5 drawer life saving dresser

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the Fet

climber

Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La

Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 30, 2015 - 08:09pm PT

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/den/4309472427.html

Originally Posted: 2014-01-28 8:25pm

5 drawer life saving dresser - Sold

This 5 drawer dresser saved my life and after all we went through together, it pains me to think we have finally parted ways. It was recently sold to mountain of a man with dark stormy hair and chiseled features. A fellow adventurer, he had just finished trekking across the country on foot from Nashville to Colorado. He was excited to continue on the story of this remarkable dresser.

Back in 2003 we were exploring the many glaciers of Alaska. On one excursions we were low on supplies and in the middle of a white out. While searching for some form of shelter, we came upon this dresser laying in one of the crevasses. The opening of the crevasse wasn't more than 5 feet wide, but I could see that it continued down for hundreds of feet. The dresser itself was wedged 10 feet down at about 45 degrees and the middle drawer was open ever so slightly. Just enough to allow a tiny ray of light from our headlamps to reach inside and reflect off of something inside of it. It was the refection that really caught my attention. We quickly rigged up a safety line and I ventured down into the crevasse to see what had caused the reflection.

As i inched my way down the crevasse, I began to understand how the dresser got there. Below it were the littered remains of a small hunting shack. It looked as though the shack had been constructed using old pallets, and airplane parts. Most people may have been surprised to see such a thing, but it is actually quite common to find wreckages on these glaciers. Bush pilots and even world war bombers have been claimed by the mountains and glaciers of Alaska.

I began to look for signs that someone may have been in the shack when it was swallowed up by the glacier, but soon realized that the wreckage had been there for quite some time. As I got closer I was able to get a better look at the two tone dresser. The bulk of the dresser, along with the nobs were painted a dark chocolate brown and looked like a giant frozen hershey's bar. A small section of the top and the front of the drawers were a lighter brown, much like swiss miss hot chocolate. We had been in freezing temperatures for nearly 5 hours and the thought of a big cup of hot chocolate caused me to pause and imagine the warmth of it filling my body. After a what seemed like an eternity of asking myself just what the heck I was doing climbing into a crevasse in the middle of a snowstorm, I finally reached the dresser and using my ice axe, was able to pry it open.

Much to my amazement the drawer was filled with bottles of camping fuel and medical supplies. I grabbed a few bottles of fuel, and signaled to my team that I was ready to come up. By the time I reached the surface, the storm had lifted. I showed the bottles of fuel to the rest of the team and we finally decided to recover the dresser to see what else may be contained in it. We tied our spare climbing ropes around the dresser and slowly pulled it onto the surface of the glacier.

The entire dresser was covered in ice, and was in remarkably good shape considering what it had been through. We carefully chipped away the ice trying not to damage the painted wood. It had a few scratches and scrapes on it. It looked liked the kind of dresser that had been through a few owners, and few different coats of paint. I could tell it was built solid, although it was fairly simple construction. As we freed away the ice, we began opening the drawers. Some of them contained an old pair of socks and some underwear that had lasted long past its prime. The fabric was so worn out it was transparent and riddled with holes. As we opened the others we found food, water, blankets, and other supplies! We were just beyond belief that we had come across this dresser from heaven.

We could tell that another storm system was heading our way of the mountains to the east. So before the storm enveloped us, we quickly constructed a shelter around the dresser and climbed inside. The dresser was not very large at just over 3 ft wide and 3 and half feet tall, The shelter wasn't very spacious, but it certainly got the job done. In the shelter we used the fuel we found to thaw some of the food and water. I don't remember a time that food has ever tasted so good.

The storm battered us all night and not a single one of us slept a wink.

When morning came, we were blessed by blue skies and a calm wind. The storm had left a fresh blanket of snow across the top of the glacier. It was beautiful and haunting at the same time. After much deliberation, we made the irrational decision to take the dresser with us as we finished out journey.

Using our ladders and climbing rope, we tied the dresser to the ladders using them as skis to help up move the ladder across the ice. It worked beautifully! A few of us were even able to ride the dresser down the glacier the last 3500 yards, until we reached the bottom of the glacier.

We had grown so attached to this amazing dresser that we hoisted it onto our shoulders and continued to carry it back to our base camp a few miles away.

Long story short, we eventually got the dresser all the way home where it has stood as a reminder of that incredible trip and the dresser that gave us life and shelter, and until recently sheltered the clean and folded clothes of our 3 year old.

We are now selling this cherished item of furniture which has truly withstood the test of time. We are asking $50, mostly due to sentimental reasons, but will entertain reasonable offers.

Location: NW Denver
do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers

Kalimon

Social climber

Ridgway, CO

Aug 30, 2015 - 08:15pm PT

Clever.

Fan

climber

Aug 30, 2015 - 09:00pm PT

Great story. Attach a copy of your share in the chest's history to the bottom of one the drawers. It's a handsome piece. Hope it continues a useful, interesting life.