Rank the months for cascade glacier crevasse falls

[Jens]

From least dangerous to most: (in an average weather year and note differences between high volcanoes and north cascade peaks) I'm only talking about crevasse falls. Not serrac collapse, avy, or the like.

Any thoughts:

safest to least:

August- safest

Sept

July

April

March

October

May

February

June

January

November

December (most dangerous)

Please argue or disagree I know there are a ton of regional differences. Chime in with your two cents!

[G-spotter]

i think May is the safest. Or April. The crevasses are all filled in. I never rope up for that shiz in the spring.

[Blake]

I'd think October or November, as crevasses can be covered by a thin layer of new, unbonded snow that just hides them.

[Jens]

And if you are really bored... to add to it, if you want, chime in how many times you've fallen in a real crevasse and held people falling into real crevasses (cascades only for this thread). I want to see where I stand.

[Jason_Martin]

The problem with this question is that it neglects the reason most people fall into crevasses in the Cascades. Very few serious crevasse falls (falls where one goes in over his or her head) in the Cascades result from a snow bridge collapsing.

 

Instead, the vast majority of serious falls in the Cascades take place because individuals slip above the crevasse and slide in. Years of "Accidents in North American Mountaineering" support this assertation in the Cascades.

 

Though I don't have dates in front of me to show the months where most of the crevasse falls have taken place, it is still likely that such falls which start as a slip are most common when the glaciers are the most icy. This means that August and September are probably somewhat dangerous months.

 

Jason

[Alpinfox]

And if you are really bored... to add to it, if you want, chime in how many times you've fallen in a real crevasse and held people falling into real crevasses (cascades only for this thread). I want to see where I stand.

 

I've never been in past my waist, nor have I ever been on a trip on which any partner of mine went in past their waist. I have gone in up to my crotch or waist 4 times I think. Once I wasn't roped up and my pack kept me from going all the way in through the snowbridge. Both feet were swinging freely in open air. F'n scary.

 

Once I got pulled (by the dumbshit on the rope ahead of me) into a crevasse filled with water. Good thing it was a warm day.

 

The falling-through-the-snowbridge method of going into a crevasse is most likely to happen in early "winter" before the snowbridges are strong enough to hold bodyweight or in "spring" when they are melting out. The month in which "early winter" and "spring" conditions occur are different every year, different for different elevations, ranges, aspects of the mountain, etc.

 

By sheer number of incidents, I'd bet crevasse falls are highest in June/July/August just because thats when the most people are out in the mountains.

[G-spotter]

I fell into a crevasse wearing a windshirt and found a Neutrino once. Does that count as crevasse fall experience?

[Jens]

Drew, Did you have a computer when you fell in so you could even post on various climbing websites from the bottom of the crevasse?

[mountainmatt]

I fell into a crevasse wearing a windshirt and found a Neutrino once. Does that count as crevasse fall experience?

Falling into a crevasse wearing a windshirt with a Neutrino is aid.