By GUILLERMO LAM

At 5-foot-6 Gordy Barnholden wouldn’t be
called a giant. But he had to become one to save

his life. |

With steel belted courage
he hung desperately upside
down for 20 minutes, cling-
_ing on to a three-eights cable
after a freak accident flipped

him over Lions Gate Bridge
in 1975. ;

Barnholden, dangling 15
storeys high, was later
reached by colleague: Wayne
Williams riding a **headache
ball’’ attached to the end of a
-crane-driven 300-foot stick,
and was plucked ‘‘unwilling-
ly’’ to safety.

ser bead aertAadA lep-s going
to hold on, and no way was I
getting off! he exclaims.

Wayne had to spend about
five minutes talking me out
of letting go. He already had
an arm around my waist, but
] was just. determined to

hang tight.

‘Finally when I decided to
let go. I couldn’t. My fingers
just wouldn't move.

'*He- finally had to crack:

me on my knuckles with his
spud wrench and pried me
loose.""

REPEATED NIGHTMARES

Now two years older the
25-year-old North Vancou-
verite still relives those 20
minutes in recurring night-
mares.

‘One night I woke up
drenched in cold sweat. My
shirt was soaked, the two
shects were soaked and so
was the mattress. I had to

ws

DAY

A roomy
Chevrolet
Nova or
similar.
No mileage
charge
(Friday noon

to Monday
noon)

EDEN
987-6222

200 West Esplanade
N. Vancouver, B.C.

turn it face down before
going back to bed.

**At times I bolt up in bed,
and have to collect my
thoughts before falling
asleep again. It’s frightening
when you feel yourself going
over,’’ he admits.

The horrifying incident
occurred one Thursday after-
noon, Sept. 3, 1975 when
Barnholden and a_ fellow
ironworker, whom he does
not wish to name, were
working on a pulley system
on the bridge (when lanes
were being widened). They
were pulling to the deck
several hundred feet of
three- -eights cable from a

hatin
spool being uncoiled on

ground level 200 feet below.

The cable became twisted,
so it was up to the two men to
untangle it. While so doing
Barnholden’s partner, ap-
parently unable to hang on to
his share \,of the cable
weighing a. total of, 250
pounds, let go of his section.

By that time both men.

already had hauled in about
60 feet of the tangled mass
which lay by Barnholden’s
feet. His partner’s move
came without warning, which
caught him holding to one
end of the running cable.

DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY...Gordon Barnholden strolls with companion Sharen on Lions Gate Bridge, from where

Bye gh itm ils ae . WHGE 2 aane~ Oi

page 11

he hung upside down after a freak accident threw him over the deck. He dangled on a2 cable for 20 minutes before a
crane rescued him [Elsworth Dickson photo]. See more pictures P. 12 and 32.

The wire was burning into
Barnholden’s construction
gloves, but just as he made
an effort to free his hands, a
section of the tangled cable
caught his left leg, throwing
him about six feet above the
railing.

**As icame down in a swan
dive, 1 grabbed for the
railing, but slipped. I grap-
pled for the edge of the
pedestrian sidewalk and slip-
ped again. I thought it was
all over.”’

_ Just before 1 started my
free fall, I noticed that a loop

of the cable hit a part of the
pulley, and it clamped shut
catching the cable at one

end. I told myself I’d have a

chance if I could grab the
wire.’’ He did.

‘‘The thing that saved me
is that I opened my eyes. I
wanted to see where I was
going and what I could do to
get out of it,’’ he says, with
cyes fixed as if watching an
instant replay.

‘l believe I fell about 60
feet before I grabbed for it.
When I did I slipped for
about three inches--the most
four--and I held on. I was
upside down. because _ I
wound my legs around the
cable. Later a friend told me
that according to a ‘‘free fall

table’’ used by parachutists IL

was doing 70 miles per hour
when I grabbed for it.

RAIRIMT OAWOM DONnwv

IWERING? UT im DUP i

‘At first I didn’t think 1
was going to hold on. I guess
it was mind over body, no...
I'm sure it was. My mind just
told my fingers to hold on.”’

Even his girlfriend Sharon
finds it amazing.: ‘“‘I can’t
believe it happened. It’s just
incredible... that.... that he
was able to grab the cable,
for one thing,’’ she shakes
her head with disbelief. But
deep inside she realizes that
Barnholden, whom she knew
at the time, was the star in
that traumatic episode.

As the interview continues
in his apartinent, located in a

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now $185 offer expires July 15
we also have hospital beds, commode chairs, canes & crutches

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complex at 254 West 3rd in
North’ Vancouver,

den confesses tl.it each
minute got harder indharder
for him to hold on as he
watched rescuers moving
frantically 150 feet below

SAMNNMIoOR:

manning the crane which:

was to bring him to safety.

“What made things more

desperate for the ironworker
was that a West Var

Fire Depart nent unit “had
responded, but do
nothing because they didn’t
have an aerial ladder. Even if
they did the ladder would
ave been at least 50 feet
short since most aerials

reach no higher than 100
feet. |

Another psy

i?)

ad fallen

ROSHAW ES

chological

from the west side of the
bridge, while the crane was
located on the east. This
placed the dangling Barn-
holden several feet short of
the 300-foot stick on which
hung the ‘‘headache ball’’

his rescuer rode. |

In order to reach their
victim 15 rescuers had to
manually move the ball

allowina

aw oe

Besides the anguish of
having to hang on the former
West Vancouver Secondary
student had to struggie to

keep awake. because several
instruments --

sledge

an eight
hammer,

Pound

8 Track Car Stereo with AM/FM - Stereo

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“14

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aed
- June 8, 1977 - North Shore News