medlin

I climbed as high as the rescue camp on the morning the injured climbers were flown out. Conditions to 12500 were unconsolidated powder snow. After that things started firming up. Near 13000 there was a 1/4 inch layer of rime ice on top of the soft snow which became thicker higher on the route. This was still easily kicked through. At the rescue site (13500) some of the ice was thick enough that it was not penetrated by even several kicks. I understand the climbers to have fallen a bit above this level where it looked like the ice was even more well set in. I had been camped at Schurman for several days previous and it seemed like the high nightly windspeeds combined with the strong daily solar energy were helping to glaze the top of the mountain. Any type of slip or fall would have been very difficult to arrest in those conditions. Props to the anchor man for preventing what could have been a far worse incedent.