Jarek Jakubec is a Senior Rocks Mechanics Engineer and diamond deposit specialist with SRK Consulting. He is a lifelong athlete who has climbed the summits of over 70 volcanoes around the globe. 

 

Jarek (pictured above in the yellow jacket) joined our April 26th meeting to share his harrowing experience in November 2021 surviving a mountaineering accident on the descent from the summit of Nevado del Colima in Colombia.

 

The climbing team was  at an elevation of 4,750 metres when a less experienced climber dislodged a 1.5 tonne boulder that hit Jarek on the rope below, fracturing his legs and pelvis in multiple places. It took a team of 5 people over 8 hours to carry him down to base camp 4,000m by lifting his stretchered in 2-minute intervals. Luckily, he was evacuated by a Black Hawk Special Forces helicopter and received life-saving surgery in Bogotá one week after the accident.

 

Jarek was able to medevac home to Vancouver shortly after surgery and began a two-year rehabilitation process to regain his ability to walk.  Proving that anything is possible, he recently completed the GranFondo Whistler bike ride and is back on his mission to summit the rest of world's volcanic peaks.