Reader's Digest Australia Feb/Mar 2026

said. “We can push all of our tours to one of them, and the other one is ready to go.” A few minutes later, Paperman and pilot NeoMartinson were airborne. KellMorris had never feared death, but as he lay there alone he wondered how painful it would be to meet his end through hypothermia. The water wasn’t just freezing. It was also rapidly rising— on this relatively warm, cloudless day, the glacier was melting at a higher rate than normal. Morris began shivering harder. But he kept calm, placed his hands on the creek floor and pushed up, keeping his bearded face out of the water until Roop returned. “They’re coming,” she told Morris. “I told ’em we need a helicopter. They’re on their way.” at 12:09 p.M., 12 minutes after the call was dis- patched, Seward Fire Department Chief Clinton Crites set up an incident command post at the Seward Marine Industrial Center quarry, about 2miles downstream from Morris and Roop. That was the closest the rescue trucks could get. Crites sent rescue workers by ATV, but on this extremely rocky terrain, it would be slow going. The Seward Helicopter Tours chop- per arrived when the ATVs were still at least 45 minutes out. Paperman saw Roop down below, waving her arms. There was no level surface to set the helicopter down, so Martinson brought one skid to rest on the ground, the other hovering over the water, and Paperman climbed out. The chopper headed back to the com- mand post to pick up more men and supplies. In the meantime, Roop and Paperman, who had no medical gear or equipment, did what they could— which wasn’t much. “Let’s wedge a piece of driftwood under the boulder to try to relieve a bit of pressure,” Paperman said. Working together, they tipped the 700-pound stone ever so slightly, caus- ing it to reposition on Morris’s left thigh. It was the most pain he’d ever felt. He was sure his femur was about to snap. Paperman and Roop were in some pain of their own as they strained to stop the boulder from shifting any more. The frigid water was soaking through their boots. Roop’s fingers ached from trying to hold the boulder steady. All they could do was wait for reinforcements. Jason harrington, a 27-year-old full- timer with the Seward Fire Depart- ment, was enjoying hamburgers on the grill with several other firefighters that picture-perfect late spring day when the call came in that a man was trapped under a boulder in Godwin Creek. The barbecue was put on hold. Har- rington and his fellow rescue workers ONE WRONG MOVE AND MORRIS COULD BE CRUSHED. 82 february/march 2026 reader ’ s digest Drama in Real Life rushed to the incident command post. The tour helicopter could fit three res- cuers at a time. Harrington was in the first group that Martinson flew to Mor- ris, Roop and Paperman. About 15min- utes after Paperman had arrived on the scene, the chopper hovered again with one skid on the ground, andHarrington and two other firefighters hopped out. Harrington took charge as the incident commander. “OK, we have a few guys here now, let’s get this thing off of Kell,” Roop said. But Harrington’s training and experi- ence led him to a different approach: He saw a conscious, stable victim in a boulder field where everything had the potential to shift as the water rose. “We’re going to need more man- power,” he said. If they tried to lift the rock and failed, they risked setting it down on Morris, particularly if the smaller rocks underneath it shifted. One wrong move and he could be crushed to death. Harrington assessed Morris. Hypo- thermia was clearly setting in. The fallen hiker was conscious, but his ver- bal responses were getting slower and his speech was becoming slurred. They were racing against the clock, but Har- rington believed they had time for the helicopter to bring in another three rescuers and more equipment. While they waited, one of the rescu- ers examined Morris’s twisted boot. “Can you wiggle the toes on your left foot?” he asked as he squeezed the toe of the boot. “Yeah, I’mwiggling them right now,” Morris responded. The boot wasn’t moving. The rescue workers shook their heads. This guy’s gonna lose his leg. By the time the helicopter returned, Morris had been in the creek for nearly three hours. He slipped in and out of consciousness as hypothermia set in. “Stay with me,” Roop urged her hus- band as she held his head above the rushing water. His dropping body tem- perature was a greater threat than drowning, but all the factors were add- ing up. “We’re running out of time,” Har- rington told his crew. “We have to hurry up and get himout of here.”The rescuers wedged two pneumatic air bags, often readersdigest.com.au 83