Cd'A man survives accident in Glacier

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK - High on the exposed cliffs of Going-to-the-Sun Road, not far from Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, the 9,000-pound excavator teetered, slipped and began to fall.

That's when Wainuma Ned made the decision that probably saved his life: He unbuckled his seat belt and jumped.

Ned, a 33-year-old construction worker from Coeur d'Alene, was moving stones near the East Tunnel on Monday morning. He was piloting his excavator, rolling back and forth hundreds of feet above the valley floor.

"I swung over the edge (of the cliff), and just started tipping," Ned recalled. "So I started to swing back, and it was kind of too late, so I just sort of dropped everything and bailed out. I figured, it's a long way down, a bunch of big rocks - I didn't know if it was gonna be safe or not."

Free-falling, Ned dropped almost 40 feet, started sliding head-first down the scree slope, bounced off a rock and then hit another. He finally stopped, 100 feet below Going-to-the-Sun Road.

His machine fared much worse - it fell another 200 feet and shattered into several pieces.

"The excavator's mangled," Ned said. "If I'd have stayed in it, I'd have been dead."

Amazingly, Ned stood up. His right clavicle was broken; there were scratches all over his face. From above, Ned's co-workers yelled for him to sit down and stay put. Many of them climbed down the mountain and tried to keep him warm.

Rescuers arrived quickly. Park rangers and first-responders descended the 45-degree slope, carefully sliding on the loose rocks. They placed Ned on a litter and hauled him up with a rope.

An ambulance brought Ned to Logan Pass, only a mile away, and an ALERT helicopter transported him to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where he remained on Tuesday.

Ned never lost consciousness throughout the ordeal, a Glacier press release noted.

"He got lucky on the route he took down," said Wade Muehlhof, GNP spokesman. "That fall could've definitely had a different outcome. In this case, it was very fortunate that he was able to unbuckle and jump out."

Ned is employed by Guinett Masonry Inc., based in Vancouver, Wash. His crew had been working on the retaining wall that lines Going-to-the-Sun Road. The construction was part of an ongoing rehabilitation effort that began about five years ago. Ned's accident was the first major incident to occur during the rehab project, Muehlhof said.

"We've had a very good safety record with the construction that's been going on up there," he added.

Still recovering, Ned said he's not sure when he'll be released, but he thinks it will be sometime within the next few days.

Ned's injuries were painful but not life-threatening. His clavicle was a primary concern, and there's major bruising on his back, he said. The scratches on his face will heal.

"I feel better, actually," Ned said Tuesday afternoon. "Better than yesterday, or when I first came in."