High pressure water

[epb]

What's up with tapping high pressure water on ice routes. When is this a danger? or how can you know if it is a potential hazard on a route. I can't find anything about this in any books...other than an accident report of some dude getting blown off a route in the Adirondacks on a 15'x15' piece of ice, cause he tapped into some high pressure water lurking under the route.

[ScottP]

In the Sept 15, 2000 (the "Epics" double issue) Climbing Mag's Vantage Point article (in the back) the concept of ice dams is discussed.

Some points made:

--They tend to be found where wide fluctuations in temps occur.

--They form at the upper end of steeper ground, at the face of benches where water can pool.

--Usually there are no tell-tale seeps or fractures because if there are, the pressure doesn't build.

Hope this helps.

[Dru]

sometimes if you are lucky you can pop a screw through into water under pressure and it blasts out the ice core and gives you a running water spurt from your screw. kinda like tapping a keg but without the head... it would be cool if it was beer though.

Terminal G., you have to design us an iceclimb made of frozen running beer on the outside of your brewery...