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Itinerant Climbers


fenderfour

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Reading about the two climbers on Liberty Ridge got me to thinking about how some traveling climbers let their own schedule dictate their climbs. Would any of you gone up Lib Ridge last weekend knowing what the weather was like?

 

Please don't get all bent out of shape. My thoughts are definitely with the two climbers right now.

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They probably would have made it up just fine if one had not had an accident. And now they seem to be holding up well in the conditions. I don't think you can plan your trip saying, well I bet I could get up and down the mountain, but if I have an accident then the rescue team would have to do this this and this. Seems like over-planning for failure. I personally would like to have a clean forecast for that mountain. Others might be willing to roll the dice a bit.

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I'm not doing the hindsight thing. There are a lot of people who can do climbs in conditions that would be suicide for me. I can't question their abilities or skills, I'm just wondering if the schedule might have clouded their judgement of the weather situation.

 

I agree with iain. Had there not been an injury, they probably would have been fine.

 

I don't think it's overplanning to make sure you can be rescued if shit breaks loose.

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I had planned to climb Curtis Ridge this weekend. The last forecast I saw on Thursday was favorable. The rain and white out that caught us at Glacier Basin on Saturday was a suprise to me. (My fault for not checking on Friday, but hell, it was beautiful that day.)

 

If these guys drove to the trail head on Thursday and spent the night there, then hiked in on Friday (beautiful weather!) it is entirely plausible they did not get the forecast with bad weather.

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I can only speak for myself and there's no way I would have went up that route given the forecast. I kept a close eye on the forecast on Friday and cancelled a mellow ski at Rainer this weekend because of the weather. And yes, there are many a folk bolder than me, that's for sure. But with the cell phone thing it's easier to get out of mess that you might otherwise not have gotten into if that option were not available. IMHO. Keep your fingers crossed for a good outcome on this one.

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I don't think it's overplanning to make sure you can be rescued if shit breaks loose.

 

Personal helicopter? COBRA COMMANDER weather modification satellite? Hand of God? rolleyes.gif

 

The mountain mafia can't hook you up?

 

Maybe just making sure you have a good weather window would do the trick.

 

I'm with Jim. No way would I have been up there, but I'm a wuss and I didn't buy a plane ticket to get here either.

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Hmmm. I was assuming these guys left Thumb Rock on Saturday morning, assuming they got their on Friday. If so then it's odd to me that they would decide to go for it after waking up to not great conditions and a dropping barometer. But if you've come cross-country and this is your shot maybe you feel ok about pushing it.

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I feel lucky to live here and have the mountain at my disposal, as it were.

 

I will say this, I would be fucking bummed if I went across country to climb something and the weather wasn't co-operating. If it was dicy, I would probably roll the dice. Hard to say. It's pretty easy to bail off when the weather gets bad and you've got a warm bed and a fridge full of beer in Seattle. At least, its easy for this assmonkey.

 

- a s s m * n k e y

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From what I have read, both of those guys are pretty experienced. Obviously we don't have much information as to why the accident happened, but sometimes things just happen to even the most experienced. Could be that the weather wasn't the reason they had problems...but useless to speculate till we hear an official report.

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I've started out in less than optimal conditions because I drove a long distance to get there. Hell, haven't we all? We do live in the NW after all.

 

I remember driving from PDX to Alpental to do Chair Peak. Woke up in overcast conditions that became pretty nasty at the base of the North Face of Chair. Listened to two guys from Seattle arguing about whether it was worth it to continue. They decided it was better to bail "because its so close we can just come back another time." I was like "fuck it, I drove 4 hours for this shit I'm at least gonna give it a try." We summitted but it was hardly an aesthetic experience. Sometimes you roll the dice on weather.

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I don't know, I had had friends fly up to climb 3 different times when I was in the PNW and I was pretty blunt with them on weather, climbing and expensive plane tickets. They were cool when I told them before the trip that i didn't give a fuck about how much they paid for the ticket and it that it wouldn't influence a thumbs_up.gif or a thumbs_down.gif for the climbs. First trip we never even left Seattle. Second, bailed at 12k and 3rd was a perfect weekend on Baker. All three weekends were fun as hell anyway.

 

I think it helps if you all decide before hand what the limits should be and stick to them when you get there. Having a fun fall back plan helps quell the summit fever problem too.

Edited by griz
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