Rescue on Adams

[sardog1]

Here's a two-part test for whether you're ready to use that axe you (should) carry:

1. When was the last time you practiced self-arrest (wearing a backpack and crampons) from all possible positions, including sliding on your back with your head downhill?

2. If you have done such practice, did you come away with an appreciation of how difficult it is to accomplish the maneuver quickly enough to halt your slide on a steep, hard slope, before you acquire too much speed to self-arrest effectively?

If the first answer is "never" or "a long time ago", then you're not ready. If the second answer is "no", you're either lying to us or kidding yourself.

And BTW, please don't start your training with the scenario described in question #1. Get some instruction first and start training without the crampons and backpack. Add the backpack when you're completely confident in your ability. Add the crampons only when you're completely confident and willing to accept the risk of injury in practice from hooking a crampon.

 

[bristlecone]

Add the crampons only when you're completely confident and willing to accept the risk of injury in practice from hooking a crampon.

Really? That's a huge risk. I'd never intentionally slide wearing crampons because the risk of serious injury is so high.

 

[DougPaul]

Really? That's a huge risk. I'd never intentionally slide wearing crampons because the risk of serious injury is so high.

You can simulate wearing crampons while practicing if you prefer.

The optimum technique is different with and without.

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

Here's a two-part test for whether you're ready to use that axe you (should) carry: <good advice snipped>

Also, a quick inelegant arrest can be more effective than a slow elegant one. The chance of a successful arrest diminishes rapidly as you pick up speed.

And, of course, there are some slopes on which only a rope can stop you...

There was a long thread on self-arrest technique last year: http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26604

Doug

 

[sardog1]

Really? That's a huge risk. I'd never intentionally slide wearing crampons because the risk of serious injury is so high.

This is a conundrum, to be sure. But if you haven't practiced while wearing them, it may be harder to remember not to dig in with your toes when the moment of truth arrives.

IMO, it's better to train under very safe conditions (slow speed, small slope, soft landing zone) with them on when you're ready for that, so that you develop the right instinctive response when you fall wearing crampons. Your brain learns "Crampons = KNEES, NO TOES!" from the practice. Otherwise, your default response might be what you practiced while not wearing them.

Remember, this all has to happen very quickly in the real situation. Personally, I'd rather have my brain imprinted from repetitive practice in different scenarios. I think of it in terms of how I was trained in lifeguard techniques. To this day, some forty years later, I like to think I could do a pretty good block and parry move on a drowning subject that was trying to climb onto me.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

And don't forget to practice self-arrest pretending you've fallen face-first. Not an unlikely scenario when heading down a peak - tired, distracted - and you snag a crampon tooth and pitch forward.

As for creating a tether for your axe - it doesn't have to be anything fancy. Any 3/4" nylon strap will do. You can often get it at hardware stores, and of course climbing shops like Ragged, EMS, REI, etc.

 

[LivesToHike]

agreed - and glad hiker got out safely

It takes some imagination to visualize 99% of the people I see carrying axes in the Whites, doing anything with them except looking cool.

Self-arrest is not automatic in the conditions that you're talking about...not even close. No matter how much I practice, I can't arrest on this surface:

I would agree - there's no stopping on what is essentially very steep seamless rock with just an ice axe. There's nothing to grab. Only a well-anchored rope with a harness would help in this case, and even then there's no guarantee.

I remember looking at King Ravine from Durand Ridge and, later from above coming down Mt Adams during a winter hike and wondering the value of an ice axe if I failed to stop a fall above the lip, or a fall from right at the lip. Just about the time I was pondering all this, I unintentionally kicked a small ball of ice glazed snow that proceeded to hurl down from my position, over the talus and glazed snow, ice and alpine plants, and into thin air before disappearing into the void - King Ravine. This was a very sobering moment.

I'm really glad the hiker, although battered, got out safely. It's amazing he wasn't seriously injured or killed by his fall. Thanks to all the SAR folks that helped him.

---Mike

PS I carry and use an ice axe on some trips where there is exposure (Adams was one), but don't carry one on all trips. I've admittedly carried one on trips where I've never used one also - so it's just pack ballast. More over, it's been years since I've practiced self-arrest on a snowfield. This incident has me thinking about the value of practice making perfect (or nearly so) .

 

[Chip]

Concur. But we have also discussed the merits of hiking with a helmet. The report indicates he suffered some head injuries. Hence, he might have been much better able to have ascertain his position/situation and walk out had he been wearing a helmet. I never wear my helmet while hiking in the Whites, but I will now give it some serious thought (while still able to).

I've argued for the use of helmets in winter, especially when solo. "Live Free or Die Hard" is the common response. Whatever. I still think it's a good idea. It kind of makes me laugh that a helmet is so accepted/expected when mountaineering climbing but not when hiking climbing.

 

[Grayjay]

Self-arrest is not automatic in the conditions that you're talking about...not even close. No matter how much I practice, I can't arrest on this surface:


Those aren't the conditions I was talking about. I am talking about slipping on the Gulfside Trail, still a way from the edge of King Ravine. That is when to self arrest. Once over the edge, it is TOO LATE.
The guy was unfamilar with the topography. It seems some people here are too.

 

[DougPaul]

The lesson I was suppose to learn was- get a tether strap from my axe to my wrist. I think I will be shopping for one very soon.

A tether can be a mixed blessing...

While it can prevent the loss of the axe, in a fall a lost axe will stay close to you and flap around with the potential of injury. If you lose the axe in a fall, you want it as far away from you as possible. A tether can also get in the way while using the axe.

The best place to attach a tether is to a waist harness (or through a chest harness and to a waist harness). If attached to your wrist, it becomes awkward to switch hands. If attached to a bandoleer sling and you fall, the axe can catch in something and the sling can strangle you. (You can thread elastic inside some tubular webbing to keep the tether from dangling and catching on your feet/crampons.) Those sliding ring tethers disappeared from the market years ago for a good reason...

Doug

 

[erugs]

As Sar Dog suggested, it's good to have some instruction on self-arrest and ice axe usage. Brian and I have done that twice in recent years, including last summer when we hired a guide for our July Mt. Hood climb and a few years prior on Mt. Rainier.

Neither time did the climbing guides recommend that we use leashes for our ice axes. I think the reason was that the ice axe might get in our way and do harm if it were attached by a leash.

We practiced falling from all sorts of directions, including head first and ways to turn ourselves around, and even practiced being yanked down by a "pretend" climber on belay who was falling. These are not techniques that come to us naturally. They do need to be learned properly and practiced.

When it came to sliding on an icy trail last winter, I found that I was unable to get onto my knees/toes in self-arrest form because my pack was too heavy. Instead, for that occasion, I hoped my pack would aid as padding when I finally ended up against some trees. And it did.

Another time I slid on some ice field near the summit of Chocorua. Out of habit from my class on Rainier the summer before, I called out FALLING! One of the women in the group responded. "You can't say that, you're not on belay." I thought, no, I'm not but I'm still falling and you might want to know that if I have disappeared from sight!

 

[DougPaul]

Another time I slid on some ice field near the summit of Chocorua. Out of habit from my class on Rainier the summer before, I called out FALLING! One of the women in the group responded. "You can't say that, you're not on belay." I thought, no, I'm not but I'm still falling and you might want to know that if I have disappeared from sight!

The belay is irrelevant. You are also warning anyone below you. Call away.

Of course the info may also be useful to a belayer, if present.

Doug

 

[jniehof]

I've argued for the use of helmets in winter, especially when solo. "Live Free or Die Hard" is the common response. Whatever. I still think it's a good idea. It kind of makes me laugh that a helmet is so accepted/expected when mountaineering climbing but not when hiking climbing.

Would a traditional climbing helmet really do all that much for staving off the kinds of trauma that kill people in most winter conditions? I've always considered it more of a protection against stuff falling on me than vv., which would of course include icefall and rockfall in spring. The fatality on Falling Water two(?) years ago got me thinking in those terms, although in that case the rock was almost certainly too large for the helmet to make the difference.

Connally's Mountaineering Handbook suggests a hands-only self arrest (pg. 197) that he suggests is better to get off immediately rather than position the axe if it isn't ready for arrest. Relevant to DougPaul's comment on fast vs. perfect.

 

[sierra]

Could you have missed the point? Having an axe without the knowledge of how to self-arrest is a crap shoot at best and dangerous at worst (in the case of needing it to arrest.) You need both the tool and the knowledge to use it properly and safely to have a good chance of arresting.

Tim
p.s. if there were ZERO chance of stopping, why isn't he still going?

I did not miss the point, I guess I find it hard to believe people are humping ice axes around the mountains and do not know how to use them. Although I wil conceed these days its more probable then when I started hiking. I practiced with all my new gear, including many sessions of self arrest practice wearing crampons in these sessions. MY first rock climbing pieces, I would traverse the base of Cathedral ledge slotting nuts and cams setting belays while holding open my books ie.basic rockcraft. Maybe the point is many poeple are now taking up the sport of winter hiking but are not putting in the practice time with both thier equipment and techniques. Unfortunetly the learning curve on peaks like Adams is small in these conditions.

 

[TCD]

I have a leash on my axe. It's very useful in the rare occasions when I use the long axe in piolet traction. When I'm walking with the axe in piolet canne, I do not have the leash on my wrist. (Usually the leash is rolled up around the head of the axe, where it helps to insulate my hand from the metal head.) I was taught to keep the leash off in most situations, because then you can more quickly change your grip to whatever you need for arrest. Chouinard: "Cultivate a habit of hanging on to your ice axe."

I was taught that you hang onto your axe and practice self arrest so it's automatic with the axe. While you can self arrest on some slopes and in some snow conditions with hands, elbows, etc., I was taught these as a last resort to use when you do not have, or have lost the axe.

 

[erugs]

In a timely email, I just received a sale notification from Whittaker Mountaineering on crampons and ice axes, and descriptions of how to select what to purchase. One of the accessories they offer for ice axes is a leash, but in their message they added: "While some people prefer to use a leash to attach an axe to either their wrist or harness, individuals climbing with RMI will not use a leash due to the frequent need to switch hands in which the axe is carried."

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I find it hard to believe people are humping ice axes around the mountains and do not know how to use them.

Believe it. I've seen people who've not even tried on their crampons before, put them on backwards, refuse to switch back to snowshoes even being the only one postholing in spruce traps, etc.

I hiked once this year with someone who had an axe. He was carrying it backwards from self-arrest (pick forward), and on a very short leash. I explained all of the stuff I had read, and explained I did not own an axe and received no formal training. Someone else on that trip was much more experienced than I and asked "How do you know all that stuff if you don't have an axe and have never received training?" He then proceeded to confirm what I'd said to the owner of the axe. Incidentally, said axe reappeared just in time for the camera to go "click".

I accept we were all new at this at one point, but to not even have tried to put on crampons in the comfort of your house?

Tim

 

[Tim Seaver]

"Micro crampons have their place in hiking, but it is not on the Gulfside Trail or any other alpine trails near technical terrain. Traditional crampons and an ice axe, not ski poles, should be standard equipment in this area.

This is bunk. Surface conditions dictate what should be on your feet. "Any other alpine trails" ? What does that even mean - that you have to always use full crampons and an axe if you are above treeline? Please.

Many of the people I see carrying ice axes ( peakbaggers in particular who have taken no snow and ice climbing courses) don't have a clue to how to use them other than as an expensive cane.

He could have had full crampons and an axe and still taken the same fall - all it takes is one bad step ( or snagging your pants with your big toothy crampons).

More bad "advice" from people who should know better.

 

[cbcbd]

Wow, dude is very lucky! That terrain up there is pretty rocky - maybe it helped him that the West side has gotten some recent unusual snow loading?

Anyway, glad he's all right and nice work SAR!

 

[MonadnockVol]

Interesting thread

First, I'm glad this story had a happy ending.
Second, my appreciation to the hard-working SAR folks.

Third, I can argue both sides of the ice axe / crampon aspect. I agree with the "Tims" when they point out that conditions dictate what is necessary and that having an ice axe without the knowledge to use it is dangerous. I quote p. 108 of the 6th edition of Mountaineering, The Freedom of the Hills on this one:

"Carrying an ax without the skill to use it, however, provides a false sense of security. All too often, climbers slip on hard snow and discover they don't know enough about self-arrest to stop their fall. This indispensable skill comes from practicing on slopes with safe run-outs."

On the other hand, I frequently see hikers who seem to count on their own level of fitness and/or the weather not changing and/or no injuries happening in their decision making process about what equipment to bring.

On the other other hand, I acknowledge that we all have different abilities. I have seen sure-footed climbers bareboot it over pitches were I was very grateful for my 12-points. The difference in skill made them safe where I wouldn't have been safe with the same equipment.

Fourth and finally, a story: when I was a young student, I studied with a geologist named Alfred Pinet. He spend 6 months in Antarctica studying mountain building (he was working on plate tectonics). Once he and his partner were working their way up a slope wearing crampons and cutting steps with their ice axes (people still did that back then). As they got higher and higher they became fatigued and the steps got smaller. Suddenly the climbing partner slipped and started to rocket down the slope. He tried to self-arrest but the pick just chattered on the hard ice and Pinet watched him disappear into the fog. The slope continued for half a mile and then ended in a sheer drop over a cliff. Pinet started to slowly work his way down the slope to see if he could locate where the body had ended up. To his surprise he found his partner lying on the edge of the cliff with most of his legs hanging out over the void. At the last possible moment, the ice axe had caught but the poor man was too exhausted to pull himself up and so he just lay there until Pinet got to him. They both survived the day and the expedition.

- Monadnock Volunteer (aka Steve)