We ran into them just above Outpost Camp and again just below Trail Camp. I noticed their microspikes, single ice ax (between them), inadequate speed, general discombobulation and complete unfamiliarity with the terrain (they apparently thought Trail Crest was the summit) and encouraged them to turn around. I guess they didn't. We watched two dots meander very slowly up the chute at about 5-7pm and wondered why. I was fully expecting to see one or both of those dots tomahawk down that chute. I'm glad that didn't happen. Heli'd off the summit with frostbite and snowblindness is a huge fail, but it's better than dying.
We also saw at least three people glissading with crampons on while holding their ice axes upside down. Where are people learning this "technique"? It seems rampant. I watched one girl lose control of a glissade and saw her left crampon get ripped off her foot while her ax was lashed to her pack. She managed to stop (without a snapped tib-fib), put her crampon back on, get her ax off the pack, then amazingly attempt to continue her glissade, which she lost control of again, and since she was holding her ax upside down, it was ripped from her grip (physics...) and she slid 30 feet towards more serious terrain before she waddled to a lucky and awkward stop.
Sometimes it's a tough call when you're in the mountains and you see things you want to intervene on. On this particular outing, I put away that hesitation and intervened a lot. I wish more people would listen...
