Taking crazy chances is not unique to Skyline...

[zippetydude]

I came across this on the Whitney Portal message board.

On Saturday there was a young man who made it to the summit by way of the snow draw, which is recommended , however he did not have a helmet or ice axe.. He thought it a good idea, when descending the draw to glissade. Half way down he lost control and started to cart wheel, for over 500' and there was NO way for him to self arrest, and he ended up in the boulder field below, leaving a giant laceration on his head, lucky is an understatement that he was not seriously injured or even killed.. It resulted in him having to be taken out by search and rescue

I'm amazed he is still alive. Let me see if I can guess what he was thinking. "Hmmm, sounds like fun to go into an uncontrolled slide down this slippery slope, cartwheel for a few hundred feet, then land safely amongst those nice soft boulders down at the bottom. I'm sure I'll be fine."

I'm afraid that all the signs and warnings in the world will still be ignored by some wacky folks. I was glad to see he was okay. Maybe the head wound will provide an opening for a little sense to sink in!

z

[arocknoid]

Not the first, and sadly, not likely to be the last. Remember Peter Wang's final glissade, there, despite ice axe, crampons and a lulling-plethora of experience?

Peter Wang's Whitney glissade

(yikes, eight years already. Seems like just a couple years ago. Time flies.)

Let's hope Saturday's glissade victim recovers fully. TBI is not the stuff of joking...

[zippetydude]

No, not at all. I believe there was a gentleman killed on Baldy in a similar incident which was not done carelessly but nonetheless ended tragically. I hope my post didn't seem insensitive, I only found it comical because this crazy kid was okay. And I'm not sure that glissading is a good idea even with equipment if you don't have a good, safe runout at the bottom with no intervening drop-offs or rocks or trees, or hard ice, or dips...the list gets kinda long.

z

[arocknoid]

No, z (sheesh, not ze ;), that is not insensitive of you.

Baldy has claimed its share of glissade victims, as well as accidental slip-and-slide unable to self arrest in time casualties, including RJ Secor. (someone who used to post here was onsite when RJ tumbled.)

I am firmly in the Non-glissade camp. For my own reasons, I just don't, except for "non-ski standing glissades" for amusement of self and bystanders. And the few times I've had a slip and fall in crampons, I've anchored my iceaxe simultaneously with my body hitting the surface. Plenty of quick, with a surfeit of luck I'm sure.

(this falls under Exclusion Clause! my wife would kill me, after the mountain. widder? black widder?)

stay safe,
arocknoid