A SNOWBOARD expert from Holmfirth is to get a bravery award for saving a climber’s life in terrible weather.
Neil McNab and his climbing partner, Andy Perkins, saved an injured Korean climber’s life in blizzard-swept Mount McKinley in Alaska.
Neil, 39 – who is also four times British Snowboard Champion – is to be awarded the Citizens Medal of Valor from the United States Department of the Interior.
The Korean suffered a head injury when falling shortly after conquering the 6,194 metre (20,320ft) peak, the highest in North America.
Strong winds and snow forced the climber’s two colleagues to abandon him on the slopes to go and seek help.
Neil and Andy were both due to scale the peak by a tough route, but had been forced to stay at base camp due to poor weather.
They had already helped mountain rangers to bring down another climber who had suffered a broken leg a few days before. So when the emergency call came about the Korean the rangers turned to Neil and Andy for more help.
Neil said: “The climber was left on the mountain overnight, so we knew time was vital. We set off as early as we could to climb up and it took about four hours to reach him.
“He was not far from the peak when he fell and had tumbled down a big slope before coming to rest on a flat area.
“He was unconscious and covered in ice and the glove on his right hand had come off, which had led to frostbite.’’
At first the rescuers thought he had died, but when they began to check him he roused for a few moments.
“He would not have lived if he had been left much longer,’’ said Neil.
The rescuers used 50-metre-long ropes to get him down the mountain on a stretcher, a painstaking operation that took around eight hours.
The injured climber was unconscious throughout the journey to a high camp where a medic was waiting.
The following day he was taken to a lower camp and then on to hospital.
As far as Neil knows the climber recovered. The rescue took place in 2004.
“I’m not sure if he lost some fingers on his right hand though,’’ said Neil. “He had suffered severe frostbite.’’
Two days later Neil and Andy scaled the summit, but by the normal route.
Neil – who grew up in Scholes and went to Holmfirth High School – now lives at Chamonix in the French Alps.
There, he runs his company, McNab Snowsports, specialising in training courses for skiers and snowboarders.
He is married to Ruth and the couple have two daughters, three-year-old Manon and seven-month-old Loren.
Earlier this year he worked as a guide in Russia and Greenland.
Neil’s website is www.mcnabsnowsports.com
