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Hiker Fatality at Aasgard Pass

PostPosted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 8:00 pm
by Brian Jenkins
A friend of mine was at Colchuck Lake when this happened. She described the scene as chaotic with people running everywhere. Be careful out there. It's still like May/June out there instead of July.

Aasgard Pass Death

Re: Hiker Fatality at Aasgard Pass

PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 1:50 am
by ExcitableBoy
I was guiding on Baker in 1994 when a couple of women slid into a moat on Baker. We managed to pull them out. I noticed a Colorado woman died in the same moat last week http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/07 ... ad-on.html. Please, only glissade if you are absolutely sure of the run-out. Following a previous glissade track is no guarantee you won't end up at the bottom of a moat, 50 feet under the snow pack with ice cold meltwater running over you.

Re: Hiker Fatality at Aasgard Pass

PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:50 am
by alpinedan
yikes,

I had not had a day off of work in weeks and went to South sister the other day and I fell through a small moat. I only fell to about chest level but the pucker factor was high. I could have fallen further into it and the flowing water.


scary stuff

Re: Hiker Fatality at Aasgard Pass

PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:25 pm
by clmbr
Once when I was camping at the base of Adams Glacier and was looking to melt some snow I noticed a narrow creek in the snow off to the side (lower glacier). I was happy to get some fresh glacier water instead of spending time on melting the snow. I approach the creek carefully and as I gingerly bent down to fill my bowl the snow at my feet immediately began soaking up water from below and started sinking. All of this took place over a fraction of a second. I imagined myself going under this otherwise beautiful wet snow/creek and as my feet sank I threw my body backwards on the (hopefully) still hard snow. I made it and only my feet got wet. I don't think I need to explain how I felt after that. This was a very valuable lesson the mountain taught me and without injury.

A long time ago while climbing North Side of Mt Shasta two people glissaded down the Hotlum glacier into an open crevasse, one after another. Fortunately many people saw it and they were soon rescued.

Re: Hiker Fatality at Aasgard Pass

PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 7:44 am
by Ben Beckerich
looks like a sweet kid.. damn shame, damn lame way to go. God have mercy on her soul..

Image

Re: Hiker Fatality at Aasgard Pass

PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:55 am
by Josh Lewis
Oh man! That's sad news. I myself glissaded down Aasgard Pass a month ago (in super high speed) from today and heard in one spot running water which I purposely avoided because of fear of falling through a snow hole. I'm guessing it was on the upper part near Aasgard Pass. As for the Mount Baker incident, I think I may know what moat that is. I glissaded right past it, and a friend of mine didn't see it in time and was going so fast that he flew right over it. When we stopped to take a glance we could see that it was very wet and deep. (It's near the main foot path near the bottom). I personally am someone who loves glissading and do it all the time, although I do keep a look out for this kind of stuff, I'll have to be extra careful out there.