[pct-l] pct-l Digest, Vol 36, Issue 22

[Bob Bankhead]

Oh so true!

When I took my mountaineering training with the Ptarmigens Mountaineering Club lo those many years ago, part of our ice axe training on Mt Hood was repeated falls (on a slope with a safe runout) from all 4 likely positions: feet-first on your belly (the easiest to stop), head-first on your belly (at least you can see where you'll end up if you don't get that darn pick into the snow FAST), feet-first on your back (must remember to keep crampons up OFF the snow while trying to turn over), and head-first on your back (the hardest arrest and one that scares the @#$& out of me, even on a safe runout).

Instructors walked up beside us during a series of traverses and tripped or knocked us sidewise when we weren't expecting it. Their salient point was this - you won't be expecting the fall when it happens for real. Your response needs to be instinctive, or at worst reflexive. There's no time to think it through once you're sliding.

Another point - unpracticed skills quickly degrade. Get back on the slopes and practice before you go out there the following year.

Or, you can simply ape the old "hike your own hike" line. It's your call. The life you save may be your own.

Bob
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bighummel at aol.com 
  To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
  Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 4:40 PM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] pct-l Digest, Vol 36, Issue 22



  In a message dated 10/22/2006 2:27:36 AM Pacific Standard Time,  
  mountainprana at earthlink.net writes:

  >  " Of course,  if you're lucky  and fall the right  way, even an 
  > inexperienced hiker may be  able to self
  >  arrest, but if you fall backwards and/or upside down, you could be  in  
  > real trouble.  I can imagine, it's not the easiest thing to do  without 
  >  first practicing."



  Years ago, while doing summer field geology work in the Sierra above  Bishop, 
  I did a foolish thing;  I tried to ice climb an old rotten corniss  (sp?) on 
  the top of a ridge.  The snow on top was rotten from the advancing  summer and 
  the snow under an overhang of about 18 inches was solid and still  near ice 
  density and held well.  I climbed this with ice axe and full  crampons and a 
  rock hammer (dumb).  The rock hammer slipped out while in a  sitting position 
  wrapped around the overhang and I began to fall back.  In  that 1/1,000,000th of 
  a second of realization, I threw the rock hammer and  pushed out and flipped 
  around in mid air, swinging the ice axe into self arrest  position.  In the 
  next 1/1,000,000,000th of a second I fell about 20 feet  vertically (gravity 
  really sucks!) into the snow/ice/mud underneath and slipped  into mud and gravel 
  at an incredible velocity.  The self arrest did  nothing, however, in the 
  insuing years this event has resonated in my memory and  I think that I learned a 
  ton;  
   
  1) You really need four good points to climb vertical or technical ice,  
  don't try to use a tool that isn't designed for what you're trying to use it  for.
   
  2) In a fall, after recognition, immediately toss one point to free up that  
  hand for self arrest.
   
  3) My recognition of falling condition is good.
   
  4) I'm a total idiot for trying this and damn lucky to come away with just  a 
  slightly twisted ankle!
   
  5) Gravity really sucks and the acceleration of a free fall is almost  
  unbelievable.  
   
  6) Your mind moves much faster than gravity sucks.  Thus, you can  recognize 
  and react in time in many, if not most cases, IF you have the right  equipment 
  and IF you know how to use it!
   
  Big Old Idiot Strider (BOIS) or
  Great Albino Zulu Warrior (GAZW) or
  . . . 
   
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