Crevasse Falls

[tvashtarkatena]

Having a biner handy to clip your pack onto the rescue line below you before completing the ascent is another good idea. A free hanging ascent is hard enough with no pack on.

 

Pre-rig it. Much better than screwing around with having to do it once yer in the hole. The same for prusiks or tribloc.

 

NEVER pre-rig a tibloc. A prusik may just snap if it catches the fall (which it will the way most folks rig it)- leaving you in the hole without a means to ascend, but a tibloc will tear your rope a new asshole, leaving you in the hole period.

 

Rigging tiblocs quickly while dangling should be straightforward with a little practice.

Edited December 9, 2013 by tvashtarkatena

[tvashtarkatena]

You can self arrest with skis on. When skiing on a glacier, stow the ax and use a whippet and a poles, both with hands out of the straps (you'll be tossing one if it all goes wrong). You then have the choice of a quick self belay with the whippet or a standard ski pole arrest without. Up your chances by avoiding slick outer clothing like hardshells. Not as good as a standard ax arrest but then, skis provide other advantages, on and off the glacier.

 

Anyone who uses poles might consider learning how to arrest with one. Very useful.

 

A note about falls without skis: If you lose everything on the way down, arrest with your elbows (more effective than you might think) and toes (crampon free) or knees (w/crampons).

 

 

Edited December 9, 2013 by tvashtarkatena

[Fairweather]

 

If you should go skating

On the thin ice of modern life

Dragging behind you the silent reproach

Of a million tear stained eyes

Don't be surprised, when a crack in the ice

Appears under your feet

You slip out of your depth and out of your mind

With your fear flowing out behind you

As you claw the thin ice

 

--Pink Floyd

 

Ok, sorry, not relevant. But this topic reminds me of the song.

[mountainsandsound]

You say the hill's too steep to climb

Climb it.

You say you'd like to see me try

Climbing.

 

You pick the place and I'll choose the time

And I'll climb

That hill in my own way.

Just wait a while for the right day.

And as I rise above the tree lines and the clouds

I look down, hearing the sound of the things you've said today.

 

-Pink Floyd-

 

Name the album and song. It's a good one for a night drive to the trailhead, but it gets kinda:toad:towards the end.

 

Sorry, not relevant here either.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Nater

[wfinley]

You can self arrest with skis on. When skiing on a glacier, stow the ax and use a whippet and a poles, both with hands out of the straps (you'll be tossing one if it all goes wrong).

Skiing without your hands through the straps just means you're going to drop and lose the poles. Falling into a crevasse and losing a ski pole in the middle of a ski trip sucks and you'll end up futzing with something like a shovel handle ski pole for the rest of your trip.

 

[mountainsandsound]

Did you come back from that trip with a strong left deltoid and tricep?

[tvashtarkatena]

LOL. I seldom follow my own advice, of course, but I'll drop a strap on occasion when plying some particularly holy land.

 

I have half a kayak paddle with a canoe handle that looks like it might hail from similar ingearbreeding.

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2013 by tvashtarkatena

[ScaredSilly]

NEVER pre-rig a tibloc. A prusik may just snap if it catches the fall (which it will the way most folks rig it)- leaving you in the hole without a means to ascend, but a tibloc will tear your rope a new asshole, leaving you in the hole period.

 

Rigging tiblocs quickly while dangling should be straightforward with a little practice.

 

I guess I should clarify. When I pre-rig there is no chance that there will any load placed on the rope. But your point is well taken.

[Tod]

Let's compare this to climbing a rock wall: what you are saying, Tod, is akin to claiming it is easier to hold the fall of your follower when he is, say, 5 meters from the belay than it is when he is fifty. This simply isn't so. If you're talking exclusively about opportunities for rope slack, then your point is probably valid. ......What am I missing here?

 

You nailed it. If we were comparing this to climbing a rock wall then dynamic forces are very important. Being that we are talking about low angle glaciers it's a much different animal.

 

Either way, the main point was, use knots if you are a two man team, or have more people on the rope to stop a fall. Longer or shorter distances are not going to stop the falls that were demo'd in that video.

[Sol]