alfrandell wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:09 am
Attacking me via my past, and claiming that all of my best work is clearly behind me.
nice work buddy!
Yea, that's not what I was doing and not what I was claiming.
alfrandell wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:09 am
yea, i had 2 proteges during my rock climbing, but i was so self centered that i was unable to imbue them with a strong survival sense. One died by falling from a great hight while unroped, and the other was buried in an avalanch and had to be pinned back together.
Thanks for sharing one of your "lessons learned" stories. Here's one of mine.
Around 15 years ago at the Early Winters TH an early 20's outward bound instructor kid (skier 4)asked to join our group of three on a new snow storm day. Not wanting to hurt his feelings by rejecting him we reluctantly said yes.
After a grueling deep trail breaking climb, at the top of the "Powder Cache" a heavily wind loaded area was identified in the start zone of the main gully Avalanche path. Noted as a place to avoid.
One the second lap, after the OB kid (skier 4) skied away from the group on the first lap, we again discussed that hazardous area. Stay out of that gully was the warning and everyone acknowledged it.
Second lap off the top, one member of the group (skier 2) skied a low angle line skiers left of the gully which continues into rocky steep terrain. I watched him as a safety spotter and he triggered a propagating crack that ran along the fall line next to the Gully.
The third member (skier 3) of our core original group was heading over to the skier right side of the gully and from my spot (skier 1)I could see her intended descent line.
As that all happened, the young Outward Bound instructor _skier 4)skied behind me where I was stopped and I yelled for him to stop also, but he kept going. At that point, watching him I could no longer observe the other two members (2&3) of our group.
The OB kid (skier 4)and I discussed taking a separate route from the other two at the top, but here he was going off on his own again above another skier (skier 2) in Avalanche terrain with unstable snow lurking about (spacial variability).
The OB kid (skier 4) finally did stop after two turns however we both had to climb a bit without skins to regain our intended decent line off the ridge.
For me it was a few short steps and I know how to climb in deep snow without skins. He had a little farther to travel and was having trouble and getting frustrated but he finally regained the ridge where all he needed to do was traverse over to me.
He was doing that but his frustration continued.
Then he pushed off to try to use gravity to make the Traverse but wound up right in wind loaded area.
I saw the snow slab starting to crack
And yelled for him to get out of there. He turned his skis down the fall line and almost made it to the side of the Gully. But the ensuing Avalanche hit him in a big cloud of snow smoke and down the gully he went.
Six to ten seconds later he yelled that he was OK. He was filtered out of the Avalanche by a couple of large trees at the bottom of the Gully. He said his hip hurt but he was fine otherwise except, the Avalanche which almost hit my two friends below took his skis and one pole.
Luckily for him one of my friends below was a very good tracker and was able to track those skis and found both of them. That saved the OB kid from walking out in two feet of recent new snow (waist deep), in the dark and possibly hypothermia as the snow became wet (cascade concrete)for the last 800 vertical feet.
That OB kid (skier 4) was lucky and for the rest of the almost 3500 foot descent he stuck to me like glue.
But he could have just as easily been carried out in a body bag. It would have been better to hurt his feelings on such a dangerous day to be out.