Follow Up Story on Kate Matrosova

[sdways01]

The article provides more info than I had previously read about her mountaineering accomplishments. To me, this makes the decision to continue above treeline even more foolish. Having been through those hikes, she really should have been more knowledgeable about when to turn around and stay safe. I can see that these accomplishments would lead to over confidence on such "small" peaks though. To me, it seems to come down to a lack of knowledge/preparedness for just how hard the Whites can be at times. This could easily lead to turning around too late, especially when accompanied with the weather that day.

 

[Mike P.]

The new story is more of a human interest story, we've been through the what she did wrong bit.

It's Bloomberg, it's a human interest piece about a trader in a financial periodical. Yes, we learned she was guided up more peaks than we thought. She did have a winter trip up Madison too. Otherwise, nothing really new.

Always thought it said a lot about the Presidentials when (many years ago, early 2000's I believe, I've not read it regularly in a while) they had an article in Backpacker on must do trips and a Winter traverse was included. The writer had been on many of the country's biggest peaks and some of the worlds toughest but had never been able to complete a winter traverse due to weather conspiring against his schedule on more than a couple of occasions.

Curtis - Ormsbee was a summer blizzard so even when the calendar says June, you need to be careful.

Is sweating in the winter a good thing? No, however, it's not instantly fatal. If it was, I'd have died many winters ago. If you do sweat a lot, just more important to leave cotton and down suits at home. (I don't climb so a down jacket waiting while belaying isn't needed, I don't own any down personally since I'm often sweating within sight of the car, it's just how I'm wired - okay 1st 1/4 mile)

 

[weatherman]

Wow. So sad. And really, wow. Things can go from bad to worse so quickly there. My only experience really getting into trouble with hypothermia was in the exact same spot, after summiting Adams, in a sleet storm in July 1997. I was also 32. Good thing was, I wasn't alone, and Madison Hut was open. My brother screamed at me as I stumbled (yes, I really had the umbles) toward Madison Gulf, to direct me toward the hut. One unplanned night in a bunk, and everything was OK. I can imagine that one hour struggling to get on track in those conditions in February can change everything from "yeah, this is hard, doing fine" to a real crisis. It doesn't surprise me at all- there is just no room for error.

 

[Driver8]

It's a mystery why her pace was so far off the plan. (The new article is really not helpful when it speculates that she spent a couple hours reading the "turn back now" sign.) ...

I agree with Brian that she (and her husband) failed to understand that 100mph winds == crawling slowly at best.

The best speculation I saw a month ago about her pace was from peakbagger, who noted that in the high winds, she'd've been breaking trail in a lot of snow all the way up to treeline and probably beyond. That likely slowed her down a good bit. Difficulty of trail-finding and more trail-breaking from the hut to Madison, and perhaps back, may also have slowed her.

As re: her reasoning after her return to the hut, she might have gauged that she had a just a short, manageable distance to get back to the hut from around Star Lake, where, she might well have calculated, the winds would start to hit her pretty hard. For all we know, she was, wisely, down on hands and knees, patiently crawling into the wind toward the hut when she got into the wind tunnel, having been protected in the mountain's lee descending from Adams summit to that point, and just got hit by a really bad gust that threw her dozens of feet, in effect fatally injuring her on landing. Her personal locator beacon distress call may have come before she was blown off trail. We'll never be able to know those details.

The fateful, fatal mistake she made was to attempt Adams after coming back to the hut. It was a bridge too far, even for her. Had she descended the Valley Way right after taking that selfie, she almost certainly would be fine and would've done the Presi Traverse by now on another trip, given her enthusiasm.

 

[GBKDalton]

I think someone speculated on the last thread that her lack of snowshoes would have slowed her down climbing Madison? I think there was some fresh snow. I'm tired just thinking about it.

 

[Puma concolor]

The glimpse that Chip Brown gives us into the psychology of Matrosova is truly spell-binding and certainly book-worthy kind of stuff.

With all due respect to some of the posters on this thread, many seem unable to separate themselves from their own thinking to try to understand what she was thinking that day. This is a person who had already climbed three of the seven summits and aspired to reach the summit of Everest and be the first woman to summit Denali in winter. It's a different kind of thought process than aspiring to be a winter 115er, where the general mindset seems to be to grab 'em when conditions are most agreeable.

Given her hardcore goals, I would think that when Matrosova saw the brutal forecast for that day, she saw it as an opportunity to expereince the kinds of conditions one would potentially experience on Everest or Denali in winter. It's actually surprising to me that many in this particular community are missing that point. Folks have been using the Whites as a training ground for loftier goals going all the way back to Brad Washburn. Obviously, she made a fatal mistake along the way ... that's a given, but it wasn't done due to foolishness or disrespect for the mountains. Quite the opposite in fact. She was just pushing it right to the very edge and in this case took one step too far.

 

[iAmKrzys]

Given her hardcore goals, I would think that when Matrosova saw the brutal forecast for that day, she saw it as an opportunity to expereince the kinds of conditions one would potentially experience on Everest or Denali in winter. It's actually surprising to me that many in this particular community are missing that point. Folks have been using the Whites as a training ground for loftier goals going all the way back to Brad Washburn. Obviously, she made a fatal mistake along the way ... that's a given, but it wasn't done due to foolishness or disrespect for the mountains. Quite the opposite in fact. She was just pushing it right to the very edge and in this case took one step too far.

I couldn't agree more. I think she has already made a decision to turn back by the time she got down from Madison but she thought that she had enough strength and time to summit Adams (which she missed on a previous hike) and that turned out to be a fatal mistake.

 

[Driver8]

Given her hardcore goals, I would think that when Matrosova saw the brutal forecast for that day, she saw it as an opportunity to expereince the kinds of conditions one would potentially experience on Everest or Denali in winter. It's actually surprising to me that many in this particular community are missing that point. Folks have been using the Whites as a training ground for loftier goals going all the way back to Brad Washburn. Obviously, she made a fatal mistake along the way ... that's a given, but it wasn't done due to foolishness or disrespect for the mountains. Quite the opposite in fact. She was just pushing it right to the very edge and in this case took one step too far.

Well and good, but for the fact that she was solo. From what I've read, with few exceptions, world class mountaineers subject themselves to conditions of the sort which prevailed in the Presidentials on February 15-16 in well-coordinated, well-geared groups, not solo with a daypack. I doubt Ed Viesturs would've done what she did in the same time and place, nor Ueli Stoeck. There's ambitious and adventurous, there's headstrong and determined, then there's reckless.

Had she been part of a team of four to six, different story. Still highly dangerous, but much less so than all by oneself. Lead hiker gets blown 100 feet off trail same place, the others carefully track their partner down, set up some kind of shelter in as wind-protected a place as possible, huddle together and survive to the morning, or until SAR arrives.

The article, I sadly infer, reads like her husband tried to convince her to wait out the storm and try another day, pushed back against her pushing ahead, without success. That and other reporting from a couple months ago. The most charitable read may be that she thought she could outrun the storm and very, very badly wanted to get Adams, having turned back from a previous attempt. Fatal case of summit fever.

My mind dwells on the ferocity of the conditions that took her down - it's late afternoon mid-February, low light, white-out, winds sustained at 80 or so and gusting well above 100, infernally howling, roaring. A brutally cold hell on earth, with wind chills trending toward -100 F. Why subject yourself to that alone? Why even come close to doing so? Err on the side of caution - that's how elite mountaineers train, it's how they survive. Contrast Kate with Hugh Herr and Jeff Batzer, who, 33 years before, ran into an unforecast blizzard above Hungtinton's. They did everything they could to get out of the storm as soon as possible rather than prolonging their stay, first to get to safe haven at the summit, then, failing that, to get down, down, down, out of the wind as best possible and put together what shelter they could. They survived, much worse for the wear, but alive.

 

[Grey J]

Without re-quoting every single bit, I generally agree with Driver8 and disagree with Puma that some of us are missing the point. "No go" conditions are "no go" whether on Everest, Denali, or Madison. One of the few times I bailed out on a hike was on the same day that MacDonald Barr died on the very same Madison during a freak storm in August 86. We had summited Jefferson intending to also do Adams and Madison but just slogged out in a cold rain rather than continue above treeline. It proved to be a wise decision. If I was attempting Tecumseh without checking the forecast and encountered Tropical Storm Irene or Hurricane Sandy, I would turn around. Its not the size of the mountain but the severity of the conditions.

 

[iAmKrzys]

Had she been part of a team of four to six, different story.

Being part of a bigger group would definitely make it safer. Maybe it would be another person who would persuade her to go down and come back to summit Adams another day. But at the same time I can see why she could have a hard time organizing even a team of four. For someone who lives in NYC going to the Whites requires at least a long weekend. It is also much harder to find friends who are willing to go with you so far, have relevant experience and wouldn't balk at hiking in really cold weather. Hence, I am not surprised that she hiked alone or just with her husband on a previous trip.

 

[Tom Rankin]

"Safety in numbers" gets debated in hiking circles. If you are the strongest member of the group, then you are the least safe. In my experience, groups tend to proceed with confidence. Solo hikers tend to proceed with caution. And who is to say the gust of wind does not immobilize all of the group at once?

Also, the bigger the group, the slower the pace.

 

[alexmtn]

"Safety in numbers" gets debated in hiking circles. If you are the strongest member of the group, then you are the least safe. In my experience, groups tend to proceed with confidence. Solo hikers tend to proceed with caution. And who is to say the gust of wind does not immobilize all of the group at once?

Also, the bigger the group, the slower the pace.

Devil's advocate logic aside, is there anyone here who doesn't think that Kate's prospects would have been better had she set forth as part of a group of similarly capable hikers?

 

[peakbagger]

"group of similarly capable hikers". I am not sure on that one, sometimes group logic leads the group to take risks that solo hiker wouldn't. One major advantage with group hiking in extreme conditions is that the group may catch the onset of hypothermia of one of member, while a solo hiker is doomed when it kicks in as one of the first symptoms is poor mental functioning.

I am of the opinion that given the conditions, that early stage hypothermia due to high winds and cold temps was a contributing factor.

 

[dug]

In my opinion, a (small) group setting probably would've been appropriate.

But, overall, I tend to lean on the side of Puma's comments. These mountains have been used for training grounds of all types for many years. Some in small groups, some in large groups, some solo. They are easy to get to, they provide tough conditions to test your gear, your fitness, and your mentality/strength to do "harder" peaks and climbs. If you aspire to climb these peaks, it is in your mentality to push through when times are tough. At some point, the pendulum swung from "give me everything you can, so I can make sure I'm ready" to "this is impossible for anyone". I think the comments by Rick Wilcox are worth noting. I firmly believe she was expecting bad weather -that was the point of her being there- and wanted to get up and down and through it all before the impossible hit. She paid dearly for that, but if she knew everything would happen for the day -except for the final result- I doubt she'd change her mind. Seems like a very driven person. She was prepared for every contingency except for one, which could not be overcome: The possibility of wind being so strong, it would actually blow her over.

When you are driving several hours, on a holiday weekend with really one shot to do something, these also factor in decisions. Not saying we SHOULD factor them, but we do. I'm not an accomplished rock climber, more of a walker than a true climbing technician. That being said, I took more risks when in the Brooks Range than I would in NH. Why? Because I have almost a 0% chance of going back to that location, and I wanted to absorb it all.

(Opinions mentioned herein are completely my own. Personally, it was so cold and windy that day I even cancelled a cross-country ski trip and stayed inside to paint a bedroom. )

 

[Driver8]

She was prepared for every contingency except for one

As well reported two months ago and discussed to some extent here, she had neither a tent, a bivy sack nor a sleeping bag, only a day pack. She was traveling light, yes, which I think was appropriate given her skill and conditioning level, until she got back to Madison Hut. Peakbagger's hypothermia point might explain, in part, her decision to continue on to Adams at that point.

I think the key point for those of us who remain - there's nothing we can do for Kate - is to take hers as a cautionary tale. That being the case, my inclination, when in doubt here, is to preach caution. We all respect, admire and identify with the adventurer in her, but none of us wants to take that to the extreme that she did, I think it's fair to say.

 

[dug]

If what has been theorized is correct (she was blown off the peak and was knocked out, or at least incapacitated) that missing gear wouldn't have mattered.

But, in the end...does it even matter anyway? Seems the gripes are she left her car at all, not what she had in her pack.

 

[Brambor]

It won't take too many trips with 40 plus winds to realize you don't go up there alone or with a group.

 

[Raven]

Devil's advocate logic aside, is there anyone here who doesn't think that Kate's prospects would have been better had she set forth as part of a group of similarly capable hikers?

If Kate had been part of a group, perhaps the group would have decided to turn back when they still could have safely. In that case, Kate's prospects would have been better.

On the other hand, had the group pushed on ahead together feeling strength and safety in their numbers, perhaps we would be mourning more than one death.

This case has certainly given us each much to think about, and if nothing else, is yet another reminder to take the warnings about the weather in the Presidential Range seriously. My suspicion is that this sad case is going to encourage more people to try a Northern Presidential winter traverse, not fewer.

 

[LavaFalls]

All these comments about this hiker that died...To paraphrase the line out of "Into Thin Air"...If your training is good, survival is there...If not, Nature gets the forfeit. Who cares about her locater beacon, who cares she was a banker or she climbed two big peaks in Africa and Europe...Her arrogance got her. What gets me is the volunteer SAR going up there in those conditions to retreive body. I for one, if in charge of that SAR would not have sent my team into those conditions for a body.
Lavafalls

 

[sierra]

I tend to look at things in a simple way. I don't care what she had climbed before or what she planned to climb in the future. The most important skillset a successful mountaineer has, is the ability to read conditions as he or she climbs. That point is even more prevalent here with her experience. You can take all other factors involved in this situation and toss them out, she started out in acceptable conditions, but proceeded into unacceptable conditions. Do storms approach fast and catch you quickly? Yes, but the line in seeing this as it happens before its to late is critical here. As a soloist myself, I think the group idea is moot. As a soloist, frankly its easier to make sound descisions, because you don't have to hem and haw with the group, you assess and react, fast. If your fit, you can get caught in weather and make a rapid descent, getting below treeline and safety. The size of the mountain is irrelevant as well, this same scene has played out on most major peaks worldwide, sometimes you may have minutes to make the right call, once you fail to make that call, the line has been drawn.