[pct-l] Re: Mt. Hood accident

[payslee@yahoo.com (payslee)]

The weather yesterday was absolutely beautiful. It was clear and calm
at the top of the mountain. There was much speculation that the snow
was soft and this is possible, but by 9:30 am when the fall occurred
the sun has not yet reached the top part of the hogsback where the top
rope team (the first to fall) was climbing.

I was mesmerized by the coverage yesterday afternoon. I was a novice
climber on Mt. Hood two weeks ago, and had (way more minor) trouble in
the same spot just over the crevasse. Our trip leader mentioned several
times that the most dangerous part of the final ascent is that the
geography of the mountain means that everyone climbs the last bit in a
direct line, one below the other, with only about three feet to spare
on top of the ridge. If someone above you falls, they will almost
certainly hit you. 

One of the firefighters on the rope team that didn't get knocked down
said that the pair at the top of the line had been having difficulty
before the fall - of what kind he didn't say, but ten thousand people a
year attempt to climb Mount Hood, and not all of them are as fit as a
PCTer. When you get up at midnight and climb 5000 feet in eight hours,
you get tired, if you're not careful you're dehydrated, maybe you make
a mistake, maybe a snow step gives way and your reactions are not quite
fast enough to arrest the fall immediately. Maybe altitude sickness, or
a loose crampon. In this case, it was a terrible snowball effect that
might have started from a tiny mischance.

It's a sobering reminder that no matter how well conditioned and
prepared you may be, sometimes fate rushes in from a clear blue sky. I
haven't been able to catch any updates today so I don't know if they've
determined why the helicopter crashed, but it was one of those things
you just can't imagine even after you've just watched it happen. A
miracle that everyone inside survived, and they didn't tale the long
ride down the mountain. Or even if they'd slid too much closer to the
fumarole, people have been known to suffocate from the fumes. It is a
place of incredible beauty, but a reminder that this wilderness is
still actually wild, and we cannot tame it.

With sorrow
-payslee 

And I confess, that even with as tragic as almost everything that day
was, what I mostly kept thinking as I watched was ... it's all so
beautiful, I can't wait to go back there.



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