SummitPost.org

I ran across this article which should be a must read for alpinists. It is a list of questions written by Rolando Gabriotti in response to a number of accidents in Patagonia. We should all be asking ourselves these questions before embarking on an alpine climb.

http://pataclimb.com/knowledge/articles ... aclimb.pdf

I saw this yesterday and thought exactly the same thing. It's a pretty extensive list, but it's based on a lot of experience and really should be done for EVERY alpine climb and definitely for big ones.

I'm definitely guilty of failing, omitting or evading some of those things, as I'm sure many are. Maybe there's a limit, a cut-off somewhere down the list, where if you haven't met enough of these points you should go home and come back when you do. Not a rule to be imposed by others, just a point in your own head.