, except it was this bloody volcano that was erupting. So much water came in in that first instant that I and James was submerged, thinking that we were going to drown.
- [20:07]
John Hopkins
William and James are engulfed, submerged and helpless. The crater lake at the top of Mount Ruapehu is boiling over, ejecting 1.5 million cubic meters of sulfurous ash, rocks and water. It's barreling across the mountain and filling their shelter.
- [20:29]
William Pike
It's 30 seconds being pummeled, water gushing in, being submerged, thinking I was going to drown, and then everything going silent. Fortunately for me and for James, there'd been a lot of damage done to the floorboards and water escaped out as quickly as it, as it came in. We were able to kind of breathe again.
- [20:54]
John Hopkins
As the volcanic flood washes out of the hut, William and James reemerge into the cold air, desperately sucking in oxygen. They call out for each other in the darkness. Incredibly, they're both alive. Shocked, wet and battered, William tries to stand up and finds he can't. He hears James stumbling over the rocks strewn across the floor. Somehow he'd managed to scramble to the corner of the shelter before the volcanic tidal wave hit and he is mostly unscathed. William, however, took a direct hit. Somewhere in the carnage, James finds his head torch and flicks it on. What the light reveals is a shock to both men. William has been catapulted backwards, close to the rear wall of the hut. He's buried from the waist down, his legs disappearing in a gray mess of rock, mud and ice.
- [21:57]
William Pike
I was firmly stuck. I didn't have anything within reach of me that was useful. Five minutes before that, we being warm and comfortable and injury free inside our sleeping bags, and now we're literally on the cusp of a life and death situation.
- [22:14]
John Hopkins
James puts his hands under William's arms and tries to lift him out of the debris, but the weight of the mud and rocks on his legs is just too great. James can't move him at all they use their hands to try to dig out William's legs, scooping away mud, shifting lumps of rock. Eventually, faces encrusted with sweat and dirt, they create enough space around William's left leg to pull it free. It's obvious his knee is badly injured, but it's nowhere near as painful or concerning as his right leg, which is still buried beneath the hardened sludge.
- [22:53]
William Pike
James said, well, look, I'll see if I can get you out. I'll. I'll put my hand in between your leg and the rocks and, you know, we'll see if I can pull anything out. So he kind of slides his hand down hard up against my leg, trying to dislodge rocks and whatever was down there. And at one point, he almost sent me through the roof with this extraordinary pain. And he pulled. I swore at him and yelled at him, and he took his hand out, and on his hand was blood. So we came to the conclusion that he wasn't pulling on rocks. He was pulling on my bones that were sticking out of my leg.
- [23:31]
John Hopkins
William has at least one compound fracture. Warm blood pools around his trapped leg as he looks at James crimson hands. Things start to go blurry. His vision closes in. He's blacking out. But then a sharp stinging sensation forces him back into sentience. James has slapped him hard across the face. They need to get William free now before he falls unconscious again.
- [24:04]
William Pike
The first thing that came across our minds was, well, let's get a shovel, because we had snow shovels, but James was digging into this rock with these, these shovels, and aluminum was just bending on these shovels. It just wasn't getting us anywhere at all. So he moved to the ice ax and James was chipping away at the rock with the ice ax. But sparks were flying off the rocks and the ice axe onto me, actually, and he wasn't getting anywhere. I was just so firmly encased in this concrete, like, mixture of ice and water and rocks and mud.
- [24:46]
John Hopkins
It's no use. William is pinned fast in the rock, petrified like a fossil. Now it's all a race against time. At this height in these temperatures, it won't be long before William freezes to death if he doesn't bleed out first. He instructs James to make a tourniquet by pushing a broken piece of wood down the narrow gap next to his broken bones and lashing it to his leg with a rope. It might stem some of the bleeding, but that's just a stopgap to have any real hope of saving William's Life. They need help. With their phones damaged beyond use, there is now really only one option. James must go down the volcano and raise the alarm. A novice climber on his first mountaineering trip, descending unfamiliar terrain in the dark is all extremely dangerous. It could, in fact, place James in even greater peril than William. But if he doesn't try, his friend will die. Without question. If he's going, he needs to go now.
- [25:59]
William Pike
Unfortunately, most things in the building were buried apart from his boots and my Gore Tex jacket, which was up on a hook. So he put that on. So he had boots on, no socks, his favorite blue undies. My Gore Tex jacket was how he was dressed to leave, which was insane given the -8 degrees. And I said to him, well, hold on a sec. And I really meant this. I said, mate, can you please tell my friends and my family that I love them? Because I didn't think I was going to see him or anyone else again. And James, being the guy that is, he's kind of happy to go. Lucky, confident kind of guy. He said, no, mate, she'll be right. You can tell him yourself. And I said, all right. And he said, oh, okay, cool. Where do I go? Far out. This is not a good start.
- [26:53]
John Hopkins
It's almost like a comedy sketch. What not to do While mountaineering, James is half dressed, without crucial bits of kit and he barely knows where he's going. It might be funny if the stakes weren't so high.
- [27:08]
William Pike
As he took off down the mountain, James had this huge challenge in front of him to not only save his life, but obviously he had my life in the back of his mind as well. But to navigate down a mountain in the dark in very icy conditions, in awful circumstances, really. And he took off into the darkness. It was very movie like. It was very surreal and at the same time terrifying as well.
- [27:43]
John Hopkins
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William Pike
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- [27:51]
John Hopkins
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- [27:55]
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- [28:30]
John Hopkins
It's 8:45pm, about 15 minutes since James left. Other than the sound of his own rattling breath and the faint ticking of his watch, William cannot hear anything. The lonely quiet seems to make time move slower. Then a noise, and William's heart stops. Another deep groaning rumble. He holds his breath, waiting to hear if it gets louder. Mercifully, the growl subsides. But the volcano is letting him know it's still there. It could still annihilate him at any moment.
- [29:14]
William Pike
I was left sitting inside of the dome shelter, shivering violently and also panicking and hyperventilating. And I tried to work out how long it might take the rescuers to get to me. And I figured that it was probably going to take them about 10 hours was my best guess, based on travel times on foot and raising the alarm. And then I did some more maths and thought, gee, I reckon I've only got five hours left to live, so it's likely that I was going to die there. I thought about all things I wanted to do. Grow up, family, more adventures, maybe be a principal one day was going through my head at the time, but all of those dreams were just dashed and just ripped away from me in an instant. And there was nothing that I could do except not give up. And in my mind, that was trying to get free. I thought, can I cut my leg off? Can I somehow escape? And the answer was no. I didn't have anything sharp enough to cut it off. Every time I pulled on my leg, the bones would pull apart and crunch back together again, never sitting in quite the same way, making terrible groaning noises.
- [30:31]
John Hopkins
It's eight degrees below freezing. Unable to move, William simply cannot keep warm. As an experienced outdoorsman, he is acutely aware of the various stages of hypothermia. Stage one, awake and shivering, body temperature 32 to 35 degrees. The freezing cold is already causing his body to start shutting down. It affects thoughts, perceptions, sensations. It's not long before the mind games start.
- [31:04]
William Pike
Perhaps, you know, half an hour or so into being stuck on the dome shelter, I perhaps felt a bit warmer or more comfortable. At one point, I did take that sleeping bag off me and that down jacket because it just wasn't working for me, or I was uncomfortable, or I didn't need it anymore, which of course was a stupid thing to do. But given that hypothermia was taking its toll on me. I couldn't make good decisions anymore.
- [31:33]
John Hopkins
Hypothermia stage two. Drowsy and not shivering. Body temperature 28 to 32 degrees. As the seconds tick by and the cold runs deeper into his bones, William stops looking for ways to fight his situation. A strange sense of calm takes over.
- [31:54]
William Pike
And I had comfort in knowing that I had made the most of my life. I had grabbed opportunity, I had done some cool things, I didn't often say no to things. And I was filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling that I didn't have any significant regrets. And that's a really special thing to be able to say in a, and know in a, in a time like that. And I would estimate that I was conscious for only another probably half an hour to an hour after James had left, before I drifted off to sleep thinking that I would never wake up again.
- [32:38]
John Hopkins
Hypothermia, stage three. Unconscious, not shivering. Body temperature 20 to 28 degrees. William's heart rate is slowing. His organs are getting less oxygen. And in the silence and the cold of the mountain, he finally allows himself to drift off into utter blackness. James hares his way down the volcano, kicking up dusty clouds of ash and ice particles. Clumps of snow, rocks and pebbles tumble down the slopes alongside him without crampons. His boots frequently slip on the blackened ice and he falls again and again. It's a maze of slate gray boulders and frozen patches of earth. It's like the surface of an alien world which James is tackling in almost complete darkness. But on he goes. At last he spots something. A light in the distance. Nearby, a man named Shane is driving his snow vehicle down the mountain. Earlier, Shane had been grooming the slopes for the next day's skiers when the volcano suddenly erupted. After narrowly missing the deluge himself, he has slowly made his way away from danger to this spot. It's a huge stroke of luck that James has found him instantly. He darts towards Shane, shouting and waving his arms. By around 9.30pm, the pair have raised the alarm. And just a couple of hours later, an alpine rescue team is driving back up the mountain in a snowcat in the direction of the Dome shelter. Despite the odds being totally stacked against him, James made it down the volcano in less than an hour. It's been a herculean effort, but has it been enough to save his friend? It's around midnight when the rescue team arrives at the dome shelter, the air thick with sulfur and ash. Entering the cabin, they see a jumble of rock and water and mud. It's been over three hours since the eruption and everything is now frozen solid within the ice cold carnage of the shelter. The rescuers can see William, but are they too late? As they move closer, they see he is trapped, unmoving, unconscious, but somehow still clinging on to life.
- [35:36]
William Pike
They took my body temperature, one of the first things that they did, and it read 25 degrees Celsius. Normal is 37 Celsius. And so I was incredibly sick, incredibly cold, and no defibrillator or drugs was ever going to start my heart if it stopped when my body was that cold. Not only being cold, but looking very gray and pale, with a very shallow breath, I was as close as you can get to dying.
- [36:04]
John Hopkins
William's pupils are fixed and dilated. The team can barely detect his pulse. He has a gcs, a measure of consciousness, of three, which is the lowest possible score. He's on the cusp of brain death. Only 20% of people with a GCS of 3 survive. One of the rescuers fit an oxygen mask over William's blue lips, while the rest of the team start using crowbars and their hands to dig him out. Inch by inch, rock by rock, the rescue team whittles away at the concrete like cast, entrapping his leg before finally they free him. As they do, William's right leg quite literally falls apart as fragments of bone come loose. It almost certainly cannot be saved, but that's not their concern right now. One way or another, they must get him out of here before his body gives up or before the volcano erupts again. William is carefully lifted onto a stretcher lined with a sleeping bag. He is carried to the snowcat and gently placed on board. The slightest bump or jolt could kill him with severe hypothermia. Sudden movements can send the heart into an irregular rhythm, triggering a cardiac arrest. They have to take their time, but it's time William doesn't have. It's around 1am when the Snowcat eventually reaches the lower edge of the ski field. An ambulance is waiting and paramedics work quickly, wrapping William in foil blankets, packing hot water bottles around him and giving him intravenous fluids.
- [37:56]
William Pike
I was delivered stinking like sulfur from the. From the volcanic eruption and just being generally covered in mud and grit from this eruption. My legs were really contaminated with a lot of mud and debris around the significant soft tissue injuries and compound fractures.
- [38:16]
John Hopkins
First by ambulance, then by helicopter, William is transported to the nearest hospital. The doctors there take one look at him and decide he needs to go to the major trauma center in the City of Hamilton. He's put in an induced coma for the journey. It's 4am as the helicopter touches down on the roof of Waikato Hospital. A large trauma team has already been briefed and is waiting. William's heart rate is just 45 beats per minute. His blood pressure is on the floor, 65 over 29, and his body temperature is still 25 degrees, the lowest the doctors here have ever seen in any living patient.
- [39:04]
William Pike
In the early few hours at hospital, the legs weren't a priority. It was, let's warm this guy and stabilize him and put airways in, check his vitals and then we'll deal with the legs. They first had to stabilize me in the intensive care room, which was not easy with a body temperature of 25 degrees and to slowly warm me over the period of, I think, six to eight hours.
- [39:29]
John Hopkins
The nurses wrap him in a medical blanket hooked up to a pump, which blasts warm air over his frozen body. William's parents, who have rushed to the hospital, are allowed in for a moment. Slowly, he responds to the gentle warming. After six hours, his body temperature has come up to 32 degrees. It's miraculous that he has come back from such intense hypothermia. It means he is now stable enough for emergency surgery on his legs.
- [40:07]
Sponsor Voice
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- [41:10]
John Hopkins
It's the evening of the 26th of September, 24 hours after the eruption on Mount Ruapejo. William opens his eyes.
- [41:22]
William Pike
Slowly began to wake. I could see blurry, you know, bright white lights above me. I could at the same time hear machines pumping and beeping. I could hear the voices of People talking away and the penny dropped and I thought, far out. Like, I'm alive, new beauty. I just really didn't expect to wake up and I was over the moon. But that was soon. I guess that mood was kind of crumbled by looking down at my legs and seeing it was one leg missing.
- [42:01]
John Hopkins
William's right leg had lost too much blood and been without circulation for too long. It couldn't be saved.
- [42:09]
William Pike
You know, I had all these thoughts kind of spiraling through my head. Could I walk again? Could I teach again? Could I go on adventures? Was I going to get a girlfriend? I had so much Runway, so much potential, so many things that I wanted to do.
- [42:25]
John Hopkins
The ordeal has left William with huge obstacles to overcome, both physical and psychological. And he's not even completely safe yet. Due to his leg being trapped for so long, he has developed crush syndrome.
- [42:40]
William Pike
Because I had significant crush injuries for an extended period of time, that meant that I had developed toxins in my blood from the crush injuries. The muscle had died and once the crush was released, the blood was then picking up those toxins flowing around the body and my kidneys. Eventually, after a few days, stopped working.
- [43:06]
John Hopkins
William spends weeks on dialysis and has to have multiple skin grafts on his left leg again. He just has to hang on in there. It's a long, painful. Two months before he's discharged from hospital, he goes back to his mum and dad's house. And that's when reality really bites. He's 22 and an amputee. Initially, it's a lot to come to terms with, but William soon starts thinking of the future.
- [43:40]
William Pike
That transition from hospital to home was incredibly difficult for me. Frustration, anger, crying. I had to set myself some goals and the first thing was, right, I want to learn to walk. The second one was got to get back to that dome shelter, and the third one was got to get back into the classroom as well. If I'm honest, I didn't know if I could do it. I was full of fear and full of doubt.
- [44:10]
John Hopkins
He gets his head down and starts trying to achieve the goals he set himself. He begins swimming and slowly he rebuilds his fitness. After just three months, he returns to the classroom on crutches. Two months after that, he's fitted with a prosthetic leg. His life is never the same, but William's strength grows every day. First he adapts, then he flourishes, reaching milestone after milestone, which includes getting a girlfriend, Rebecca, a fellow teacher who eventually becomes his wife and and the mother of his two children. He also creates the William Pike Challenge, a youth development program which to date has been completed by 40,000 children. He maintains that embracing physical challenges in the great outdoors builds strength, character and resilience. He says it's what kept him alive on Mount Ruapehu.
- [45:09]
William Pike
What enabled me to survive was a combination of youth, fitness and sheer bloody mindedness and determination. Had I not been as fit as I was, I do not think that my body would have pulled through from such a traumatic experience. And just through putting myself outside of my comfort zone in the outdoors, through sport, I believe I had that fighting spirit inside of myself. So I was fortunate to have had experiences behind me that had built my confidence to a level where I was prepared to fight and stay alive.
- [45:57]
John Hopkins
There are inevitably some what ifs in William's story. If he and James had been able to reach the summit on the second day, they would have been off the volcano before it erupted. But the event was near impossible to predict or prepare for. The mini eruption was described as a blue sky incident by experts, meaning it was out of the blue and highly unlikely. But one thing is certain. James courageous decision to descend a treacherous mountain alone saved William's life.
- [46:33]
William Pike
For James to be able to, I guess, yeah, be cool and calm when, when things got hectic in that dome shelter to help make those key decisions to keep the both us alive was speaks volume of him and his kind of character. Leaving the dome shelter in the dark without the right clothing and running down a mountain that you're unfamiliar with would have taken an enormous amount of courage. I owe my life to him.
- [47:07]
John Hopkins
James is awarded the New Zealand Bravery Medal for his actions. But there's still more to come from the two friends. When William is stronger and has adapted to his new leg, they decide to return to Mount Ruapehu and to the dome shelter together. After a couple of failed attempts in 2012, the pair make it back. It's been five years since the disaster that nearly claimed both their lives. It's the end of a long journey.
- [47:38]
William Pike
It took us the best part of a day to get there and it really was a momentous occasion. Coming through the cloud to see the dome shelter there. It was summertime so there was no snow. Seeing the floorboards that had been replaced from where I'd been crushed, looking up onto the walls and seeing the waterline levels of where the water had and, you know, giving him a great big hug and thanking him for saving my life.
- [48:13]
John Hopkins
Next time on Real Survival Stories. We meet Ian Afshar as he travels to the Isle of Skye. His aim is to traverse the famous Kulin Ridge, a perilous knife edge rocky path which meanders through the hills. But after the sudden onset of an intense, impenetrable fog, Ian will be sent tumbling blindly into extreme danger. As he clings to life in the swirling mist, he'll be forced to rely on the skill and bravery of others, and his ultimate salvation will come from the most unlikely of sources. That's next time. Listen to Ian's story today without waiting a week by subscribing to Noiser plus.
- [49:02]
Sponsor Voice
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- [49:06]
John Hopkins
Yep, and it still is. I even work overnight.
- [49:10]
Sponsor Voice
Huh?
- [49:11]
John Hopkins
Colgate's Optic White Overnight whitening pen works.
- [49:13]
Sponsor Voice
Overnight so after one week I can show up confidently and reunion ready. And here I was bragging about my kids.
- [49:20]
John Hopkins
Colgate Optic White Find it at all.
- [49:22]
Sponsor Voice
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- [49:40]
John Hopkins
Plan versus Verizon and at and t@tmobile.com.
- [49:43]
Sponsor Voice
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