Text on climbing and risk

[glassgowkiss]

REad

[Kimmo]

seems a little silly, this mountain climbing thing.

[111]

love the shot of the 3 climbing the snow slope above the seracs

[campwire]

This article hits close to home form me. A small group of us were climbing in the same area in. It hadn't snowed in over a week. 3 of my friends were climbing Midnight Rambler on Mount Wilson (same as in the text). An avalanche that started 1500 meters above them swept the route. They were not lucky. I was lucky for being on a different climb that day (Wet Dream). The experience changed the type of climbs I will do. We try to make the best decisions we can at the time, but there are things we can't control.

[AlpineK]

Descending from climbing the Cassin Ridge in the 80s we ran into this guy at the 14,000 ft camp. The fellow was determined to solo the route. We tried to talk him out of it, or at least find another party to tag along with while ascending the NE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.

 

A month later I got a call from a park ranger asking me to tell him everything I knew about the fellow. Apparently they found foot tracks leading into an area below the upper icefall. The tracks went into a recent avalanche zone but didn't come out.

 

There is a reason why the NE fork also goes by the name Valley of Death.

[Rad]

Colin's Alpinist piece on similar themes was superb.

[mountainsloth]

As a very experienced alpinist once wrote about climbing in the mountains: "There are too many variables. Too many things that could go wrong. The alpine architect I've aspired to be doesn't exist. You can't control it all, it's too big: it's the earth."

 

Love that quote

[JosephH]

Climbing is a matter of a combination of subjective and objective risk. In rock climbing the objective risks are basically rock fall, unexpected loose holds, and sharp edges. Most of the time on rock 95-99% or the risk is subjective and based entirely on the choices you make for yourself. In the mountains, the role of objective risk grows exponentially with weather, snow, and ice conditions playing heavily into your chances of success or failure. You could be the most skilled climber on earth and still get augured in bad conditions or an avalanche. When climbing in the mountains a far higher percentage of the subjective risk is based in judgment of external factors and some of the time it's just unavoidably an act of weighing the odds and gambling.

[mattp]

We a have funny ways to talk about risk.

 

I claim that I am a safe climber. I've been climbing for decades and the worst injury that anybody in my party has suffered is a torn tendon or sprained ankle. And, based on my record, climbing is not dangerous, right? Well maybe not. I have had friends die climbing.

 

Even when faced with our friends' deaths, we can make some funny arguments. For example, some climbers argue that riding in a car is the most dangerous part of climbing. I don't think so. I have had more friends die climbing than I have had friends or family die in car accidents. Climbing is dangerous.

 

And then there is the question of danger inherent in rock climbing vs. the danger in alpine climbing. I think rock climbing is relatively safe and, until just a couple of years ago, I could say that of all my friends who have died climbing they all had crampons on their feet when they died (this simple factor was pointed out to me by someone else, but it was an accurate reflection of what I have experienced). I think this is because, as is written in this tread, there is more "objective" danger in alpine climbing than there is in pure rock climbing. I believe that alpine climbing is more dangerous than rock climbing.

 

However, even the relatively safe sport of rock climbing is in fact dangerous. I think it is worth the risk but we should all seek to stack the odds in our favor. Please don't laugh at me if I wear a helmet when sport climbing, and I'll see you in the hut if, when we are about to start an alpine climb, the temperature is rising.

[JosephH]

"Place thine protection well, lest the ground rise up to smite thee..."

 

Devils Lake Trial and Error School of Climbing, c1976

[billcoe]

Whew, some story campwire.

 

I was grateful to be asked to guide for a local company while it's 3 founders went and climbed K2 25 or so some odd years ago. All 3 were some of the baddest assed climbers on the planet at that time. Many years later one of them, John Smolich still is listed on some Rainier speed records. http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/speed/rainier.htm

 

A brief look at the end for John Smolich and Alan Pennington. Brief it was. 2 of 3 died in that avalanche.

http://books.google.com/books?id=1rbQvvxaIeQC&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=John+Smolich+climber&source=bl&ots=oiNnlvYers&sig=XJjqaI26c_t1jh1kURsLxlkeIr8&hl=en&ei=FoArTbCxNZLksQOF2c2jBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

It's sad, but the risk is known. You can be Alex Lowe, and big mountains don't seem to care and will still kill ya 5 different ways even when you are looking right at it. I often reflect on Jeff Lowe, and some of the stuff he's done and survived in his amazingly jaw dropping and remarkable career. Only to get taken down by MS at a relatively young age. I don't know what all that means, except we all have choices, and we make them.

 

[campwire]

I saw Jeff Lowe give a talk at a conference a couple years ago. He said his climbing was escalating to the point where he would have eventually died and that MS saved his life.