Add CategoryPOLISH newlyweds were on the “trip of a lifetime” mountain climbing in Alaska when the bride was injured during a harrowing fall, according to reports.
Magdalena Czarnecka, 39, suffered spinal injuries after a 300-metre plunge in Denali, where she was celebrating her honeymoon with husband, Michael Wangrat, the Anchorage Daily Newsand the New York Post reported.
Ms Czarnecka was roped together with the groom’s cousin, Marek Paleski, during the climb on the West Buttress route when he slipped at around 5200 metres.
The two climbers, however, weren’t clipped into any of the safety pickets on the route and both began to fall down the ridge of the mountain, the newspaper reported.
“Maybe we felt too safe and too strong to clip in,” Ms Czarnecka said.
The new bride tried to use her ice axe to stop the fall, but the pair slid along the mountain until they dropped about three metres into a basin.
“[Mr Paleski] told me after that I was screaming, but I don’t remember,” Ms Czarnecka told the newspaper.
Ms Czarnecka was knocked unconscious in the fall but became responsive again about 30 minutes later.
The pair activated a personal locator beacon and spent the night in the basin until Mr Paleski set out to get help the next day.
Despite her severe injuries, she was able to maintain her consciousness until rescue crews were finally able to reach her.
Ms Czarnecka was flown to a hospital where she underwent a four-hour surgery to place rods and a plate on her skull for stabilisation.
She has begun to be able to walk up and down stairs again, and can take a shower on her own.
“It’s not comfortable, of course, but I don’t feel any pain,” Ms Czarnecka said.
Authorities said the fall could have been fatal and dropping into the crevasse likely saved their lives.
“It was a big deal around these parts — we’re just so happy that they survived their fall and they’re alive and well to tell about it,” National Park Service spokeswoman Maureen Gualtieri told the Anchorage Daily News.
Ms Czarnecka’s husband said he hopes to return her back to Warsaw, Poland, in the next week. He lamented that their dream honeymoon was cut short.
“It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime,” Mr Wangrat said.
“And instead of that, we are in the hospital and it’s going to be debt of a lifetime.”
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.