Friends and community members in Squamish have started a GoFundMe for local climber Vratislav “Vrato” Durech, who was seriously injured in an ice-climbing fall in Colorado last weekend. The funds will help cover mounting medical bills and transportation costs as Durech undergoes multiple surgeries and prepares to be transferred to Vancouver for further treatment.
Durech fell 40 metres while rappelling down from the 65 metre Dynamite Shack wall at Lake City Ice Park on Saturday, Jan. 24. He was on the last leg of a year-long trip with his wife, Aneta Lukesova, across North and Central America, and set to return home to Squamish this March. They spent their second year anniversary in the hospital.
After an emergency helicopter transport to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., Durech’s vital signs were stable. He suffered multiple serious injuries, including a shattered heel and femur with knee involvement, fractures to his face and a fractured and dislocated shoulder.
As of publication, Durech is undergoing a four to five hour facial surgery, and has already been operated on twice, including one to insert a metal rod to stabilize his shattered femur. He has been awake several times at the hospital, and doctors say there are no severe traumatic brain injuries, but Durech is under sedation to keep him comfortable.
“Vrato is an adventurer, a really strong skier, and willing to help anybody around him at any cost,” said Pierre Carret, a longtime friend of Durech, who flew from Jasper to be with him.
When Carret had a ski accident four years ago, Durech was the first one there, driving four hours in the middle of the night just to pick him up.
The family plans to transport Durech by air ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital on Tuesday, once he is in a stable enough condition to move, but the medical and transportation costs are quickly mounting.
“The bills are astronomical,” said Iva Kubickova, a Squamish local and friend of Durech and his wife.
The air ambulance alone will cost around $50 000 USD, and the helicopter transport from the accident site to the hospital cost another $35 000 USD.
“He would help anybody that needs it,” Carret said. “So it’s time to pay him back for all the stuff that he did.”
The GoFundMe link is here.
