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LukeShy

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  1. Thanks for sharing your report. I'm really glad you all are safe! What a crazy weekend in the Cascades. I've started a new thread for the Sahale accident to keep this thread for comments about your accident
  2. Sahale Peak Rescue - July 14, 2012 Flickr Photo Set ***I have removed names from the report besides myself. The two involved with the accident are J1 and J2, my climbing partner is the other person involved.*** Intro: We started our climb at 5:05 am Saturday July 14th from the Cascade Pass Trailhead and quickly made it up to Cascade Pass than the Sahale Glacier Camp. After setting up our tents and arranging gear we headed for the summit of Sahale intending to have J1 and J2 climb to the Summit of Sahale, while my climbing partner and I traversed below and climbed Boston Peak. And J1 and J2 got to a safe spot below the true summit where J2 was going to set up a rope to belay J1 to the top. All went according to plan, we left them to climb, and my climbing partner and I began traversing towards Boston. We got about 50 yards when we heard the rock fall behind us. We hollered back to see if they were OK and after the second asking we got a response from J2 “I don’t know…”. ~10:30 AM Accident: 10:30 AM J1 and J2 were approximately 15 feet below the summit of Sahale on the North side. J1 and J2 had harnessed up and J2 was starting to climb up to the summit. This is where J2 grabbed a boulder on his left side which knocked loose a large boulder ~3-4 feet in diameter. This than fell on J2’s left side hitting his arm, shoulder and knee. It than proceeded to fall directly onto J1, rolling over her left side. They both hung on for dear life as the boulder and other smaller ones fell around them down to the Davenport Glacier in Horseshoe Basin along with J2’s backpack. They were not dislodged from their places so when my climbing partner and I returned to the scene they hadn’t moved at all. Accident Description circled boulder is now gone Rescue: 10:40 AM – 6:00 PM Once my climbing partner and I arrived on the scene we immediately began to ask J1 and J2 of their condition. J2 noted that J1 was in worse shape and that his knee was the only thing that was hurt. I’m glad that I had taken MOFA & WRFA courses in the past because that training came back and kept me focused on the proper steps to perform for a rescue. I than looked over J1 for life threatening injuries and asked her about her condition, what hurt, and broken. J1 couldn’t move her left arm much and she and I thought that it was dislocated. We tried to put it back in place with her help but quickly realized that it was a no go. So J1 and my climbing partner began to tend to her injuries – using my SAM splint and webbing to secure her ankle and then creating a webbing sling for her left arm. We ended up using some 1” webbing to stabilize her arm in the sling. J1 was evaluated by my climbing partner and was in OK shape besides some complaints of a “stiff” knee and laceration on the knee cap, which had already stopped bleeding after we did our initial inspections of them. With J1 and J2 stable the next step was to devise a plan on how to evacuate from the summit block safely and call for help. There was no cell reception and no other teams were around at the time and I could see to the north beyond Boston Peak that there was weather moving in. My climbing partner and I discussed options as we had only one 60 m rope and a few pieces of pro. We determined that the best course was to lower J1 down and have my climbing partner on rappel, with a backup prusik, beside her as I slowly lowered her. So once we had our plan, my climbing partner set up the anchor and I attended to J1 and J2 asking how they were, if they needed water, food, and explaining what our plan of departure was. I also performed a head to toe examination (thanks to MOFA/WRFA training) of J1 and my climbing partner did the same for J2. At this point J1 noted that her neck was stiff but not too sore, probably whiplash. I kept this in mind as we headed down to monitor her state. J1 and I than discussed the lowering option and she was fine with this plan. Rescue Lowering Description Circled boulder is now gone. My climbing partner had set the sling anchor and I set a 3 piece anchor for myself and we double checked each harness and system. We took the half-way point on the rope and tied it into the anchor setting up two fixed lines to use. Once J1 was secure and tied into the system my climbing partner began to rappel down beside her and helped her along as I lowered her (P1). We went down the same way we climbed up and took our time. This system worked well with her taking a step with her good leg while my climbing partner held her steady and guided both her broken and good feet. Once we finally lowered to the snow moat J1 was secured there by my climbing partner and J2 was able to rappel down the line to the moat as well. From the moat we encountered another party climbing and they offered to help lending us a picket to use on the way down. Once gathered the gear and rappelled down to the moat I began to set a picket dead-man anchor to fix the rope to. My climbing partner than climbed back up cleaned the anchors and carefully down climbed the route to the moat with the rope. From there I set up the fixed line, doing one small 40 foot traverse to rocks, set a good nut and double sling tied off with a clove hitch. This protected the traverse. We than had J1 prusik into the rope and my climbing partner proceeded to help her over to the rocks. I kicked huge platform steps for her to step on with her one good leg. This process went relatively well, but was horridly slow. We knew that for us to get down to the camp quickly and safely a new method would be needed. Lowering Description From this point I reset the picket anchor, the snow as nice and mushy for bomber anchors, and set up the prusik for J1 to attach to. J1’s harness has the rear load point so we were able to attach the prusik to that as well as some webbing lines to lower her slowly. This slope was particularly steep with run out being cliffs almost until the end. J1 used a pair of rain pants and held her broken leg up with her good arm started to slide down the rope length with our assistance (P2). She was great the pain hardly deterred her from moving down. This proceeded for 5 pitches down the glacier until we reached a flat area. [img:center]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7595943344_11e398267d.jpg[/img] lowering/assisted walking down Along the way many climbing parties were ascending and asking if there was anything they could do to help. One group had a SPOT help notify beacon, which was able to connect to their phone to send out text messages. This happened around P2-P3 so they headed down to their tents to activate it. They also informed our three other climbing partners what was happening above. Once to the flat spot we decided and J1 agreed to try to two-man carry her and this worked ok until, from the more violent shaking her collarbone fully broke! J1 was in a huge amount of pain, so we quickly decided to stop any more lowering as to not risk any more injury to her. My climbing partner headed down to camp to gather overnight gear supplies while I kept J1 and J2 company. I dug out a tent platform with some other climbers who helped me while we waited. Our three other climbing partners came up with a tent sleeping bags, food and supplies. We set up the tent and ate doughnut holes and this put us all in a good mood as we continued to wait. We first heard the helicopter coming up the valley at round 6:00 PM and I found us and landed a short distance away. The ranger came over did a quick evaluation of J1 and J2 and said he’d be back soon. The helicopter took off and soon returned an hour later with the ranger and a rescue sled hanging 100 ft. below. He was lowered close by, came over to us and we set up the sled and placed J1 into it. Soon enough they were back in the air and flying away down to Cascade Pass TH. [img:center]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7595952888_737d1fb125_z.jpg[/img] J1 and Ranger flying away [img:center]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7594495644_c51e2f500a_n.jpg[/img] J2 walking to helicopter The helicopter returned to pick up J2 and after a bit of confusion with car keys and meeting my climbing partner at the TH they were off at 8:00 PM. As we watched him fly away the slight drizzle had cleared up and a rainbow formed looking south. I think that Mother Nature approved of the successful rescue operation. [img:center]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8023/7595963984_a321af3fd8.jpg[/img] Final Injuries: J1 – broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade, broken left ankle, and minor cuts, scrapes, bruises - She is recovering well from surgery to place pins in her ankle and set all other broken bones. 6 months for a full recovery J2 – broken knee cap, minor cuts, scrapes, bruises Self-Evaluation/Lessons Learned: I think there were some finer points that I missed that could have resulted in missed injury treatment. I became too focused on the goal of getting them to camp that I didn’t follow up on things as we went along. I was checking for feeling in J1’s broken foot early on, which I stopped doing. I should have been more diligent on investigating if she was concuss and didn’t ask the basic questions (who/what/when/where) repeatedly as we descended. J2 was displaying classic signs of wanting to help J1 but not tending to his own injuries and ignoring basic survival skills like not wearing many layers while waiting for the Helicopter. I should have been more proactive in getting him clothes and warm gear. I’m glad that the ranger told him “you look hypothermic, you need to get into the tent!” which he thankfully followed his command. Another thing that resulted in more injury was continuing to move J1 further than was really needed. I was blinded by the thought of bad weather and ‘camp safety’ so we were driven to get to camp. I think that after P2 there was sufficient shelter and a nice flat spot for camp and close helicopter landing. Not moving unless absolutely necessary was violated and it added extra pain and injury to J1 situation. Having a SPOT really did quicken up this rescue and is something that I’m really thinking about getting. When every second counts for critical injuries, getting that call to help as soon as possible could save someone’s life. I’m truly grateful that both of these amazingly strong people survived the whole ordeal and are now on their way to make a full recovery. They both handled the situation quite well and were calm and collected the whole time. A huge thanks to my climbing partner and all he did in he rescue, couldn't have done it with out you! Thanks to my three other climbing partners too, you did great. A huge thanks to the rangers and Hi Line Helicopters - thanks for coming to help so quickly. Finally thanks to everyone else who contributed to helping with this rescue.
  3. I was in the climbing group of 7 that was up on Sahale. I've been super busy, but I'd like to put together a report about the rescue this week. I got a bunch of photos of the helicopter rescue operation. Stay tuned.
  4. Amazing trip report Steph! Thanks for all of the hard work putting together all of the cool route overlays and beta sheets. I'm sure I'll be using them when I head in there this year. Great night time photos too! Any reason you didn't go for NW Mox?
  5. I heard you guys climbing as I slogged up Asgard. Great work Team Ginger! I have a picture one of you - white helmet on up at the top of the route. Let me know if you want the full size pic. Also as a fellow ginger I think you should claim this as the the First No Soul Ascent (FNSA)?
  6. It's all good get your rest at work today . I figured that's what you meant or you found a little known bypass of the down slope to the lake. Oh well the slog uphill to the pass remains
  7. Did you actually go to Horsefly Pass or did you follow the trail over Heather Pass? From your first picture Horsefly looks a bit cliffy...
  8. Solid work guys! Congrats on the summit. Glad you were able to avoid the crowds on the west ridge and make the east ledges go. Sounded like the west ridge descent was a cluster.
  9. Great work guys! That's a ton more snow than when I was up there a few years back at this time. I'm glad Sasha kept it classy on the summit! Oh don't worry about Martin, you can come back and climb it with me since I wimped on my first attempt too.
  10. Great report Franklin. I liked the video. That airy traverse looks rad. Congrats on the summit to all!!!
  11. I haven't and I'm sure Devin hasn't either. I also looked at your approach on that, looks shorter but might be a bit of a schwack to get in. Shouldn't be too bad though. I'd say go for it, nothing like an adventure to a place that's not often traveled. I'm glad to hear there's others like me endlessly chasing the chossy slopes of the Cascades!
  12. Lowa Civetta Boots Size 13 US Brand New - never worn outside $300 + shipping (if needed) I've had these for a year and didn't end up using them because I got the La Sportiva Spantik instead. They've never been used and I even have the box they came in.
  13. Nice work getting the climb done on such a interesting weather day! I'm glad that you were protected from the winds we were encountering on Argonaut. Glad to hear you figured out the easy way through the schwack, it's easy to get suckered into that boulder field.
  14. Trip: Big and West Craggy Peaks - Standard Traverse Date: 6/10/2012 Trip Report: There hasn't been a TR on these peaks besides the East Face of West Craggy so with the contest going on I figured I'd give a report. Here goes nothing... Seeing the crappy forecast for everywhere in the Cascades Josh R, Ryan M, and I elected for something that might be less suck weather wise. So we made the journey East to Winthrop Saturday afternoon and headed up to the Copper Glance TH to climb the Craggies. Figuring with the marginal forecast and the Winthrop Marathon there would be no one else at the TH we camped there and got an early start in the morning 5am. In short time we arrived at the abandoned mine and decided to head up a snow gully to the SE ridge of Big Craggy. It was a direct shot to the top from there, but as we got higher the snow got softer and the clouds more dense until we were in it for reals. Lots of fresh snow and low visibility made the talus and scree a bit challenging but we made the summit in no time. Josh on the SE ridge of Big Craggy Big Craggy Summit Ridge It's still cold and windy but we can see more than 10 feet! We didn't stay long on the summit, snapped a few pics of the amazing views and headed down for the traverse to West Craggy. This was a good test of the old navigation skillz in a whiteout. So with a few compass checks along the way we were on the right path. A bit of post holing action was encountered with the fresh snow on scree, not too bad. That's when the clouds started to break and we could finally see a bit further. Ryan mid traverse, starting to clear up! Sweet traverse action, some snow covered class 2-3ish gully sections were encountered further on in the fog. We found the big snow filled gully leading to the West Craggy summit ridge, as the clouds started to lift for good. The snow was a bit firm under the new 4-6", but you could make your way up without crampons. Heading up to West Craggy summit ridge With the fresh snow the final talus slope traverse was a bit slow going, but the views were getting nicer by the minute. Summit Ridge rime ice Isabella Ridge and Sherman Peak - looking South Big Craggy - Our traverse was just below the ridge on the back side West Craggy Summit Panoramic Some cool lines on Isabella Ridge, that might warrant a return trip with more gear The decent was uneventful and went fast in the quickly softening snow. We found the trail in no time and were headed back to Seattle. Not bad for a weekend forecast of suck. Flickr Photos Approach Notes: 10 hours of driving for 8 hours of climbing. Yes, there is something wrong with me.
  15. Huh, no we didn't see them at all, I guess we slept right through them coming through the camp area. I couldn't really hear anything but the wind blowing against my bivy.
  16. That's cool you guys got something did in the odd weather. I was one of the four that showed up at the moraine in the middle of the rain storm. We wondered where you guys went Sunday morning. After 'sleeping' in, we decided to just bail, and we did a lap on R&D on our way out of icicle creek.
  17. Nice TR of the weekend Bill. Thanks for doing the hard work and posting the report and my pics!
  18. Simply wow! I was one of the group of four you chatted with just below Prusik Pass. We were wondering if you'd actually get to climb, glad to hear it went well. Great TR too.
  19. Nice work, I guess that it was more successful this time since their were no accidental front flips or sliding down slopes backwards.
  20. This is what it looks like when I print. I even tried printing to PDF and it came out like this. You can see the shading in the upper left corner only.
  21. Is anyone else having trouble printing a USGS 7.5' overlayed with the shaded relief and having the shaded relief show up on the entire page? (it shows up in my in Firefox just fine) I'm getting it to print only on the upper left hand section of the screen, the rest just prints the 7.5' map.
  22. Glenfiddich 15 "scotch, scotch, scotch, I love scotch, scotchy, scotch, scotch..."
  23. Yes. Old-timey maps FTW! Great work mattyj (Productivity at work is going to be low this week for this map nerd. )
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