A picture may be worth a thousand words, but these pictures don’t begin to scratch the surface of Ronn Hemstock...no pun intended.
It was late October of 2016 in Seward, Alaska, when I walked into an inservice day staff training at the high school, and was met at the door by a friend and coworker. He had an alarmed look on his face. “Ronn Hemstock was mauled this morning. He’s going to be ok, but it’s pretty bad.” I walked into the library, which was a buzz with educators, trying to find out more about their fellow teacher's condition. It turns out that he had been lifeflighted to Anchorage from Seward, for precautionary measures. I was relieved to hear that he was going to survive.
The very next day, we were mid staff training, and I got up to stretch my legs and get coffee. I did a double take, and almost spewed coffee across the room. In walks Ronn. My jaw dropped. What the….
If there was anyone that would get mauled by a bear and show up at work the next day, it’s Ronn Hemstock. He’s tough as nails, yet gentle as a...a...a teddy bear? As if he wasn’t reveled as a bad a** enough before it happened, this mauling had brought him up to a whole new level of bad-a**ery. He said hello to everyone and wanted to let them know that he was “ok.” A round of applause went up from the teachers and staff, as he walked out to go help with a wrestling tournament that he has organized for many years. Even a brown bear can’t keep Ron Hemstock down.
I later looked at pictures from an article online about the mauling. Being as squeamish as I am, I got sick to my stomach when I saw how deep and ghastly the wounds on his back and bicep were.
It was a brisk, early morning, and he had to bundle up for a walk. Ron had FOUR layers of clothing on when it happened. One of those being a large Carhartt jacket. I hate to think that without those layers, Ronn may not be with us today. He even acknowledges that they most likely helped to save his life.
I won’t go into detail about the mauling. You can read about that online. It’s pretty intense. It’s something that I can’t even imagine going through. Ronn was lucky...but he’s also smart, and TOUGH.
I am honored to have Ronn as one of the Mountain Men of Alaska. To to be truthful, he really doesn’t need my label. For those who know Ronn, they know that he’s always been a mountain man at heart.
You can find Ronn in the 2018 Mountain Men of Alaska calendar side by side with many other amazing Alaskan men.
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Ronn wears the coat that he was wearing on the fateful day of his attack.
Even a brown bear can't keep Ronn down.
Months after the attack, Ronn's scars were still very visible.
A close up of the scars.
A new coat was sent to Ronn after the company heard that the coat may have saved his life.
