mistakes on Mt Hood

As an exercise for the student, read the following and note any mistakes.

solo climber in white out conditions

comments

get a bunch of friends who are not wimps!!
Hahahaha!!

yeah she made some mistakes. but also kept up her
spirits under difficult conditions, stayed in the snow caves,
and focused on survival. that was pretty good :-)

Pete2

She made a lot of mistakes, but she survived! That shows she did some things right. The first thing she nailed was not panicking! Be scared if you have to but don't freak out. She kept her cool and seems to have had her priorities straight. She melted snow instead of eating it, avoiding death by hypothermia. She created a snow shelter to keep from freezing to death, plus had the presence of mind to be aware of possible avalanche conditions. It sounds like she had at least some minimal gear along including some food, a water bottle, and probably a pack with some supplies.

Obviously she screwed up but luckily for her, she didn't screw up to the point where the lesson killed her.

the main thing I would fault her for is going on when she should have turned back.

people can get really stubborn when they want to do something and it often results in bad things happening.

wow! It sounds like she was prepared - with knowledge, and determination. Her wish list for future trips will probably include a cell phone and/or PLB, and perhaps a shelter and fire, and hopefully she'll advice others who find themselves in a similar situation to hunker down and wait it out rather than risk a 40 foot fall. The leg injury was an important factor in this, me thinks, so prevention and rescue are hopefully things she'll consider on her future adventures, especially if she's going solo.

you know .. the interesting thing about Mt Hood is that it keeps attracting this kind of disaster. Wasn't there a really bad incident on that mountain, maybe 20 years ago (or more) where several young people died? Something about that particular mountain seems to convince people that it will be "an easy hike", but the location is subject to violent changes in the weather. I've never climbed Mt Hood so I just don't know it well.

Pete2

The thing that I noticed was her departure time - 11AM! On snowy summit attempts, it is much better, and far more common, to depart in the early AM (3to 4 AM, the so called Alpine start) to take advantage of firm snow and ice and lessened avalanche danger. You arrive at the top at 11 and return quickly before thing heat up and the avvies begin.

Hiking alone in these conditions is not a good idea. Of course neither I nor anyone on this forum has ever done that. Have we?

Moving in a whiteout is not a good idea.

For all that, she did a lot of things right, as others have remarked. She gets a passing grade and will probably learn from her mistakes, like we all do.

I agree with hikemor, she left too late in the day for that is considered a normal climbing strategy. I have climbed Mt. Hood and it can be a relatively easy climb but the mountain is large and there are various dangers.

I would not climb a glaciated peak alone. The main reason climbers on mountains such as this are roped together is for crevasses under a covering of snow on the glaciers, secondly for a slip on steep slopes a rope team can "arrest" a fall, hopefully.

Normally a climb in March would be considered a winter climb on Mt. Hood. It is a more dangerous season for a variety of reasons. Cold, deep snow, avalanche hazard, covered crevasses, weather conditions overall, whiteouts/fog and a shorter period of daylight, all add to the hazard of a winter climb.

Overall, this gal did some amazing things to stay alive and managed to keep her self together for an extended period and my hat is off to her for surviving in very difficult circumstances.

Something else that I find very disturbing, is the fact that whomever she "signed out" with "lost" her information. That could have meant the difference of life or death. Agencies that require you to sign out for an area of wilderness should be responsible enough to oversee that sign out process to ensure people return. Otherwise it is a false sense of security and has less value than no sign out at all.

I have myself, experienced government agencies requiring a sign out and when an emergency crops up, they have no plan or experience to provide any assistance. What is the point of the sign out?

The young lady gets high marks for surviving and especially when she became injured. The USFS and/or Timberline Lodge folks get an F for failing a climber in nearly all regards.

"Something else that I find very disturbing, is the fact that whomever she "signed out" with "lost" her information. That could have meant the difference of life or death. Agencies that require you to sign out for an area of wilderness should be responsible enough to oversee that sign out process to ensure people return. Otherwise it is a false sense of security and has less value than no sign out at all.

I have myself, experienced government agencies requiring a sign out and when an emergency crops up, they have no plan or experience to provide any assistance. What is the point of the sign out?"

As a retired gov't worker (NPS) and an outdoors person who has had to sign out on occasion, I have to agree with you, Widget. Losing that little slip of paper could have meant the difference between life or death. I hope someone is looking into this.

Effectiveness of a permit system will vary from place to place, but I have seen situations where the system did indeed work well - that doesn't mean that they all do or that a permit system is a panacea.

A Mt. Hood Mountain Locator Unit or a PLB would have aided her rescue. Although you can't initiate rescue with an MLU, if someone knows you are past your return time Portland Mountain Rescue can run a trace and most times determine where you are and if you're moving. Its older tech and a PLB is better, you press the button and help comes, but an MLU rents for only $5 at FS and REIs, so not much of an excuse not to carry one. Unfortunately she may pay with her toes, sorry about that.

Climbing permits are only required after May 15 so its possible she registered remotely, or possibly incorrectly - I've seen climbers on Mt Rainier actually drop their climbing registrations into the overnight hiker boxes, which the FS tends to collect and correct the climbers for afterwards - trail capacity is always an issue around Rainier and they will do daily counts to make sure campsite reservations are respected and properly filed. Since it came before the climbing permit season, I would speculate some snafu might have happened such that her registration was overlooked by FS staff. In these times of Congressional sequestration, the FS is hampered with staff issues and struggling to keep the parks open (NO political comment whatsoever, just stating the budgetary facts and outfalls).

The usual number of cascading errors leading to her being a lost hiker, and the usual amount of good luck and grit leading her to being found and alive. Could have turned the other way easily. Treating any mountain like a solo walkup before you actually have experience on the hill seems to be a common theme these days.

She has a ton of guts and wits to survive that ordeal.

That peak is very alluring and within an hour drive of Portland -- 10,000 people a year attempt the summit.

Timberline Lodge is at 6500 feet, the highest ski lift (Palmer) goes to 8500 feet

Insight on summiting:

http://www.everytrail.com/guide/mt-hood-via-south-side-timberline-approach


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberline_Lodge_ski_area


.

"a PLB is better, you press the button and help comes,"

That is true in relatively normal conditions, at least where SAR is functioning well. However, if avalanche danger is high or a severe whiteout exists, SAR units most likely will not respond immediately.

All true. Her climb would have been considered, officially as a winter climb and not a climb during the normal May-Sep season.

I would guess that not every person attempting a climb of Mt. Hood has mountaineering experience and training, thus the number of non-summit climbs and the high numbers of searches and rescues. I am sure not all that go out are aware of the locator being available or where to rent one. A cell phone works well on Mt. Hood because of the clear line of sight to cell towers. One must have a phone and a charged battery.

As far as sign out goes, it is understandable that spending cuts have an impact. However, how hard is it to check a register to see of someone is out and if they return? If it is not something that can be maintained, then do away with it altogether, it causes a sense of security that is unreliable. On the other hand, it cost more for a SAR effort when you have no idea where a person was intending to travel and if you have less information. The sign out could have aided searchers, like it is supposed to do. That would have made a successful search easier and faster.

Mt. Rainier being a National Park has more manning, more rules and more personnel to do a SAR mission. Mt. Hood is run by the Forest Service and is not treated to the same governmental respect as Mt. Rainier. Sign outs are more like trail hiking sign outs and not like a climbing permit system. I have not been there for 25+ years, so I am sure there are many changes to procedures and responsibilities.

Bottom line, the young lady is alive and she deserves respect for her abilities. She survived when many others would not have.

Back in my younger days, I climbed Mt Hood about 12-15 times, by about 4 to 5 distinct routes and variations, including one climb in mid-winter. The standard "Southside" route is not terribly hard, but does have one stretch of steep climbing almost at the top (the "Hogsback" above "Crater Rock"). The lower part of the route, from Timberline lodge up to Crater Rock" is a broad, open, easy walk up.

It is an easy route to underestimate, and lots of inexperienced people get into trouble every season. Even experienced climbers get careless and come to grief now and then. My experience on Mt Hood was decades ago, so I can't speak to the current climbing registration issues. However, the most fundamental mistake she made was navigation. A simple map and compass, and a bit of knowledge would have kept her out of trouble.

Descending the Southside route in clear weather, one just naturally aims towards Timberline Lodge. However, the actual fall line is more to the Southwest. When descending from Crater Rock in poor visibility (very common on Mt Hood), that fall line will inexorably funnel you down into Zig Zag Canyon. Early in the season the snow on the upper mountain tends to be windpacked, icy, and easy walking. However, once you get down near timberline and Zig Zag Canyon the snow often becomes much softer and travel can be difficult without skis or snowshoes.

A typical scenario seems to be climbers descend in a whiteout and get funneled into the Canyon. Just when they are getting really tired, they find themselves in a steep canyon, slogging through deep soft snow, and it is getting dark. It happens so often that Portland Mountain Rescue has a warning pamphlet called the "Mount Hood Triangle", and also a simple map of the key features. A compass and a simple map like that would have made all the difference.

Staying out of trouble in the first place beats any PLB!