Customer says bag kept her alive during harrowing episode
When Heather Rivet bought a Roots camera bag in 2007, she never imagined how valuable it might be. A professional landscape photographer, she had no reason to think that one day the bag would help save her life, literally. But that’s just what happened recently when Heather went out for an early morning walk in Dryden, Ontario to take some pictures.
In late January, Heather was out at the government dock in her neighborhood with her new Nikon camera, which she was carrying in a Roots (RZ30S) camera backpack. Hoping to catch the early morning light, Heather stepped off the side of the dock to walk over to the nearby marina building. Then, without warning, the ice below her feet broke and she fell into the frigid water.
“The Roots bag saved my life,” says Heather, 42. “It kept floating which enabled me to keep my head above the ice by holding on to it.” At the same time, she tried to haul herself up but the surrounding ice was thin and kept breaking. Frantically, Heather then jammed her tripod into a hole in the dock and pulled herself out.
Wet, cold and exhausted, Heather was out of the water but her soaked clothes and boots started freezing immediately in the -38° C temperature. Just then she chanced upon a fellow Dryden resident who drove her to a nearby hospital where she was treated. Her story was covered in the local media including on the regional CBC Radio and in the town’s community newspaper The Dryden Observer.
“It’s the Roots backpack magic,” Heather says of her dramatic experience. “The bag is fantastic, it’s durable, it’s from a Canadian company and it has proved that it works well, even in the challenging conditions of a Canadian winter. It went through the ice and survived!” Heather’s prized Nikon D90 also emerged unscathed. Thanks to the waterproof Roots camera backpack, both the photographer and her new camera are safe and back in action.
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