| We were in the gully, having just got past the ice crux (which is 15 ft wide) and moving up into the wider section (about 60 ft)when he screamed those sickening words. I looked up to see a massive avy coming our way. we were now simul climbing and both moved left as fast as we could. I plunged both tools into the snow as hard as I could as the debri blazed past within about 20 ft. I watched it engulf the entire width of the ice crux below. Had we been on that pitch, we'd be dead. we both decided to unrope and haul ass for the top. we found there that the cornice had collapsed, which caused the avy. we topped out, went down a different way and walk around the debri of the avy. It deposited debri the size of three football fields. What was weird is we saw fresh human tracks that had been partially covered, but we hadn't seen anyone up there the whole time of our stay. we looked around, but couldn't find anyone. we hiked out the next day and saw a car parked at the lot! did someone go up there for the day (it'd be a long haul just for a day hike) and end up buried? we reported it but never heard the outcome. |
Palisades