During a takeoff at remote glacier strip at about 5,000ft elevation while climbing into gradually rising terrain I encountered a tailwind shear and a downdraft and was unable to clear the terrain. The takeoff area was below a glacier moraine wall with several higher hanging glaciers in the area. I have been into and out of this area several times before. It was in the late afternoon with significant down glacier flow, made three approach passes to assess the wind thinking there would be some shear or terrain turbulence but seeing none was able to make approach and landing with no issue. The accident occurred about a couple hours after we had hiked the entire area, had walked up to the local hut for a snack and around to feel the wind in the takeoff and climb out path and it was a consistent 20mph down valley flow. The takeoff performance and wind conditions were normal and as expected, as the aircraft started to climb up and over the moraine wall there was a significant tailwind shear and downdraft, there was an area of lower terrain and a lower climb out path toward the back of the rising cirque that I had identified as escape option during the initial series of passes and the approaches, as I got the nose down and kept the airplane flying we were making out way out the escape we took a second tailwind shear and more significant downdraft that pushed us below the terrain. I was able to make a tight immediate turn toward a grassy knoll they we had walked up on the way to the hut and was able to get the wings level and the tires under the aircraft, pulled full flaps and got all the energy out of the wing just prior to ground impact, saw 38mph on the groundspeed just as we hit, the left wing broke in a full stall and hit first then the front left cowl and landing gear and the aircraft rotated as we hit. My head struck the left wing structure that came into the cabin during the impact, the fuel tank ruptured causing avgas into pour into the cabin and there was arcing from the electrical bus from behind the panel, got the fuel and the master off, grabbed a small survival seat kit and we were out of the crash in just a few seconds thinking there would be a post impact fire due to the ruptured tank. The impact that helmet took was significant, skull fracture or worse without it and the husky airframe allowed us to walk away without any serious injuries. No words can express how thankful I am for that result.
There is a lot to take away from this accident, more than I can ever summarise in a blog post. Please reach out for any information and I would be glad to talk more about it.
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