'I really thought I was going to die there': Snowmobiler recalls dramatic Cape Breton rescue
CBC
When help finally came for snowmobiler Dave Metcalfe, he'd almost given up hope it was coming at all.
It came Saturday around 20 hours after he'd dug a hole to shelter in place amid high winds, heavy snow drifts and freezing temperatures in the Cape Breton Highlands.
"I've been in the snow all night, I'm starting to be wet, starting to soak through, and I was frozen," he said Sunday morning. "I really thought I was going to die there."
Metcalfe left Glace Bay early Friday with his friend, Hughie Whalen, to go snowmobiling in an area of the highlands popular with enthusiasts.
The weather wasn't ideal, but the two forged ahead after driving nearly two hours to the trail head on Oregon Road in Victoria County.
But the two realized they were in trouble as they made their way back to their truck after nightfall. They began to encounter massive snow drifts in blizzard-like conditions.
Eventually, lost and with one sled stuck in the snow, they made the decision to split up, said Metcalfe. Whalen drove off on his snowmobile to seek help around 7 p.m.
Metcalfe hunkered down, digging a hole and using part of his snowmobile to shield himself from the wind.
But as the hours piled up and he couldn't manage much sleep, he worried that the worst had happened to his friend.
"It's like one of those things where you wake up from a dream and think, 'Oh my God', that was a terrible dream," he said.
"Only anytime I nodded off and woke up, it just became more and more real."
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to both of them, the race to find them had begun.
After she didn't hear from her husband, Whalen's wife, Stephanie, posted in a private snowmobiler group on Facebook looking for assistance.
Richard MacPhee was one of the people who responded.
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