montypiton

My youngest son and I attempted his first real alpine route last June, and were caught by a sudden violent lightning storm near the top of the NE Couloir on Colchuck. While attempting retreat,my belay stance was destroyed by a lightning triggered avalanche of snow and rock that swept me to the Colchuck Glacier, severed the rope with which I had been belaying Michael as he downclimbed, and left him, age 15, marooned in a moat at the side of the couloir near its top. Michael successfully solo downclimbed the couloir (amazing kid),to find me,, to his surprise, alive, and in the care of four climbers who had witnessed the avalanche from Dragontail, and had dashed to help. One of them ran out to call help, another hiked out with my son, and the remaining two stayed with me and kept me alive for twelve hours until a military helicopter arrived to evacuate me to Central Washington Hospital, where my favorite climbing partner, and friend of thirty years, Dr. Mark Shipman, predicted "If he lives, he'll be back on the ice this winter". Dr. Tom Ettinger, another long-time climbing partner who had been Best Man at my wedding, managed to save my right foot (right ankle was fractured, and had been dislocated more than twelve hours by that time) and I spent the next four days in surgery to reconstruct my right ankle, right forearm, and jaw. There were so many fractures that we were still finding undocumented ones when I began physical therapy a month later. I was released from the third medical facility in August, and had the last casts off by September. Aggressive physical therapy has enabled me to walk without limping. Aggressive psychotherapy has enabled me to keep my job rather than claim disability. And, sure enough, I had two days on the ice last week, the first one with Shipman. My son's account of the episode can be read at caringbridge.com, if you enter my name, Curt Haire, when you access the site. I still have no memory whatsoever of the climb or fall. Helluva year...

How about if we each vote "no" several thousand times? The poll appears to allow that... BTW - avalanche safety trivia: there has never been a recorded avalanche fatality where the victim had had an avalanche cord deployed!! get rid of your transceivers, guys!! in both cases, carry and use an appropriately prepared BRAIN.

Your river crossing brings back fond (not) memories of the same in about '84, when slurpy-consistency river ice made it impossible for me to reach the highway side bank returning from our successful climb. I got dunked, and my partner spent the better part of that night stranded on the Fall Creek side, until a friend had the bright idea that we could tie a light line to a hammer, and throw the hammer across the river. My partner had retrieved the kayak,via a line we'd tied to the stern but in my dunking, I'd lost the paddle, and failed to keep hold on the bow line that would have allowed me to pull him across. Once we got the light line across, getting him was a piece of cake. Glad to hear your experience was better. I wouldn't count on that Lake Yolanda crossing to last the week... It's pretty rare to have it freeze bank to bank... Rolf told me once that he prefers to wade the shallows below Swiftwater in hip-boots, but I've never tried that...

Welcome, Sam. After reading your blog about the Mallory/Irvine mystery, I gotta ask: Are you sure you're not one of the Bard brothers?!? If Alan wasn't dead this many years, I'd swear he could have written it. Maybe you're channeling? At any rate, it was fun!

Finally called the neighbors, & have their report: they didn't even try for Drury... felt it was just "too cold" and that they didn't want to work up a sweat on the approach and then freeze all day on the climb. So they went to Hubba Hubba and climbed the Funnel instead - said they had a great time... and do listen to CascadeClimber: Drury is not a "fun" climb when you see rock showing through the flow from the highway...

My experience with neoprene is my hands got as wet from perspiration as they would on a really wet ice day with normal gloves - and they stayed colder once they got damp...

Drip was not even close to the ground on Tuesday. Fat ice at the top if you can dry-tool the lower half... The party planning the Drury attempt that day are neighbors, and they haven't called to gloat, which is a suspicious sign... Most of the Old Farts like to wait until the flowpath is completely covered, because the Waterfall Wall functions as something of a heat-sink due to its sun exposure. Alan Kearney and I had screw placements falling out of soft ice when the air-temp was around 0-F on one ascent back in about '83... Our solution was to shorten pitches so the leader would establish the next belay anchor/stance before his protection screws started pulling out!?!? Scary... Lotsa short stuff in in the Icicle Canyon, though - spent yesterday (the 9th) working out the kinks at Rainbow gully. FWIW, I prefer my Rebels to the new Cobra - I was climbing on my son's Cobras because my replacement Rebel isn't due until January... The hand-support at the base of the Cobra actually compresses my mongo fingers, and is enough bulkier than the Rebel support that I kept banging the grip against the ice; also, it lacks a triggerfinger fitting, and I missed the "power-steering" effect. Most likely operator error, and I'd get over it if I used the tools for a while. I guess I'll get to see between now and January... -Curtis-the-Haireball

I presume you've tried Chessler... if it doesn't exist there, it probably doesn't exist...

Damn - after every day for forty years I now only have to do this stuff on Dec. 11? What a relief... Sorry if that sounds a bit jaded, Jason. Some of us have been at this longer than many on this board have been alive. I am, in truth, happy to see a larger population at least prepared to "talk the talk" for one day out of the year. It's a start... -Curt

When I was on Aconcagua (1989-90) the only radios we saw on the mountain were the Argentine military. They maintained a presence at Plaza de Mulas, sort of like the NPS did on the West Butt of Denali in that decade. In those days, parties were required to apply for their climbing permit at the army base in Mendoza. If that is still the case, then I'd guess your answer would come from the Argentine army...

I used to ski on old short alpine skis with "bear-trap" bindings in Galibier Superguides, which had a pretty soft upper for a leather alpine boot. I'd guess a really good skier would have no trouble in a boot like the Sportiva Nepal. I have a friend who steers a pair of army surplus "white elephants" tolerably well with the Makalu, but the Trango series with less ankle support would present a serious challenge for most skiers who've learned on modern alpine equipment. disclaimer: this is coming from a guy who learned to ski in the early 1960s - my first pair of alpine ski-boots were roughly equivalent to a modern "medium weight" nordic touring boot, and my friends and I were "ski-mountaineering" in the Teton and Lost River ranges before plastic ski-boots existed...

rain gutter material? gotta say I've only heard rumors of such projects, but there've been quite a few rumors over the years... the best non-rumor I can provide is when my best friend from high school attended Montana State University in Bozeman back in the '70s, and got in trouble for creating a 10-story ice-wall on his dorm by running rubber tubing from the 10th floor bathroom faucet out a window when the temp stayed -30F for a week. He and some buddies then proceeded to top-rope the feature from the same window (with 90-cm ice-axes, no less!) I always wonder whether anyone would have noticed if they hadn't got caught CLIMBING on it...

Keep 'em comin' Craig. Mark should be back tomorrow... We gotta hook you up with some more of the Old Farts! -Curt

Thanks for the source - I hadn't read that, and it was so much better than the usual drivel that passes for climbing press...

In close to fifty years of wilderness travel in every state west of Kansas, plus BC & Alberta, I've had the great fortune to see two cougars in the backcountry, eight grizzlies (five of these on a ten-day caribou hunt in AK), and I once had a small black bear sniffing around my head on an open bivvy in the Yosemite backcountry. A former manager of Leaveworth's Der Sportsman once swore to me that he'd seen a sasquatch near Lake Wenatchee. Can't say I've seen any shred of evidence to support the sasquatch stories. Yet, from my formal training in logic, I'm also aware that it is virtually impossible to prove the non-existence of anything. These days it seems practically commonplace for "primitive" fishermen to turn up with catches of sea-creatures the "experts" told us were extinct since before humans existed, so I guess I'll remain "agnostic" about sasquatch.

I'll let you know if I see something worth "call in well" for...

Craig - thanks for the quick report. It sounds like I may have a partner for it Tuesday or Wednesday... -Curt

Check Alpinemonkey's "Goatee" TR. The Funnel is marginally in. Another week would really help. Roadside ice in the Icicle still has a ways to go. I'm hoping to repeat the Goatee sometime this week. My time window is 0830-1400 (I drive a school bus in Leavenworth) pm me and I'll provide a phone # -

Craig, what's your midweek schedule like? I'm pretty much shot for weekends until after Christmas... -Curt

yeah! take the thermos! a BIG one! the one item of gear that I take on EVERY winter trip regardless of the objective. (I'm deadly serious about this...) On the other hand, free advice is often worth about what you pay for it. I'll never be able to forget the helpful gal at Frenchman's Coulee who offered to "fix" my ten-year old son's munter-hitch belay "oh, it's all twisted up! let me help you untangle that". Fortunately, I was still close enough to his anchored stance to prevent her intervention... Oh yeah - and if you're "prepared" for it, then it's not a "bivouc"; it's "camping" and and always remember the mantra of the legendary Fred Stanley: "It's never too early too turn back"

14' F. at my place this morning... with a ten-day forecast for more of the same. Roll on winter!!!

Hey Alan - I found that newsclip about Ben - Congratulations! If he hasn't tried ice-climbing, and is interested, tell him to look up Tyler Farrar and ask Ty what it was like to learn with the "Old Farts"... and check your pm's...

I was perfectly serious - I LIKE weird epics, and I AM working today -- but I'm available Sunday...

I agree, you probably CAN get to ice near Anchorage as fast as you can get to Sierra ice from the Bay Area. And even if it takes slightly longer, it would still be the better option... And kurthicks is right - except you probably don't want to bivvy in any of those places unless you have a heated camper or plan on building an igloo or digging a cave... colder than the temps I had on either of my Denali climbs...

as I said "as far as I knew" -- I witnessed Jeff placing bolts while leading new routes a number of times, in fact, that's how I met him, watching him drill from the "sharp end" and wondering who he was. I'm not familiar with Ozone - I moved from Corvallis to Tillamook, and then to Leavenworth in '79, and although I've gone back to Smith Rock a handful of times since then, I certainly haven't followed the climbing scene there. If Jeff rap-bolted a line or several at some point, I'm happy to be corrected... I don't climb barefoot with a natural-fiber rope threaded directly through natural-fiber runners on jammed natural pebbles. The nylon, metal, and rubber used by trad and sport climbers alike certainly impacts the environment more seriously than drilling holes in rock and filling them with bits of ateel. Among Frank Smythe's crowd, it was considered a duel-worthy insult to be called "the type of man who would drive a piton into British rock". (although it was fine for the Brits to use pegs in the Alps...) Witnessing the vitriol spewed by a few on this board makes me wonder whether some of these folks ever had a mother instruct them to "play nice". I will try to be more careful about where I play, and with whom.