[pct-l] Falls before Sonora Pass

[dsaufley at sprynet.com]

This year Lico, of Patience and Lico from Israel, fell and slid there too, and was pretty shaken and bruised by the experience.

L-Rd

-----Original Message-----
>From: Jack Haskel <hikerunion at gmail.com>
>Sent: Oct 22, 2006 8:39 AM
>To: pct-l at backcountry.net
>Subject: [pct-l] Falls before Sonora Pass
>
>Yep, yep, yep.  This fall account sounds pretty familiar. I too fell at, I
>think, the very same spot this year. In fact, four out of six hikers that I
>was around fell right here.
>
>- I was the only one with my ice axe off my pack and I successfuly self
>arrested (my first self arrest ever). Good thing because of those rocks.
>
>- One hiker slipped, splayed out kissing the snow and managed to stop her
>fall after just a few feet of sliding.
>
>- One hiker slipped, built up speed and then managed to turn it in to a
>guided glissade, narrowly missing the rock band below. I didn't see this.
>
>- Another hiker, that I didn't see, fell and had a serious cartwheel. Head
>over heels, and over and over again. Luckily, she somehow escaped without
>hitting the rocks or sustaining serious injury. It was a very close call I
>heared.
>
>Anyways, point is, TAKE your ice axe off your pack!! Also, don't send it
>home at Tuolumne. Some hikers did that. In general, people who weren't
>carrying an axe, said they still thought it was a good decision. I think
>that's because they survived this time without incident. It's still bad
>judgement.
>
>In my experience, the ice axe was actually most important around Sonora Pass
>(north and south of it), on some of the major sierra passes and on Dick's
>Pass in Desolation. Dicks for me was super scary, very firm ice/snow with no
>purchase and no prints. I didn't have an axe or crampons but definitely
>should have. If it's a big snow year, I'd recommend keeping your axe until
>Truckee/pooh's.
>
>> I had to hike 18 miles north to get to Sonora Pass from the 1000 mile mark
>> of the PCT. This was one of the most scenic days of my entire PCT hike. At
>> about 3:00PM, as the dirt trail eventually came around to the north side of
>> the Peak at Sonora Pass, I could see the vehicles down below. Eventually the
>> dirt trail came to the steepest section of snow. I looked up and saw a skier
>> who was skiing down from the very top of the peak. Girl Scout and
>> Ridgewalker had already made nice footsteps in the snow heading across and
>> down the steep slope. They were both about 50 yards ahead and ready to begin
>> glissading straight down on a less steep section. I figured I could just
>> follow in their footsteps without any problem, even though the slope was
>> very steep.
>>
>> As I took my first couple of steps in snow I began sliding (both feet)
>> downhill immediately. I knew this was not good as there was a large rock
>> outcropping directly below about 50 feet. As I fell on my butt I tried to
>> dig my fingers into the snow while holding onto my two trekking poles. My
>> speed was increasing as I tried to "steer" my way to the right of the large
>> rock outcropping. I managed to avoid hitting the rocks, but I fell feet
>> first into a depression between the rocks and where the snow had melted away
>> from the rocks about 3 feet. I was surprised I did not lose my hat or
>> sunglasses. I think my pack actually kept me from hitting the rocks. This
>> depression was about 4 feet deep, and I landed on my chest on loose scree,
>> mud, and snowmelt. The sudden stop nearly knocked the wind out of me. My
>> ribs and back were immediately sore. I had lost one of my trekking poles
>> during the fall and noticed it was lying on top of the snow about 15 feet
>> above me.
>>
>>
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