Hike through the Hoh!

Alpine Sender

I had a friend pass away climbing less than a year ago. He had previously told me "Climbing is not worth dying for". It has been tough losing him.

Seek out a therapist and talk with them about these topics. They're professionals and know what they're doing way more than us.

Thanks for the kind words! Yeah, being rescued is certainly less fun than it seems, especially with the alpine harnesses.

The previous company I worked for in the PNW usually depended on the time of year. I would guess this is the case with most companies. If the only open crevasse is all the way up at 8500' on Mount Baker then it would be a better learning experience to stay near camp, find a hill and practice the things there as opposed to waste time trying to get up super high to then practice for an hour.

It also would depend on the guide you had for that company if you were to go in a crevasse or not. I always tried to get my clients in real crevasses because I think that adds to the experience. Sometimes, guides will just do crevasse rescue on a hill near camp because the added systems to make practice at a crevasse can be a little more complex. Newer or less experienced guides will opt to not practice in a live crevasse because it is just harder.

I would recommend taking a course in July, it is more likely there will be a crevasse open nearby camp that you will be able to go to and practice in.

Lastly, my own plug, I started a company (Access The Alpine) where I guide crevasse rescue courses and right now they are insanely affordable. I also have Mountaineering 101 courses which are essentially a 3-day baker Climb and Two-day Crevasse Rescue Course stacked into 5-days. I have worked as a guide the past 11 years, I am a certified Rock Guide, Apprentice Alpine Guide, and I enjoy getting out and dropping people in cracks.

We will be going up to camp at Sandy and then do Crevasse Rescue on the glacier at the nearest hole we can use.

Petzl Irvis is my vote. I agree with the statements about the harfang being tough to adjust, I only use them for very specific things where the Petzl Irvis would also work fine for.

Looks like an ACI 3 to me.

Looks like Root Canal

Fair comments!

I am an AMGA certified rock guide and have guided rock since 2013.

My target audience for this clinic are, like you said, people that have climbed a decent amount and are looking to advance their knowledge within the rescue context. This clinic will be fast paced but recorded for anyone that has potentially missed something. If you know how to tie a prussic, munter, and clove then this clinic could likely benefit you. If you don't then maybe a knots and hitches clinic first would be more helpful.

Hopefully that clarified a bit.

-Brian

I tried posting this in the main community but it doesn't like that so here we are.

I do a free clinic every month. This month I am hosting one related to Rock Rescue. It will be on the 15th via Zoom. We will talk through the AMGA Rock Rescue Drill and hopefully cover a ton of good info regarding what to do if shit gets weird. Lowering an injured climber, counterbalance rapping to an injured climber, rapping with a climber, hauling a climber up, knot passes, etc. I am going to use the AMGA RRD as the base of the conversation so read through it if you want more info.

Here is the link for those interested. Photo for attention.

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I'll be in Bellingham in you end up there, we could get out and work on some skills.

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That looks like a very solid rough plan! I might recommend switching #5 and #6. If you take an alpine course before doing those objectives then that would set you up to have best practices before doing those multi-pitch objectives.

FWIW: I own Access the Alpine and I just updated a couple of my Alpine Climbing Programs on my website if that is of interest in the future.

It's either that or throw an ice axe

Here is how you place it

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Go slow. Do not take diamox. There is no substitution for having your body acclimate, just remember it's all part of the process.

I also support mandatory flair, seems like a good solution.

If you have enough sling to girth hitch the carabiner instead of just clipping then it also makes the fabric redundant. Even in this photo you probably would have just barely enough to do this.