On Sunday, I did something I have never done before. I climbed Mt. Baldy for the second consecutive day in the Winter. I was tired from the climb the day before, but went anyway....once again straight up the bowl and between the rocks. It turned out to be an interesting event.
The most memorable occurrance was meeting the oldest guy to summit Mt. Everest. He was 67 when he succeeded. He tried again last year at 68 and failed to reach the top. He plans to be on the mountain again this season at 69.
The Mt. Baldy climb was a lot colder and humid than the previous day (i.e., a nice wet cold) probably because a storm was coming in....and the wind was blowing about 40-50 mph at the top with lots of ice debris flying around. I also fell near the top. It was not a "real" fall. I was leaning into the wind and tipped over and did a face plant in the snow when the wind suddenly stopped blowing for a few seconds.
As I was pulling my face out of the snow, I was reminded of a climb of Mt. Shasta not too long ago. The conditions were quite similar, except that the wind was more erratic. My climbing partner and myself (i.e., two of us out of a party of four somehow managed to summit that day) found ourselves being shoved about involuntarily numerous times as well as falling over more times than I can recall when the wind would suddenly evaporate.
Another interesting event that day on Mt. Shasta occurred early in the climb when our original group of four was still together. Our first hint that something was wrong was when we heard other climbers yelling. We looked up towards the top of the steep Avalanche Gulch route expecting to see rocks falling our way (i.e., rocks are always tumbling down that route on Shasta). It was pretty horrific to see something large tumbling down towards us, but then realizing its wasn't a rock, but a another climber. He was alternatively tumbling head to toe, and sliding down on his back, head first. The most likely cause of his fall had to have been the strong gusty winds that were ravaging the top of Avalanche Gulch...he was nearing the completion of a 2,000 foot rapid descent. As he neared our position, it was clear he was heading towards an old avalanche field full of large ice boulders. Myself and my summit mate (i.e. Oliver B. for those of you who know Oliver) took off in the direction of the falling climber and somehow managed to jump on him, grab him, stop him, stablize him and prevent him from coming into hard contact with the nearby ice boulders. He was pretty beat up with at least one broken leg/ankle.
About two minutes after we had anchored him to the slope, we realized that he was now our problem. We began discussing the now-famous Mt. Everest dilemna....do we leave behind and go on to the summit or help him back down? [We actually didn't have that debate, but the concept did flash through my mind]. At that moment, it seemed pretty clear that our summit attempt would have to be terminated, and eventhough we had just saved the tumbler from further injury, I found the reality of the situation to be a combination of disappointment in an unexpected truncated climb and satisfaction that we had assisted someone in serious need of help. However, from out of nowhere, the Mt. Shast Rescue Rangers (...not sure what they call themselves) appeared and took charge which relieved us of the responsibility for the damaged climber. I later learned that he was evacuated off the mountain by helicopter had been rushed into surgery at the local Mt. Shasta hospital....multiple broken bones.
One last interesting observance about the climber we stopped....every zipper on his back pack was open and the back pack was empty of all contents. As we worked to stabilize him, his personal stuff would randomly tumble down...seemingly one at a time from up above. We caught his camera, water bottles and a few other items as they essentially followed his tumble path down the mountain.
After leaving the injured climber, we turned our focus to climbing the steepest and most difficult portion of Mt. Shasta....I know I was, and suspect the rest of my climbing group was also, well aware of the consequences of a slip and fall on that mountain if one were to lose one's ice axe....which is the only way I know how to stop the type of fall we had just witnessed.
...anyway, I did a face plant into the snow on Mt. Baldy on Sunday, January 30, 2011 when the wind stopped suddenly.
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