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zephyr
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Joined: 21 Jun 2009
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zephyr
aka friendly hiker
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 Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:01 am |
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I don't think this has been posted yet.
Here's an article on today's Seattle Times front page. There was an icefall on the Ingraham Glacier late Friday night/early Saturday morning. Luckily no climbers were in the path of the slide.
Some quotes: Recent icefall on Mount Rainier has rattled seismographs, and perhaps the nerves of a few climbers, after collapses on the Ingraham Glacier beginning last Friday. Ice blocks and debris tumbled at least 1,000 vertical feet and across the popular Disappointment Cleaver climbing route, according to Mount Rainier climbing rangers.
“The large ice block tumbled in the middle of the night when no parties were on the route,” according to rangers’ blog post, cautioning climbers about remaining hazards. “… Simply put, this would have been an unsurvivable event.”
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A guided climbing party discovered the icefall Saturday morning. Rajesh Balla, a client on a RMI Expeditions climb, said his group of more than 20 climbers left Camp Muir on Saturday morning at about 2:30 a.m. High winds on the mountain had forced them to start later than they had intended, he said. Guides stopped the group at the top of a rock feature called the Disappointment Cleaver about 5:30 a.m.
“The sun was just coming up as we got on top of the Cleaver,” Balla said. “The rock was shining with sunlight. It was a beautiful sight.”
The light, however, revealed a massive field of debris, with head-high ice blocks covering the route ahead. A chunk of the glacier the size of a five-story apartment building had collapsed, a guide told Balla’s group. They would not be continuing the climb.
~z
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nordique
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nordique
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Fri Jul 13, 2018 11:02 am |
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Thanks for posting! That is one huge collapse! And that is before the warmer weather coming later this summer.
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gb
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gb
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Fri Jul 13, 2018 1:53 pm |
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I believe this is the location of the large fatal avalanche accident involving a guided party something like 15 or so years ago. I think the most serious avalanche accident in Washington since the 1910 train disaster.
Rainier ice avalanche accident
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zephyr
aka friendly hiker
Joined: 21 Jun 2009
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Location: West Seattle |
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zephyr
aka friendly hiker
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Fri Jul 13, 2018 2:11 pm |
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| gb wrote: | | I believe this is the location of the large fatal avalanche accident involving a guided party something like 15 or so years ago. I think the most serious avalanche accident in Washington since the 1910 train disaster. |
Man, that's a sad story. 
Quotes from gb's History link article: "...At approximately 3:30 a.m., the group started on the arduous trek to the summit of Mount Rainier, which generally takes five to eight hours, depending on conditions. The climbers traversed the Cowlitz Glacier, climbed through Cathedral Rocks Gap, and crossed Ingraham Flats to the base of Disappointment Cleaver (elevation 11,200 feet).
At this location, three of the climbers decided to return to Camp Muir, stating that they didn’t have stamina to continue. Guide Christopher Lynch led them back down the mountainside.
While the group rested, guides John R. Day, Michael Targett, and Peter Whittaker ascended Disappointment Cleaver to scout snow conditions and avalanche danger on Emmons Glacier. Guides Ronald G. Wilson and Thomas M. O’Brien stayed behind with the remaining 20 climbers. Since the party hadn’t the experience to contend with two feet of fresh, unpredictable snow that had fallen over night, senior guide John Day decided they shouldn’t continue the climb and the three guides headed back toward Ingraham Flats.
The Avalanche
Shortly before 6:00 a.m., without warning, the Ingraham Glacier icefall fractured. From atop Disappointment Cleaver, guides Day, Targett, and Whittaker heard the cracking and saw a wall of ice 300 feet wide fall 800 feet and shatter to pieces upon hitting the mountainside. Seconds later, an avalanche of ice and snow hurtled down Ingraham Flats toward the climbing party. Hearing the thunderous roar, the climbers, roped together in groups of five, attempted to scramble out of harm’s way. But it was too late. Tons of ice and snow swept them down the mountainside.
Several minutes later, 11 people emerged from the rubble of the avalanche, but 11, including guide Tom O’Brien, did not. The remaining guides searched for survivors, but found only a section of rope, a ski cap, a pair of ski goggles, and a headlamp near the edge of a deep crevasse. It appeared that the missing climbers had been swept into the crevasse and buried under tons of glacial ice."
...
Somehow I have heard of this particular incident. I hadn't arrived here in Puget Sound until 1984 (when I climbed Rainier with RMI). ~z
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BarbE
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BarbE
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Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:41 pm |
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Wow, looks like we were exactly in the icefall's path when we climbed Rainier via the Ingraham direct a couple of months ago.
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Kascadia
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Kascadia
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Sat Jul 14, 2018 3:44 pm |
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| zephyr wrote: | | Man, that's a sad story. Quotes from gb's History link article: "...At approximately 3:30 a.m., the group started on the arduous trek to the summit of Mount Rainier, which generally takes five to eight hours, depending on conditions. The climbers traversed the Cowlitz Glacier, climbed through Cathedral Rocks Gap, and crossed Ingraham Flats to the base of Disappointment Cleaver (elevation 11,200 feet).At this location, three of the climbers decided to return to Camp Muir, stating that they didn’t have stamina to continue. Guide Christopher Lynch led them back down the mountainside.While the group rested, guides John R. Day, Michael Targett, and Peter Whittaker ascended Disappointment Cleaver to scout snow conditions and avalanche danger on Emmons Glacier. Guides Ronald G. Wilson and Thomas M. O’Brien stayed behind with the remaining 20 climbers. Since the party hadn’t the experience to contend with two feet of fresh, unpredictable snow that had fallen over night, senior guide John Day decided they shouldn’t continue the climb and the three guides headed back toward Ingraham Flats.The Avalanche Shortly before 6:00 a.m., without warning, the Ingraham Glacier icefall fractured. From atop Disappointment Cleaver, guides Day, Targett, and Whittaker heard the cracking and saw a wall of ice 300 feet wide fall 800 feet and shatter to pieces upon hitting the mountainside. Seconds later, an avalanche of ice and snow hurtled down Ingraham Flats toward the climbing party. Hearing the thunderous roar, the climbers, roped together in groups of five, attempted to scramble out of harm’s way. But it was too late. Tons of ice and snow swept them down the mountainside. Several minutes later, 11 people emerged from the rubble of the avalanche, but 11, including guide Tom O’Brien, did not. The remaining guides searched for survivors, but found only a section of rope, a ski cap, a pair of ski goggles, and a headlamp near the edge of a deep crevasse. It appeared that the missing climbers had been swept into the crevasse and buried under tons of glacial ice."...Somehow I have heard of this particular incident. I hadn't arrived here in Puget Sound until 1984 (when I climbed Rainier with RMI). ~z. |
Hello Z - I too arrived in pugetolpolis in the fall of 84 and climbed Rainier in the summer of 85 with RMI. The mountain had a lenticular cloud over it, and 13 of our 25 member group summited. No one else on top of the mountain that day. The climb leader was Phil Erschler and he was still hot from his first American ascent w/o oxygen on Everest. He smoked a cig on the summit. Visibility was limited and the wind was howling, it was quite an intro to climbing. Turned out to be the gateway drug. . . Later, I would meet one of those 3 climbers who turned back on that ill fated RMI climb (largest single mountaineering accident/deaths). He would later join the Mountaineers, graduate from Basic Climbing, but become an avid ski mountaineer and become very active in their early ski mountaineering program. Ten years after the above incident, he decided he was ready to climb Rainier and we would accompany him on a successful summit via DC. Didn't say much about it, but I think it was on his mind.
It is as though I had read a divine text, written into the world itself, not with letters but rather with essential objects, saying:
Man, stretch thy reason hither, so thou mayest comprehend these things. Johannes Kepler
It is as though I had read a divine text, written into the world itself, not with letters but rather with essential objects, saying:
Man, stretch thy reason hither, so thou mayest comprehend these things. Johannes Kepler
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