Rescue on Mt. St. Elias

[dbb]

All I heard was Gore-Tex on ice,' survivor recallsMOUNT ST. ELIAS: John Griber relates the events that led to the likely deaths of two companions.

By Dan Joling The Associated Press

(Published: April 13, 2002) Carefully working his way down a 45-degree ice face on Mount St. Elias, aware of almost certain death if he fell, snowboarder John Griber turned at the sound of a swish above.

Forty to 50 feet away, he saw companion Aaron Martin off his skis on his side and sliding.

"All I heard was Gore-Tex on ice," Griber said Friday. "He was sliding on his right hip. I can't tell you why he was so calm."

The Jackson Hole, Wyo., snowboarder watched for 30 seconds as Martin slid hundreds of feet and out of sight. Then the snowboarder yelled for the second skier in the party, Reid Sanders. There was only silence.

Martin, 32, of Lake Tahoe, Calif., and Sanders, of West Yellowstone, Mont., are now presumed dead in falls on the 18,008-foot peak about 60 miles north of Yakutat.

Pilot Paul Claus of Ultima Thule Outfitters in Chitina on Friday reported spotting a body about 3,000 feet below the peak, and a string of equipment tracing the route of a fall. Claus, a noted Alaska Bush pilot, planned to return to see if a body recovery was possible, said National Park Service spokeswoman Jane Tranel.

Griber and a third climber, Greg Von Doersten, also of Jackson, were rescued by a National Guard helicopter Wednesday. Griber said Martin fell Monday, a day earlier than had been indicated in initial reports.

Recovering Friday in Anchorage, Griber talked to The Associated Press by telephone.

His voice at times cracking, Griber said the men intended to climb the second tallest peak in the United States, then become the first to ski or snowboard to sea level from such an elevation.

Martin and another team had tried the same thing a year earlier only to be turned back by blizzards. This year the weather was sunny, calm and relatively warm in the days after Claus dropped the men off at Hayden Col, a pass just above 10,000 feet, on April 4.

The next day the climbers tackled their first hurdle, a sheer 3,500-foot ice face. Climbing with 65-pound packs stuffed with food and gear for a higher camp, the four ran into a problem when Von Doersten lost a crampon on the last pitch, preventing him from climbing.

By the time Martin pulled him up on a rope, Von Doersten had frostbitten his hand. The climbers dug a camp into the snow near 14,500 feet. Von Doersten decided to stay there while the others went on.

Griber, Martin and Sanders set off the next day and by Sunday reached 16,000 feet. The next morning, they were ready to go for the summit, but faced another ice wall. It was not as steep as the first, Griber said, but the surface was "runneled" -- lined with channels a few inches to 15 inches deep caused by water melting, flowing and freezing.

By late afternoon, though, the men were above that headwall and within 600 to 700 feet of the summit. Griber rested there while the others pushed forward.

"I just felt really drained," he said. "I wanted to let them take advantage of not pulling me up."

Griber estimates he paused 10 minutes, then followed the footprints of the two skiers. At about 6:15 p.m., 150 feet from the summit, he decided he could go no farther. He worried that it would take another 20 minutes to the top, and darkness was coming.

Griber took off his crampons and neoprene overboots and locked into his snowboard. In severe conditions, Griber said, he often snowboarded with an ice ax in his hand. This time, he had one in each hand.

"This wasn't snowboarding," he said. "This was absolutely survival technique."

Still, he noted the conditions were the same or better than the three had encountered on previous trips.

"This is what we were used to doing," he said. "We specialize in high angle, extreme terrain. We're not just a couple guys who went out and said, Let's go ski this thing.' "

Griber started down. He paused occasionally, he said, to wait for Martin and Sanders. Within half an hour or less, he spotted his companions about 800 feet above.

"That was a relief," he added. "I thought, Man, it's getting late.' "

Griber slowly continued down the mountain for another 15 minutes, looking for good snow, occasionally able to make a turn. When a few ice balls rained down, he figured Martin and Sanders must be directly above.

"I said, Man, this is a little dangerous', " Griber said. He traversed across the slope to be out of the way if anyone fell.

A few minutes later, he heard the sliding sound, and over his right shoulder saw Martin. Martin had self-arrest grips on ski poles for braking to a stop on steep snow, but the skier could not stop.

"It seemed like an eternity of a fall," Griber said.

Griber yelled for Sanders, but heard nothing. Sanders had yet to clear an area of unstable ice columns and crevasses, Griber said.

As darkness fell, Griber put on his headlamp and made his way into a band of talus and rock, where he jettisoned his snowboard. He tried climbing on the rocks, calling for Sanders, and looked for a flat place to bivouac.

Eventually, concerned with his own safety, he put his crampons back on, located the footprints the climbers had made that afternoon, and walked on ice in the dark until he found a crevasse to provide shelter from the bone-chilling wind.

"I was feeling cooked at this point," he said. "I was beyond tired."

He woke at 5 a.m., searched again for Sanders, he said, then descended to the old snow shelter at 16,000 feet. He stayed long enough to warm up in a sleeping bag, then descended to 14,500 feet to tell Von Doersten of the tragedy.

A day later, Claus flew over to check on the climbers. Griber and Von Doersten waved to him and Griber used his ice ax to carve out a message in 6-foot letters: "two dead."

Claus dropped a weighted bag with a note saying rescue was possible, and for the climbers to raise both arms if they needed help.

"I fell to my knees and raised both hands," Griber said.

A HH-60 Pavehawk helicopter from the National Guard's 210th Mountain Air Rescue group in Anchorage came to get them. The crew had to lighten it to safely climb to 14,000 feet. Griber and Von Doersten abandoned their camp and equipment on the mountain to scramble aboard the flight to safety.

Daily News reporter Craig Medred contributed to this report.

[dbb]

When I first saw this I thought: University Peak inspiration?

Higher, bigger, newer. Too bad these guys lost.

[David_Parker]

This is truly tragic. I sincerely hope the two deceased were single and their deaths have not affected a wife or worse children for the sake of "being first" to do something. While Griber seems to indicate they were experts, I seriously question their choice to don skis/snowboard given their condition (fast ascent to altitude) time of day (obviously tired) and snow conditions. Being an "experienced" skiier does mean just ability to go down hill, but the ability to make wise choices. Sometimes the best choice is to come back another day when conditions are right.

I skied the Muir snowfield in "survival" conditions earlier this year. I did not feel at that low angle I would die if I fell. Still I was nervous of sliding a long way if I did. It doesn't take much more of an angle than the Muir snowfield to start sliding out of control quickly. Once again, the tragedy occured on the descent.

My sincere sympathies to all survivors directly affected. Perhaps they died doing what they loved, but I wish they were still around to enjoy life and climb and ski again. I hope some of us can learn from this.

[Brock_Landers]

What Dru said, at least for now. Climbers often learn from analyzing climbing accidents. But give it some time, first.

[max]

yeah, what dberdinka said, for now.

 

It seems his analysis fulfills the burden of proof to a suficient level. I'll go with what he said unitl someone make a refutation.

[glennm]

I have to disagree that it was foolhardy for Griber to go for his snowboard for descent even though he was on very extreme terrain. There are several other considerations to factor in.

1)The speed with which he felt he could descend on his board is a safety consideration.

2)In a state of near exhaustion, Griber may have felt more stable on his board -for him this may have been a better choice than risking the chance of catching a crampon downclimbing.

3)Sure, extreme skiing has its "you fall , you die " aspects, but let us not fool ourselves. A goof on WI3 could just as easily be a deadly fall, as could a fall on 5.7 rock- who expects it to happpen, but it does. And what if the screw or nut placement does not hold, or if you are impaled on your tool, or pro holds but you sustain a spinal or closed head injury, even with a helmet(happens)? Even a well roped team on a routine glacier crossing can risks serious injury/death if a climber takes a big one into a crevasse(rare, but happens).

My point is, even within our personal "limits" and well within the limits of safe climbing practices, the line between safety and catastrophe can be far narrower than one thinks. To me, extreme skiing/climbing often means someone with more talent than me who put in more time and effort than me has the judgement to do things within their margin of safety that would kill me if I tried. I dunno. The deaths on St. Elias were a tragedy indeed. There is nothing glorious about dying or losing one's companions.

[David_Parker]

Just curious to anyone else's comments?

[Dru]

If you weren't there, dont bother commenting. all to easy to second guess the dead based on the view from your armchair.

[dberdinka]

Ok, I'll go ahead and put myself in the firing line here. So based on the AP article I can surmise (is that a word?) the following.

 

Day 1 (Thursday April 4th) Sea level to 10,000'

Day 2 (Friday April 5th) to 14,500'

Day 3-4 (Sat-Sun 6th and 7th) to 16,000'

Day 5 (Monday April 8th) to 18,008'

 

Ok, so they all lived at 7,000+ feet, skied and climbed hard above that regularly. The weather was probably great (rarely on Elias in April?), so they chose to go for it (speed equals safety being the latest buzzword). Anyway you cut it that is a really fast rate of ascent. How safe was it? I would GUESS! that they were performing at less than optimal levels due to a lack of acclimization.

 

Considering they were climbing and trying to ski down technical terrain that MIGHT have been near their limits ("It was survival skiing" was the quote in the Sunday paper) under optimal conditions. MAYBE (obviously?) they pushed it a little far.

 

Fire away boys!

[ruddersbox]

"There is nothing glorious about dying or losing one's companions." Glennmn is absolutely correct!, and the pain lasts longer than one may think!

[Figger_Eight]

quote:

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If you weren't there, dont bother commenting. all to easy to second guess the dead based on the view from your armchair.

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Yeah...what Dru said.

[ruddersbox]

"3,000 feet below the peak, and a string of equipment tracing the route of a fall."

That is one hell of a tragic yard sale!

[Stonehead]

“There is nothing glorious about dying or losing one’s companions.”

 

That is to say, that since all of us will die and lose our companions through the course of time then our life, in itself, is devoid of glory. It is in how you choose to live within the confines of the latitude we are given by our means and intelligence that our lives become glorified. Death is simply the end. All of this being much easier to say than to realize through our actions. They simply point the way to a life lived as it was meant to be for those who seek a higher experience beyond the banal existence of the herd. Life becomes a tragedy for all who love life as we all must die.

 

Climb on!

[cj001f]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dru:

If you weren't there, dont bother commenting. all to easy to second guess the dead based on the view from your armchair.

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Amen.

[Stonehead]

quote:

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If you weren't there, dont bother commenting. all to easy to second guess the dead based on the view from your armchair.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Amen.

---

Then, …this is a dead thread. But, I’m not talking on the personal level. That’s altogether another thing and should be left alone by media, informal or otherwise. Why climb? So I tried to answer that with what I believe to be the philosophical underpinning of why you climb whether you articulate it or not. Silence as a response is a shrinking away, a contraction of my being. My action is a counter to that. Why do you climb?

 

Get that polling thingy working so you can vote me off.

[Jedi]

Always sad to read about a tragedy. We make our choices and sometimes things do not workout. I am always glad to hear that no rescuer is injured in the rescue.

 

Jedi

[Self_propelled]

This may be the most telling quote of the story.

 

"All I heard was Gore-Tex on ice," Griber said Friday. "He was sliding on his right hip. I can't tell you why he was so calm."

 

The fact that he was calm could suggest many things. I'd like to think that it meant he had reached the summit, something that the article in today's PI suggested had been his goal since viewing the summit from Logan at the age of 16. And further that he knew self arrest on high angle bulletproof ice and therefore saving his life was impossible.

 

This story is tragic for those left behind, but maybe not for those lost.

[Scott_J]

In Brief

 

(Published: April 16, 2002)

WRANGELL-ST. ELIAS NATIONAL PARK

 

Searchers locate, identify bodies of missing climbers

 

Searchers found the body of the second missing climber on Mount St. Elias on Saturday while on a trip to confirm the identity of the climber who was found the day before.

 

Aaron Martin, 32, of North Lake Tahoe, Calif., and Reid Sanders of West Yellowstone were missing and presumed dead last week after falls on the 18,008-foot peak in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

 

Pilot Paul Claus spotted a body near 16,000 feet from his Turbo Otter on Friday but could not make an identification. Claus returned to the area Saturday with John Griber, a climber who ascended the peak with Martin and Sanders on April 8, said National Park Service spokesman John Quinley.

 

Griber confirmed the body was Martin's. It appeared he fell about 2,000 feet, leaving a trail of equipment behind. Claus and Griber found Sanders' body at 17,200 feet. A similar string of equipment, including rope, skis and a pack, traced Sanders' nearly 1,000-foot fall over an ice floe and into a heavily crevassed area, Quinley said.

 

According to the Park Service, the three men had climbed the mountain, the second-highest in the country, and had planned to ski and snowboard down. During their descent, Griber, who went first on a snowboard, turned and saw Martin slide off a ridge. Griber never saw Sanders.

 

Griber and Greg Von Doersten, a fourth climber who had remained at their camp with frostbite, were rescued Wednesday by the National Guard.

 

Because of the dangerous terrain, the park service does not plan to recover the bodies, Quinley said.

 

-- Anchorage Daily News

[cj001f]

quote:

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Originally posted by Stonehead:

[QB]

quote:

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If you weren't there, dont bother commenting. all to easy to second guess the dead based on the view from your armchair.

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Amen.

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Then, …this is a dead thread. But, I’m not talking on the personal level. That’s altogether another thing and should be left alone by media, informal or otherwise. Why climb? So I tried to answer that with what I believe to be the philosophical underpinning of why you climb whether you articulate it or not. Silence as a response is a shrinking away, a contraction of my being. My action is a counter to that. Why do you climb?

QB]

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This thread should be dead. It serves little purpose at the present time, in it's present incarnation. Speculating, with minimal facts, so shortly after an accident borders on the ghoulish. I have no problem with discussion of climbing motivation - that however, is best done on a different thread.

[Lowell_Skoog]

Aaron Martin and Reid Sanders didn't intend to fall and die on St Elias. They made a mistake. It's impossible for us to know what mistake they made, but we can speculate, without judging them. No one has complete knowledge of the facts, not even their surviving partners. Discussing things that could have gone wrong, even if they didn't, is valuable if it makes us more aware of such hazards in the future.

 

We don't honor the dead by ignoring their mistakes and then repeating them. We honor the dead by learning and remembering.

[dberdinka]

Rereading my first post, I cringe a little knowing it will be interpreted as being derisive towards the skiers in question. It certainly comes off as being cavalier. Regardless, I think it is perfectly legitimate to review the actions of any climber who has died because (as already pointed out) generally there is a lot to be learned from such incidents.

 

I'm willing to say that 99% of climbing fatalities result from human error. (There are always exceptions)

 

That statement probably deserves a certain amount of explanation. Climbing is to a great extent all about risk management. Being fully aware of the level of risk one is accepting and doing everything possible to minimize it. Of course everyone has a different threshold for how much risk they are willing to accept. The spectrum ranges from the casual peak scrambler to the free soloist, etc. In my experience accidents and fatalities occur when we place ourselves in a position of greater risk than we originally planned on accepting. The reasons for doing so are many. Some general explanations being inexperience, group dynamics, tunnel vision (focus on goals) and carelessness.

 

I've been lucky enough to avoid getting whacked on several of occasions. Every time I screwed up. Here are some examples.

 

1.) Spending a very long time, on a very small belay ledge waiting to rappel. Realizing I'm not clipped into anything as I finally rig my rappel. Reason: carelessness

 

2.) Skiing (actually cliffed out) directly below the Hanging Glacier when a very large avalanche decided to calve off. Reason: tunnel vision NOT objective hazards. Choosing to follow the best snow on the way down without giving much consideration to where we were.

 

3.) Watching a friend die when we were far to Inexperienced to be climbing that particular route.

 

My point being, I doubt those guys went up their thinking they had 50% odds of surviving. To say, "It’s a great tragedy, but they died doing what they loved most. That is the price we pay for the beauty of the mountains", might make everyone feel better. But it does little to make any of us safer climbers. Climbing mountains is great, but it's not worth dieing for.

[max]

Another thing I think is worth mentioning: Reviewing someone actions w/o judgement (it seems most critiques offered so far have been pretty non-judgemental) with the purpose of improving our own methods is much more appropriate and mature than reviewing others actions and mocking them, for the sole purpose of a good laugh and feeling important (e.g. "mountaineers suck", "I saw a bunch of gapers", "he was doggin his way up a bolted 5.8", etc.)

[David_Parker]

What I'm curious about(are there any skiers who now board) is if a snowboard is more secure on steep, icy slopes than two skis? Why do you think one may be better than the other? Lets assume ability is equal for each skier/boarder to level the field.

[slaphappy]

 

 

[ 04-16-2002, 10:42 PM: Message edited by: slaphappy ]

[Lowell_Skoog]

I'm not a snowboarder, but I think a snowboard should be more secure on steep icy terrain than skis. I believe that recent descents in the Alps bear this out, but I don't have details.

 

To me, it makes sense that two legs driving a single edge should be more powerful on ice than two independent skis. Think of mono-point crampons, by analogy.

 

Also, a snowboarder can wield a real ice tool in each hand rather than simply holding self arrest grips. A snowboarder can "downclimb" on the toe side of the board while secured with two ice tools. A skier can't very well do any of these things.

 

Other posters have noted that the St. Elias party climbed very quickly to the summit and may have been poorly aclimatized. Their descent at sunset could have led to mistakes due to being pressed for time. And, of course, they could have decided to walk down instead of skiing.

 

I'd like to offer another idea that could, perhaps, have changed the outcome--they could have belayed each other. My guess is that belayed skiing was never part of their plans. It is contrary to the prevailing style in steep skiing today. Yet skiing on belay is no less challenging than skiing unroped. (So, it's not like it's cheating.) It is probably more challenging, due to the rope management skills required. And it can be safer. The main reason steep skiers reject it is for reasons of style. That's unfortunate, to my mind. Especially if it leads to an outcome like the Mount St. Elias tragedy.

 

[ 04-17-2002, 05:48 PM: Message edited by: Lowell Skoog ]