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24 J u n e 2 0 1 4 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m Cross EXaMinEd Clive Ramage is hoping to be well enough to return to work this month. C live Ramage was ready to die. The lawyer from Win- nipeg was 13,000 feet up Mount Whitney, Califor- nia's highest mountain, in mid-January, wearing light clothing and with dark- ness setting in. "I figured I had screwed up really badly," he recalls. "I knew that there was no way back in the dark. I hadn't taken my sleep- ing bag or tent with me. I thought I had twisted my ankle. I was totally exhaust- ed. The water in my water bottle was frozen. I lay down beside a big rock and was waiting to die. I was at peace with death." It turns out however death wasn't ready for Ram- age just yet. In late March, recuperating from his ordeal, he recounted his experi- ence. While his left foot had largely recov- ered from frostbite, the toes on his right foot remained blackened — akin to third- and fourth-degree burns, he observes — and the foot was still bleeding everyday. "I may still lose some toes," he says, "but with each day, that danger is lessening. The colour is beginning to return to one of my toes." He adds he still doesn't have a lot of feeling in either foot and the feel- ing in his hands still wasn't fully back to normal. The fair-haired, slightly built, soft- spoken Ramage is an inveterate traveler. Name a place and he has probably been there. He is also an experienced moun- tain climber. Originally from England, Ramage began climbing mountains in the sum- mer of 1986, shortly after passing the bar in Winnipeg. (The University of Mani- toba Law School graduate does mainly civil litigation.) "I had a friend in Alberta who invited me out to do some climbing," he recalls. "I had been working to put myself through school and hadn't had a real holiday in some years. I accepted the invitation. We climbed Mount Edith near Banff. And I got hooked on climbing." Not his time Winnipeg lawyer survives near-death experience atop California's highest peak. by Myron loVe Mount Whitney Trail