While I was on Inyo SAR we recovered the body of a man who have attempted a glissade from Trail Crest. He apparently lost his ice axe about 200 feet above his final resting place; he was wrapped around a rock, which must have knocked him out, and subsequently died of hypothermia. The accident happened in February, during a drought winter.
During a Sierra Club mountaineering class, the students were being taught how to do a standing glissade! (Near Slim Lake - Keasage Pass area.) One guy ended up with a broken ankle. We flew him out in a helo. Lesson learned? I guess...
I never glissaded unless there was a long, safe run-out at the bottom and then, without crampons, with ice axe at the ready, and never on hard pack.
Bob, thanks for sharing: those are sad stories about the hiker and the student. I am with you on being uber-safe on slushy snow in warm sunshine on a 20 degree slope with great visibility and no rocks, with my ice axe ready and crampons off in my pack. Goretex outerwear makes it very slippery, like snow tubing, but without the cushion under you. I am just not very interested in luge as a sport, I guess.
