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Gimpilator
infinity/21M



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Gimpilator
infinity/21M
PostSun Jan 01, 2017 3:26 pm 
I thought it might be interesting to start a discussion of failed summit attempts. What was your most epic fail ever? Which peaks did you try for this year and fall short on? And, do you typically go back to clear it up? For me, the cause is usually a matter of bad weather or bad conditions. But occasionally the peak is just too damned hard and I have to come back later with a different strategy. This year is the very first in which I had no failed attempts (0/215), which is what got me thinking about it. In the fall I realized that it might be a zero fail year and then after that, I got more choosey about which routes I was willing to attempt. Now that we're in a new year I plan to be less conservative and take more chances on failure. So my most "epic fail" was probably the time I was leading a group up Mount Baker and we got hit by a blizzard and had to dig a snow cave on the Coleman Glacier. Or the time I followed the wrong Leroy Creek up seven Fingered Jack. My biggest failed attempt was timing out on Volcán Iztaccíhuatl, but I intend to remedy that within the next few weeks. Very curious to hear some of your stories and thoughts.

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moonspots
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moonspots
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PostSun Jan 01, 2017 4:17 pm 
Gimpilator wrote:
Which peaks did you try for this year and fall short on?
I took my two grandsons up to Mt Adams this summer. Late start, but we went up trail 83 to about 6200' and setup camp. The next morning my son and eldest grandson slept in so my youngest and I made our way further up trail for about an hour, exploring a bit, then back to camp. Found son and grandson up so we all had breakfast then went back up trail. We got to a nice camp spot at about 7300', had lunch then it started misting. Mist turned to sleet then snow, so back down the trail we went. Got to camp, packed up and by the time we got back to the car, it was raining lightly, but steady. Stuffed everything in the car and headed to Everybody's Brewery in White Salmon. Good dinner, then head for home. Good experience for the kids, especially when grandpa required everything be taken care of and put away as soon as we got home. It's on the schedule again next summer. And Gimpilator, I *believe* you did a youtube video of you and a couple others hiking Mt Shuksan a few years back. That video was part of what led me to believe I could do it, and I did. Many thanks....

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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Chief Joseph
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PostSun Jan 01, 2017 4:34 pm 
Gimpilator wrote:
Or the time I followed the wrong Leroy Creek up seven Fingered Jack.
We did that, selected the incorrect gully, we actually made it up, but it was very dicey. paranoid.gif

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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christensent
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PostSun Jan 01, 2017 6:58 pm 
Wow 0/215 failures, we obviously have very different trip planning methods! I would guess I fail >50% of trips. Sometimes it's the plan to fail, like trying to climb Rainier in a day with no more than 6 hours of sleep and a days notice under the agreement that "we will probably fail". Probably a dozen or more trips a year turned around to avalanche conditions. Or several times a year "wouldn't it be fun to try to do this in a day", and then turn around at dark. Other times I'll choose to fail and do some other non-summit related activity because it looks like it'll be a more fun day in the moment.

Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
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Chief Joseph
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PostSun Jan 01, 2017 8:04 pm 
215 Summits in a year? Wow, how do you find time to work and other life stuff? lol

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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FJES6
Will Belay for Food



Joined: 12 Mar 2013
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FJES6
Will Belay for Food
PostSun Jan 01, 2017 8:05 pm 
Oh geez, Loomis made me feel stupid back in '13. Whistler above Rainy Pass was an annoying fail. Ooh, Cheval from Illabot road via the Juggernaut approach too! Really though, most peaks I attempt and fail usually see another attempt by me almost as soon as possible. It took 4 tries to get a winter ascent of Mount Ann via Austin Pass for various boring reasons. All in all, I've been fairly fortunate with my first attempts. As I'm sure you remember, North and South Twins were first try, Tomyhoi, Round in early March and... Blum!

Sincerely, Franklyn Joseph Esquire Sebille the 6th Http://www.summitpost.org/users/fjes6/68961 Alpinism is the art of suffering-Voytek Kurtyka
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meck
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PostSun Jan 01, 2017 8:41 pm 
Failed peak attempts for this year- White Mountain (ONP) from LaCrosse Basin on 8/20/2016. I'd already gotten a late start (the day quickly became brutally warm) and by 1100 I'd only gotten to where the "OMCG Route 3" said to drop down the glacier on the N side of White Mtn from above Buck Lk. The only problem was that the top edge of the glacier was about 40' down a near vertical rock chute (complete with lots of little rock ball-bearings) and I was alone with no rope. I took one look at that and decided it was not meant to be on this particular trip, so I went back to Hart Lake to swim instead. I also wanted to tag Mt. Duckabush on that trip, but the class 3 routes looked to be outside my comfort zone, so I tagged Overlook Peak. I've got White Mtn on my hit list for this next year. Another memorable fail was Mt. Fitzhenry (ONP, west of Hurricane Ridge, across the Elwha) in spring 2014. Again, got too late of a start, didn't leave the Whiskey Bend TH until ~0900. By the time I'd offtrailed to above the treeline it was about 1630 in the afternoon, with about 2'+ of snow everywhere, and I estimated at least another hour to reach the true summit (with snowshoes). I did not want to have to descend through the several thousand feet of salal in the dark so I opted to turn around then. That one is still bugging me... gonna have to go tag it at some point, though I might make it an overnight and just camp closer to the start (meadows across from Goblin's gate perhaps...)

*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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Michael Lewis
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Michael Lewis
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PostMon Jan 02, 2017 8:36 am 
I have a lot of failed summits over the years but most of them are really successes in my mind because I turned around when I felt it was too dangerous for me to proceed. The most miserable failures tended to be unreasonable plans like climbing Rainier in a day with no prior conditioning or bike to Kololo from Darrington in the rain. There's also shameful successes where I shouldn't have gotten away with it. The most epic fail I remember is an attempt on Vesper Peak from Sunrise mine road with my mom on July 4th 2005. We missed the turnoff across the creek and continued heading for DelCampo. We didn't know that we were actually starting up Lewis Peak. Scrambling a dry creekbed got us to about 3,000' where the boulder field meets slabs on the west slopes and it started to get dark. It was obvious we had made a wrong turn by this point. We had to get back down so I asked her to stay put while I scout the route. It was much more difficult to figure out how we came up in the dark and we were cliffed out somehow. I started scrambling down the boulders when some of them broke loose under my feet. Then all around me they started moving and rolling. I was skipping on top of them to get back up to high ground as they smashed into each other making smoke and sparks. Once safe I had to catch my breath from the adrenaline. When I returned to my mom she was relieved, having heard all the crashing she thought I was dead. I should have been pulverized but escaped without a scratch. We had to spend the night in a hollowed out log. I had only a t-shirt and jeans so to stay warm I broke off some bark for insulation. Luckily the sky was clear but I was still cold and remember staring at the stars for eons waiting for the sun. Mosquitoes guided us back to the car at dawn. We came back in the following years and climbed Vesper several times for good measure. After that unpleasant night I always bring a coat and plan my trips better.

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awilsondc
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PostMon Jan 02, 2017 8:59 am 
This is kind of a fun topic. I have a hard time with the "failure" aspect of the whole thing. Sure you set out to reach the summit and if you didn't then you failed to reach the summit, but each of my summit failures has involved a conscious decision to turn back because I thought it would be better for my health and safety. Each time I made it home safely without any harm, which is a success in my books. But anyway on the topic of mountains I set out to summit and didn't for some reason here are a few notables from the past 10 years. Mt. Stone 2008 - poor nutrition (didn't eat a good breakfast and didn't bring enough food) combined with poor route finding, off route and too exhausted to continue. Returned to summit in 2012 The Brothers 2012 - Off route, but cairns kept me thinking I was going the right way. Stopped 100 ft short of the summit at a 5.4 rated rock wall. Tried a high traverse over to the right route but was blocked by a mountain goat and kid so I called it a day. Haven't been back. Mt Pugh 2013 - Fresh snow (6") at stujack pass and first time up there so wasn't sure of the route so I turned back. Summited 2014. Ragged Ridge 2016 - Blisters. And it's hard. I left too late and blisters slowed my pace on Kimtah + Cosho summit bid. Only got Kimtah, not enough daylight for Cosho. Next day on Katsuk + Mesahchie, blister pain plus mental and physical exhaustion were too much. Turned around at 8000 ft. In retrospect I wish I would have pushed on for these two and taken another night at high camp but I didn't think of that possibility until several days later. I really want to go back for Mesahchie and Katsuk. My biggest regret in the failed summit bid category is the save it for later mentality. Twice I've set out with multiple peaks in mind, but once I get there I like the area a lot and think wow it's great up here. I think I'll save that second summit so I have an excuse to come back! And both times I've regretted it so I won't be doing that again.

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Bryan K
Shameless Peakbagger



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Bryan K
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PostMon Jan 02, 2017 10:19 am 
Chief Joseph wrote:
215 Summits in a year? Wow, how do you find time to work and other life stuff? lol
He is a "special" guy. Neither work nor other things in life ever gets in his way of hiking. Not everyone has these things to detract from making their summit dreams realities :-)

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Sculpin
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PostMon Jan 02, 2017 10:53 am 
Gimpilator wrote:
What was your most epic fail ever?
This got me chuckling about an attempt last spring. How about least epic fail? Got a really late start on my attempt to visit some special flowers on Sheep Rock above Cashmere. Decided to not take one of the ridge approaches I had used in the past, so started up a minor ridgeline farther north. Immediately hit rough terrain and slowed down. Picked my way up maybe 1000' of elevation and found...a vertical rock wall. mad.gif I'm really glad there is no GoPro video of me pathetically pawing at that wall. I might have even whimpered a bit. Very steep drop-offs to gullies on either side, and equally steep routes getting out of those gullies. So I turned back and picked my way back to the car. Got there and looked at my watch, it was too late to try a different approach. frown.gif A perfect spring day in the mountains, and I'm sitting in my car feeling sorry for myself. shakehead.gif

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Schroder
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PostMon Jan 02, 2017 11:12 am 
I can't imagine a 100 percent success rate. My winter success rate is probably less than 10 percent. I can't remember the number of times I've been on Rainier and floundering in chest deep snow and running out of time for the trip. Or being surrounded by avalanches. Also many first ascent attempts, notably the South Face of Big Four, and finally realizing why they've never been climbed. One memorable winter attempt on Big Four was on the North Face. We had just gotten above the lower slabs and hit deep, soft snow. We decided to turn around and as we reached the trees a massive avalanche swept the entire wall.

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gb
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PostMon Jan 02, 2017 11:27 am 
Funniest failure was among my first - really the first time I had any skills and equipment for climbing. In the early 1970's three of us attempted the E. ridge of Ingall's Peak. Things went reasonably well, but luckily we had set a wise "turn-around-time" (having read about the importance of such a concept). So... we turned around. And descended the way we came, back down the East Ridge. Subsequent trips revealed that we had saved ourselves from potential disaster by turning around just about 1/2 rope length from the summit. agree.gif Even then, the point where we turned around is a bit of a conundrum. Faced with an abrupt short step in the ridge; left might go, but looks difficult and unprotected. The best choice is a 5.6 or 5.7 off width/layback for which we would have lacked the single wide piece of gear to protect it. There is also an easier option just right but is poorly protected and somewhat loose 5.4. In my last trip on this route the entire climb took about 1-1/2 hours, but back then I had no idea of this. Route descriptions of the day were vague and really only catalogued potential routes on most peaks.

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Chief Joseph
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PostMon Jan 02, 2017 12:54 pm 
Michael Lewis wrote:
The most epic fail I remember is an attempt on Vesper Peak from Sunrise mine road with my mom on July 4th 2005. We missed the turnoff across the creek and continued heading for DelCampo. We didn't know that we were actually starting up Lewis Peak. Scrambling a dry creekbed got us to about 3,000' where the boulder field meets slabs on the west slopes and it started to get dark. It was obvious we had made a wrong turn by this point. We had to get back down so I asked her to stay put while I scout the route. It was much more difficult to figure out how we came up in the dark and we were cliffed out somehow. I started scrambling down the boulders when some of them broke loose under my feet. Then all around me they started moving and rolling. I was skipping on top of them to get back up to high ground as they smashed into each other making smoke and sparks. Once safe I had to catch my breath from the adrenaline. When I returned to my mom she was relieved, having heard all the crashing she thought I was dead. I should have been pulverized but escaped without a scratch. We had to spend the night in a hollowed out log. I had only a t-shirt and jeans so to stay warm I broke off some bark for insulation. Luckily the sky was clear but I was still cold and remember staring at the stars for eons waiting for the sun. Mosquitoes guided us back to the car at dawn.
A friend and I attempted Lewis Peak a few years back, going up was no big deal and the route was marked from time to time although it was still a pretty brutal bushwhack...we made it to a flat area on the ridge just before the final approach ridge. There was this weird tree that had been snapped off and was hanging suspended in midair from two other trees. Coming down we had a similar problem that you encountered, that being cliffed out. That ridge is very narrow and there's a big drop on either side, and the brush makes route finding difficult. We did make it to the car before dark though.

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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Distel32
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PostMon Jan 02, 2017 2:40 pm 
Michael Lewis wrote:
I have a lot of failed summits over the years but most of them are really successes in my mind because I turned around when I felt it was too dangerous for me to proceed. The most miserable failures tended to be unreasonable plans like climbing Rainier in a day with no prior conditioning or bike to Kololo from Darrington in the rain. There's also shameful successes where I shouldn't have gotten away with it.
agree.gif up.gif

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