I had a Tent called the "Bomb shelter" literally explode from wind in excess of 114 MPH. Had two very young hunters and myself in the tent with all our gear, rocks and bags of salt. The next morning the only things still in the shredded bombshelter tent was two bags of salt, and a bunch of rocks we had hauled in. We put earplugs in as a roar of the wind was painful, and we could no longer communicate anyway.
We would have not survived the next full day.......but the boys fathers were at the lodge about 20 miles away, and no effort was reserved to get the lodge owner and pilot to look for their sons.
The lodge is in a very protected sheltered location, and they had "all" guests, cooks, grunts, housekeepers, owners, every one possible inside the company Beaver, or laying on the wings, or standing on the floats, or holding ropes. The airspeed on the tied down Beaver in a protected cove registered 114 MPH.
This thrilling adventure started late afternoon and roared for fourteen hours. My guess is we experienced winds of 130-140 MPH. They said when they landed that the entire camp was in a "straight" line for five miles. This was just south of Iliamna Lake.
Last edited by AGL4now; 07/16/21.
