In Ellen's defense, she has been known to have a couple pulls o' the flask while out and about; how well would
you be able to make decisions if you had had a few belts on the mountain?
What bugs me is that the after-action report (the one she linked in her post) does not match her own narrative; it says she was traveling down a ridge into San Antonio Canyon. The rescue team also says it only took about 20 minutes to find them.
http://www.pe.com/articles/mount-824086 ... rrain.htmlhttp://cms.sbcounty.gov/sheriff/MediaCe ... tonio.aspxI'm not gonna ask that question, however, because knowing that board, there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth that someone would even question the decision making process of a local semi-legend.
But what I will ask is what the hell are you thinking that you would ascend an icy slope that you do not feel safe descending?
I "chickened out" on Hood last summer literally 20-40' from the top because I was having ice chunks rained down on me in the final crux, and the one thing that kept going through my mind was, if I get up that, which I probably could, how do I get back down?
Or, as I call it, "lived to climb another day, and without needing to get rescued".