Sorry to hear about the tragedy that befell your group. Glad to hear you were all right, very sorry about your partner Scott- I hope he gets full recovery (if possible) of his digits. Take care & stay safe.
I had dinner with Scott recently. He missed three months of work after the trip and still has some lingering issues with his digits and weather but his hands look fine and he's back on ski patrol this season.
One great feature of the Mega, though, is that you can both dig snow to melt and pee without leaving the tent, which is nice during those 20-hour storms, especially if you can keep straight which side is for which.
what type of boots and gloves was Scott wearing? I'm looking at an early may climb of Liberty Ridge and may re-evaluate my footwear and glove choices. Glad to hear you guys are all doing well & Scott is skiing.
He had some sort of plastic ski type boot I wasn't familiar with and a good pair of mitts but not a backup pair. I think not drinking enough water was pretty key to his situation.
I've built over 100 snow shelters of all types in my lifetime. When we did Liberty Ridge, in the time we built an igloo for the three of us, another group there were able to chop out a platform for their tent. We left the shelter for others to use as we left for the summit while the group with the tent turned back.
We also built several igloos and one snow cave on Denali, out of a 5-day storm in one of them and discovered on the way down the mountain they had all been used by others with one group still occupying the 11,000' igloo. The first one I built by myself was during a storm at 9,000' because our 'expedition' tent kept getting buried. As I shoveled drifting snow off our tent in the dark I realized we would be doing that all night so I built an igloo for the 3 of us. When the storm was over we made the decision to cache our 10 pound tent and pick it up on our way down 10 days later.
If going up the mountains in the winter, I think everyone should know how to build snow shelters...the time to learn is on a nice weekend and not during a life and death situation.
Based upon your most excellent TR (and a chosen few others) I classify myself now as a day tripper only. Why you ask? Attemping to put on a mitten that is like a "semblance of steel" is a very forboding deterrent in my mind. Nuff said. 10/10 on you TR by the way
Martin Cash - Jul 5, 2006 10:00 pm - Voted 10/10
Yikes!That is scary! I'm glad you guys are still alive. Thanks for writing the trip report. I hope Scott fully recovers from his injuries.
MountaingirlBC - Jul 10, 2006 5:24 pm - Voted 10/10
Wow!What a story! I'm definitely not that hard. I'm cold just reading about it. Very well written too. I hope Scott's recovering is going well.
cp0915 - Dec 6, 2006 4:26 pm - Voted 10/10
Excellent!Great TR. Great writing; great story.
Diggler - Jan 26, 2007 12:06 am - Voted 10/10
Quite the epic, Mike...Sorry to hear about the tragedy that befell your group. Glad to hear you were all right, very sorry about your partner Scott- I hope he gets full recovery (if possible) of his digits. Take care & stay safe.
ibndalight - Mar 11, 2007 7:06 pm - Voted 10/10
WowWhat a Trip Report. I hope you guys heal up okay
MichaelJ - Mar 12, 2007 4:15 pm - Hasn't voted
UpdateI had dinner with Scott recently. He missed three months of work after the trip and still has some lingering issues with his digits and weather but his hands look fine and he's back on ski patrol this season.
neoday - May 18, 2007 1:04 pm - Hasn't voted
great TRwell written, great job!
TJ311 - Oct 21, 2007 4:31 pm - Voted 10/10
A Great Read.Glad everyone made it out alive. Very well written. You still climbing?
MichaelJ - Oct 22, 2007 3:41 pm - Hasn't voted
Thanks.Yup.
travelin_light - Nov 1, 2007 7:14 pm - Hasn't voted
knar!Think a better tent would have helped?
MichaelJ - Nov 1, 2007 9:19 pm - Hasn't voted
probablyOne great feature of the Mega, though, is that you can both dig snow to melt and pee without leaving the tent, which is nice during those 20-hour storms, especially if you can keep straight which side is for which.
timburkejr - Feb 15, 2008 10:19 pm - Hasn't voted
gear ?what type of boots and gloves was Scott wearing? I'm looking at an early may climb of Liberty Ridge and may re-evaluate my footwear and glove choices. Glad to hear you guys are all doing well & Scott is skiing.
MichaelJ - Feb 16, 2008 12:42 pm - Hasn't voted
gearHe had some sort of plastic ski type boot I wasn't familiar with and a good pair of mitts but not a backup pair. I think not drinking enough water was pretty key to his situation.
Kai - Feb 24, 2008 2:11 pm - Voted 10/10
great!Great trip report, Mike.
Terrific read.
TripoliRick - Dec 6, 2016 3:19 pm - Hasn't voted
Snow shelterI've built over 100 snow shelters of all types in my lifetime. When we did Liberty Ridge, in the time we built an igloo for the three of us, another group there were able to chop out a platform for their tent. We left the shelter for others to use as we left for the summit while the group with the tent turned back.
We also built several igloos and one snow cave on Denali, out of a 5-day storm in one of them and discovered on the way down the mountain they had all been used by others with one group still occupying the 11,000' igloo. The first one I built by myself was during a storm at 9,000' because our 'expedition' tent kept getting buried. As I shoveled drifting snow off our tent in the dark I realized we would be doing that all night so I built an igloo for the 3 of us. When the storm was over we made the decision to cache our 10 pound tent and pick it up on our way down 10 days later.
If going up the mountains in the winter, I think everyone should know how to build snow shelters...the time to learn is on a nice weekend and not during a life and death situation.
JoelSkok - Feb 1, 2017 8:18 am - Voted 10/10
Day Tripper onlyBased upon your most excellent TR (and a chosen few others) I classify myself now as a day tripper only. Why you ask? Attemping to put on a mitten that is like a "semblance of steel" is a very forboding deterrent in my mind. Nuff said. 10/10 on you TR by the way