[pct-l] ice axe length

[Brick Robbins]

On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 10:55 AM,  <abiegen at cox.net> wrote:
> I'm not belittling their deaths but trying to relate it to conditions that PCT hikers would encounter since this is a list for PCT thru-hikers not climbers.

In 2001, Dr John Lowder, an experience hiker, was baling off the PCT
towards lone pine due to snow/weather conditions.

His body was found on New Army Pass below a long ice chute. He had
suffered major injuries from a fall, but had managed to get himself
into his sleeping bag before he died.

He was not carrying an Ice Axe.

There is a whole thread about it from back then.
http://www.backcountry.net/arch/pct/0202/threads.html#00381