[pct-l] Northwest Mts. Bite

[Montedodge@aol.com (Montedodge@aol.com)]

Folks around Washington and Oregon are still shocked over the tragic lose of 
6 climbers on Rainier and Hood the last few days. Also a few prayers go out 
to those who survived. It's easy to be a Monday Morning Quarterback when 
something  wrong happens in the outdoors. ( They should of , could of) 
Climbing any of the Northwest Volcano in May is a dice roll as Late May and 
early June snow is ugly at times. ( New snow doesn't stick to winter snowpack 
and even the snowpack still can do a little adjusting around under you!!) I 
do for this reason keep all my climbs in the six week window of July through 
mid august. ( Last two weeks of July are great in normal snow years, or Early 
July in light years) Snow storms can come anytime, but a summit bid of 
Rainier before mid -June is asking for trouble. Mt Hood?? Late June through 
late July and climb in the middle of the week. ( The last 1,000 ft. is steep 
and can be a crowded nightmare near summit)  It seems every time something 
tragic happens on Rainier , Hood also has one. June 1981 was the worst day of 
all!!! ( Eleven climbers were hit by falling Seracs from the Ingrams Glacier 
and sweep into a large crevasse at the 11,500ft. level just above Ingram 
flats and below Disappointment Cleaver on Rainier. Same day 5 climbers died 
on Hood as two roped teams fell and got tangled up falling down the Mountain. 
I climbed Rainier one week later and still hold the vivid memory is seeing 
the remains of the large seracs and the ice filled crevasse knowing those 
folks were still intombed a few hundred feet from me. ( No wind that day and 
a very Erie silence)  All of man's know-how and knowledge is nothing against 
weather!!!!! I guess this is part of what attracts us to hiking and climbing 
around the PCT and other wild places!!!!! Monte 


--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---