Avalanche in Tuckerman
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Two climbers avalanched down from the lip, very lucky with only minor injuries from what could have been a pair of fatalities. See |
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Some other media links: |
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That Boston Herald is an exclusive interview with one of the kids. Pretty frightening to hear it in his words. |
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Really glad they are safe and basically uninjured. Lot of bad decisions and warning signs that they should have thought about along the way. Noobs in the wilderness in arctic conditions, recipe for disaster, esp on that mountain. Just the fact that they all have the same mnt axe is bothering to me, let alone their choice for "crampons." |
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Where is "The Lip" on Mt Washington? |
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Those "crampons" actually work quite well for snowy, icy trails. They're not something I would use on terrain where an ice axe was called for, though. |
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mark felber wrote:Those "crampons" actually work quite well for snowy, icy trails. They're not something I would use on terrain where an ice axe was called for, though. The part that really disturbs me is that they didn't know which trail to take when they came to the trail junction on the way down.Or how about continuing on with 70mph winds and getting dark? If I am carrying a mnt axe u can be damn sure I'd have real crampons esp on THAT mountain! The lip is the area of the rim of the ravine above the head wall. Basically the snow fields roll over into the ravine. There's a very steep section just above the headwall cliffs, this is where these guys ended up. |
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On the above photo "The Lip" is the steepest part of Line 7. This is where the summer hiking trail from above "fades" eventually buried under 40+ feet of snow. It is about 45 degrees when filled in later in the season. What the photo doesn't show is how the current conditions are much worse due to low snow = more cliffs and rocks. Here's a photo of the Lip area from 12/31 from the MWAC website: |
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"avalanched down from the lip"? Wtf does avalanched down mean? |
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TYJ1981 wrote:"avalanched down from the lip"? Wtf does avalanched down mean?They triggered an avalanche at a spot at the top "skiers left" of the ravine called "the lip" in that photo #7. good info on NEclimbs with avalanche instructor chiming in. Ignore the delusional Canadian if you can. |
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I dont know Jake, hard to ignore him! |
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Tuckerman's is a good place to go if you want to see inexperienced and sometimes all out moronic behavior. One day I saw about eight rag doll wipe outs within an hour. It made me sick to my stomach after awhile. I also saw a person eject both of his ski boots along with all of his other equipment. I didn't even think that was possible short of falling off a cliff. |
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rging wrote:It's incredibly hard to determine avalanche danger there due to the massive wind loading.I consider it easy... if there's snow there's a pretty significant danger to anyone for any number of reasons. But yes, it's the massive scouring of the fields and the westerns flank and resulting loading that has created tux over the many years. |
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rging wrote:Tuckerman's is a good place to go if you want to see inexperienced and sometimes all out moronic behavior. One day I saw about eight rag doll wipe outs within an hour. It made me sick to my stomach after awhile. I also saw a person eject both of his ski boots along with all of his other equipment. I didn't even think that was possible short of falling off a cliff. It's incredibly hard to determine avalanche danger there due to the massive wind loading.well these guys weren't skiing.. they were hiking to mt washington summit and back. they did not have the knowledge and experience to deal with adverse conditions and got lost on the way down. should have turned off on the Lions head trail before they got to Tucks. as you can see from the recent photo. tucks isn't "in" for skiing yet.. its mostly rock and ice. |
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The Phoenix wrote: I consider it easy... if there's snow there's a pretty significant danger to anyone for any number of reasons. But yes, it's the massive scouring of the fields and the westerns flank and resulting loading that has created tux over the many years.OK that's a good one but I wouldn't go that far. When I lived on the east coast I wouldn't even think about it until March. People underestimate navigating on that mountain, even in the summer. I've taken my own flag markers before but also knowing an exact compass heading is pretty darn important. That and a 100 foot piece of rope to let your partner go exploring for the next cairn. |
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TYJ1981 wrote:"avalanched down from the lip"? Wtf does avalanched down mean?Avalanched UP would make more sense? |