The Hidden Dangers of Mt. Washington

[walker]

View this video first, then answer my query If you can

Mt. Washington Incident (YouTube)

I always knew hiking Mt. Washington was dangerous, even greater in the winter months, but this is a danger I never thought of. It's obvious after I viewed the video. My question is, How do I protect myself from this happening to me?

Live Free and Hike...Walker

 

[Seeker]

Saw that awhile back--hilarious!

 

[Lefty E]

Should be all set unless you eat the candy the guy ate...can cause explosive gases...............

 

[ksearl]

That's pretty funny! I don't know what's better...the flight off the summit or the explosion!

Karl

 

[woodstrider]

Hidden Dangers (?)

OMG! Is this video for real? That said...

The only time that I ever flew (sans airoplane, etc) was in the area of the Sphinx Col. during bad weather.

Me and backpack blown into the air- but I only travelled a few feet up and away. Came down hard. A friend also- I decided that it wasn't worth it and we all descended off the ridge.

Had a scare in the Adirondacks while ascending Wright in the winter. Once above tree line I felt as if my crampons were but tentatively holding me down to the ground. I remembered a friend telling about being blown off this peak and into the krumholtz. This peak is always "breezy"- but this trip the winds were in excess of 50mph. I elected to turn around. I returned a week later and got the peak (and some frost bite).

 

[sierra]

Two rookie mistakes, one, clearly he did not have enough gear in his pack and based on that, should have flapped his arms much harder, I mean how many of us have seen birds fly? the technique is plain to see, flap hard and use your fingers to stear.

 

[REK]

Another senseless ultralight tragedy! When will it end! Oh , the humanity!

That's what happens when you go around cutting the handles off toothbrushes, drilling holes in your sporks, using titanium pots and Pepsi can stoves. No mass to hold you down. I'm sure that it was the eyedropper full of dry gas stove fuel that caused the explosion.

Now, if you can control the flight; especially the landing, it could be a good way to shave minutes off the "book time"!

As for prevention, I still carry my 40 year old Svea 123. Even Katrina couldn't move that.
Bob

ps It was pretty funny

 

[Mark]

The bigger question is, had he not exploded, would he have been able to claim credit for bagging this peak?

 

[Billy]

As is often the case on youtube, the comments are even better than the video.

comment: "Is that real? Does anyone know or can you find the story. There is no way she walked off the mountain."

followed by this comment: "Of course it's real.. Shortly after that video the person was carried away to Fantasia on a Unicorn. F'n morons.."

 

[rup]

The real Q is: where did he get that chili??????

 

[Kevin Rooney]

The bigger question is, had he not exploded, would he have been able to claim credit for bagging this peak?

Absolutely, so long as he touched the summit before he exploded.

There's a footnote in the 4K rules which allows credit for a peak obtained under just these circumstances. Not sure if the ADK'ers would allow it though. Maybe if he signed the register ...

 

[Raymond]

High Peak summit registers are harder to find than flying peakbaggers.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

The bigger question is, had he not exploded, would he have been able to claim credit for bagging this peak?

Nope. You must hike, snowshoe, and/or ski down for it to count. Riding down, flying, teleporting, and exploding off the summit are strictly verboten for peakbaggers.

 

[The Hikers]

I see nothing unusual or unexpected here. Because of my light weight I always tie myself to a good-sized boulder on the windy peaks.
And, yes, a night of eating that French-Canadian pea soup COULD result in explosive conditions.