Stuck in a Snow Storm

Back around 1974 Leo Fitka Sr., Ron Fitka and Larry Hunter had a trapping camp at the lower end of Nageethluk Slough. They stayed in their trapping camp for about two months of each winter to trap for beaver, and only occasionally they went back to Marshall to get food, gas and other supplies that were needed.

One day the three of them were going back to their trapping camp by snowmachine from the upper end of Nageethluk and they got caught in a blinding snow storm. Leo was in back of Ron and Larry when he ran out of gas. Ron and Larry didn't notice until later and didn't want to risk themselves getting lost or running out of gas so they proceeded back to the camp until the storm settled down. During that time Leo went into the thick timbers to build a fire and wait until the storm died down because he knew that there probably wasn't anybody dumb enough to try to backtrack in that weather. He stayed by the fire all night. "I wasn't scared," he said, "I was just worried about Ron and Larry coming back to look for me in that storm, and it's good that they didn't because they would have gotten lost or run out of gas and that would have made it worse than my own problem."

The next day the weather was good enough for traveling, and Ron and Larry found Leo safe and sound on the trail. They had some gas for him to go back to their camp with. Then they continued their trapping.

By: Leo Fitka

Interview by: Chris Fitka