Diamond Peak, Oregon

While camping at Diamond Peak, there was an incident.
No alcohol was involved...









































I was attempting to show how to get the trigger lock off the bear spray.










When suddenly, the thing went off. RIGHT IN MY EYE!!!
Took a direct hit in my right eye. I stood there for a second, thinking to myself, "Well, this is going to suck...".
And it did.
My left eye was ok -at first, but within 5-7 seconds, the pepper started to work it's magic.
My right eye was rendered useless almost instantly. I looked around with my left eye, but then, within a few seconds, it too started stinging. REALLY BAD!

I couldn't see anything. The burning was unbearable.
While my buddy, snowblasta read the back of the canister, I struggled to find my way back to the Jeep.
"WHERE'S THE WATER?!!!"
"HURRY UP!"



The directions on the can of pepper spray says to flush the eyes with running water for 20-30 minutes.
So snowblasta holds the jug of water up while I stand there waiting for the pain to go away. The pain only increased.
I was afraid snowblasta would get tired and leave me for even a second without water.
I couldn't see sh$t.
So I had him set the jug of water on the back bumper while I lay on the snow and let the water run over my eyes. I'm starting to get frantic. I knew that being almost an hour drive from Oakridge - that a 911 call would be useless. And we both knew that the pepper spray was non-lethal and would dissipate soon.
But the pain was incredible! I demanded that snowblasta call 911 to see if there was anything we were forgetting - as far as a remedy was concerned.
Both 911 and Poison Control sounded apologetic and condescending. At that point, we knew that it was only a matter of time before the pain would subside.
While on the phone with them,

-I should point out, that a 911 call worked on the cell phone without any reception-

they mentioned the possibility of hypothermia. Snowblasta had mentioned to them that we were out in the middle of nowhere, camping. They didn't understand that we had a heat source available. But sure enough, within 10 minutes of lying on the snow with water running all over my face, hands, down jacket, base layers, etc., I started to shiver.
I had snowblasta get my sleeping pad from my tent. Then a blanket from the Jeep. We had a ton of hand warmers. I stuffed them down my shirt. But the shivers and the hypothermia got worse. I couldn't control the shaking.
Time to get in the Jeep.
I could only leave the running water for about 10 seconds before the pain became unbearable. I ran to the driver side and hopped in. Started the engine and turned the heater on full blast.
Snowblasta held the jug of water above me. We had turned the spigot to only a drizzle to conserve water. I was having panic attacks of how I would survive without the running water.
But I knew that my buddy would not be able to hold the water still enough. My whole face was numb, so when the stream of water would leave my eye, I couldn't tell where it went.
So I told him to bungee the damn thing to the roof rack.
This worked perfect!

With the heater cranking and the jug of water successfully tied above me, I still had trouble. My neck began to hurt. I couldn't maintain keeping my eye under the stream of water.
I figured out real quick, that my right eye - the one that got the direct hit - needed the most water. The left eye was not too bad, so I was directing the stream of water into my right eye and letting it flow over the rim of my nose and into my left eye. This was beginning to become difficult. Especially with my whole face being numb and all. My neck was starting to cramp up from having to hold my head out the door in that certain position. Snowblasta came out and was able to help me maintain that certain position of my head to allow the water to flow over my eyes at the exact angle I needed to get relief.

After a while, I started to get warm. The Jeep's heater was working well. Then a bit later, after a few attempts, I was able remove myself from the stream of water and the pain was gone.

I scrubbed my face with tons of handi-wipes. The stinging was still there, on my face. About an hour after the incident, we were laughing our a$$es off about it.

               

Bailed the next morning back to Oakridge. Found a laundromat to wash all my clothes and got a motel.

So, after going back to the scene the next day and getting a day of exploring in at Diamond Peak, we headed for the Newberry Caldera.
Not much snow.
After all that, we decided to head for Bend. We both had brand new skis that still hadn't seen any turns.
Got cheap tickets in the parking lot and got some turns in at the resort. Some much-earned turns lapping the groomers and riding the lifts. It was a trip!
1st turns at a ski resort in over 10 years for me!

www.youtube.com/user/MrJibmstr?feature=mhsn

The Jeep still smells of bear spray...
_________________

Holy Batman!

There's nothing quite like that moment when you know you're really in for it...   (place bulging eye emoticon here)

Quite an experience! Glad you're OK, jibmaster!

I've been trying not to ask....but it seems I've lost the struggle. So: Why were you carrying bear spray?

The original plan was to do a mult-day tour in the Coast Range, where I usually ski. Lack of snow down here pushed us north.
There are lots of bears in the Mendocino National Forest. They don't hibernate.
My pack was packed a few weeks before the trip. All I did was change the amount of food in the pack for our Oregon trip. I had forgotten that it was in there.
Apparently, I carried the damn thing all the way around Crater Lake the week before.