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Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
NJ hiker #13740 05/06/11 01:13 PM
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Quote:
Written communication is notoriously easy to misconstrue.


I know that all too well...

I have done a standing glissade before. Now that is some tricky and scary stuff!

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
RoguePhotonic #13741 05/06/11 01:17 PM
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Originally Posted By: RoguePhotonic
Quote:
Written communication is notoriously easy to misconstrue.


I know that all too well...

I have done a standing glissade before. Now that is some tricky and scary stuff!


Isn't that called "skiing" ? smile.....................DUG

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
RoguePhotonic #13746 05/06/11 02:58 PM
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Originally Posted By: RoguePhotonic
I have done a standing glissade before. Now that is some tricky and scary stuff!


Me too! Only on a 600-foot sand dune in Colorado. Still tricky, but not nearly as scary . . .

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
DUG #13747 05/06/11 03:24 PM
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Originally Posted By: DUG
Originally Posted By: RoguePhotonic
Quote:
Written communication is notoriously easy to misconstrue.


I know that all too well...

I have done a standing glissade before. Now that is some tricky and scary stuff!


Isn't that called "skiing" ? smile.....................DUG


Basically but with no skis. crazy

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
wbtravis #13849 05/09/11 06:57 AM
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Thanks for the feedback WBT - "he had passed through the steepest area of this run and was in a safe area. He just let it rip like a lot of us do from time to time when there is run out."
Like you say: start small, get experience and control and then go for a planned big one. I understand how a man was killed on those rocks to the left, especially at the end of a day if you are too tired to walk down and think this is a faster way.

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
NJ hiker #13852 05/09/11 07:06 AM
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NJHiker,

People do some extremely stupid things on this slope and from time to time they die...like use trash bags to accelerate their glissade, use trekking poles instead of an axe for a break or leave their crampons on while glissading. All noobs miscues.

The accidents rarely change on this mountain only the names of the injured and deceased.

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
NJ hiker #13859 05/09/11 11:27 AM
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The standing glissade I did was not on any huge slope like the 99 switch backs. The variations in the snow make it extremely difficult to avoid tripping and I can't say I enjoyed it much but I was with a crazy friend that took all sorts of unnecessary risks.

As that guy was sliding down the slope I kept thinking he had his poles with him still. He should have grabbed one of those near it's bottom and used it for at least some breaking.

Last edited by RoguePhotonic; 05/09/11 11:28 AM.
Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
RoguePhotonic #13879 05/09/11 07:14 PM
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I am glad NJ Hiker found Bob Rockwell's glissading video. It is a good one.

Bob wrote this on the old board in May 07:
Quote:
Knowledge and experience can take you a long way in life. But I do not believe in clairvoyance or prescience, and you would need them for this glissade slope if you risk it without an ice ax. That there is often a harder and icy section partway down has been pointed out by others. And I have mentioned it on several occasions.... Not the same slope, but another time I was glissading through soft slushy stuff and hit an unexpected patch of ice (with dire consequences).

A number of people glissading from Trail Crest without ice ax have died. In my years of mountain rescuing up there since 1970, perhaps ten or so. In fact, I was on two such rescues a week apart in the late '90s. Both hit the rocks at the bottom. The first died of severe head injuries; the second survived but with a ruptured spleen and broken back.

Every one I know who glissades that slope regularly is aware of that likely harder section, and would never do it without having an ice ax at the ready.

-----

Finally, a friend sent me this link on ice ax use a couple of hours ago. It's from the British Mountaineering Council, and is excellent.

Many of us say "Take an ice ax and know how to use it." While many who glissade this slope do know how to use it, many do not. We can recommend that you get instruction, but many will not. This is for you. It could be well worth six minutes of your time.


Here's the British Mountaineering Council's video:


    ...and another: Ice Axe Technique

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
Steve C #13880 05/09/11 07:17 PM
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Bob R's "with dire consequences" phrase above pointed to a post titled "Glissading with Crampons" posted March '05.

Here's the text and image:
Quote:
It was in April 2000, and two friends and I were descending after a day climb. The top few inches of snow was soft all day so we didn't really need our crampons, but they gave a little added traction while walking. Of course we knew better than to leave them on for glissades, but the snow was so soft and the going so slow that it didn't seem a problem.

The long glissade below Trail Crest was without incident, but the next good one--down to Mirror Lake—was a different story. After about 200 feet I hit an unexpected patch of ice and speeded up instantly. The outer points of my right crampon caught on the ice and my foot everted. My fibula was put into instant compression, resulting in a spiral fracture. I went head-over-heels with my ankle feeling like fire, but had the presence of mind to successfully arrest without crashing into the rocks below.

My friends were kind enough to split the contents of my pack, and I hobbled down to the Portal. I spent the next six weeks in a cast, and it was two months before I was back in the mountains. The bone healed, but there was irreversible soft tissue damage to my foot and ankle. I must now wear a brace, otherwise I cannot walk for more than an hour or so without pain.

In retrospect, I think the wind had blown the soft upper layer of snow away at that spot, leaving the older hard crust exposed. At any rate, it was unexpected.

The picture on the left was taken the next morning, before I went into the ER. The X-ray is a lot clearer in the original, but I think you can see the fracture:


Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
Steve C #13885 05/10/11 06:10 AM
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Steve,

I will second this bit of stupidity X 2. About 8-9 years ago, I when I was a winter noob...with some experience. I attempted to glissade the final 150' or so to Angeles Crest Highway from Mt. Baden-Powell utilizing my trekking poles as a break and wearing my semi-new Grivel G10s. Long story short, I tumbled, my leg folded up under me ripping a long "L" tear in my Gore-Tex pants and severely spraining my ankle.

I look at Bob's pictures knowing that could have been me. I was very lucky. Not long afterward, I purchased an axe and spent a day on the slopes with a Sierra Mountain Center guide learning how to use the damn thing.

After that day, I still spent a lot of time on the bunny slopes...trails with little climbing working my way up to bigger and more fun things.

Every year I am amazed at folks who want to rent a pair of crampons and an axe and take on the Trail Camp/Trail Crest chute with zero experience.

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
Bob West #13985 05/13/11 05:32 AM
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Originally Posted By: Bob West
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.

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
NJ hiker #13989 05/13/11 06:03 AM
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Originally Posted By: NJ hiker
[quote=Bob West] 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.
I try to remember to carry an old pair of nylon/supplex shorts to put over my pants. Saves wearing out the seat of the more expensive pants.

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
NJ hiker #13991 05/13/11 06:37 AM
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Originally Posted By: NJ hiker
I am just not very interested in luge as a sport, I guess.


Let me amend that: as a *Personal* sport -- as a spectator sport it is awesome lol!

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
NJ hiker #15015 06/11/11 07:28 PM
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What is a typical way to glissade down the chute?
Is it "butt glissade" or "standing glissade"?

Re: What not to do: glissade from Trail Crest video - scary!
Yury #15017 06/11/11 08:34 PM
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Sitting. Not steep enough for standing.

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