a tale of tragedy narrowly averted: twelve lessons for travel above treeline
TRANSCRIPT
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A Tale of Tragedy Narrowly Averted:
Twelve Lessons for Travel Above Treeline
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Lession 1: Don’t Count on Moving Rapidly
• Trail conditions can make half a mile per hour and exhausting speed.
• The AMC guidbook suggests travel times should be doubled in winter.
• Under some conditions that advice is not nearly conservative enough.
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Lesson 2: Bring clothing suitable for Full-Scale Arctic Conditions
• Especially important is adequate headgear (because so much heat loss occurs through the head).
• Genuine Winter boots (not summer-weight hiking boots)
• A good mitten-glove combination.
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Lesson 3: Never Try to Move in a Full-scale Storm Above
Treeline• Stay in a shelter or tent.
• No one should risk becoming exhausted or lost in the incredible and relentless fury of some White Mountain storms.
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Lesson 4: Never Go Anywhere Without a Compass
• If you get lost in an extended white-out without a compass (and especially without the proper gear) you are in a very severe situation.
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Lesson 5: Don’t Count on Following Your Own Footprints
• Wind can blow them into oblivion in a few minutes.
• The hole left by an ice axe lasts somewhat longer, so look for those rather than your crampon tracks.
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Lesson 6: Never Separate Yourself From the Equipment
You Need For Survival
• Without a their packs--and spare clothes, sleeping bags, tent, stove, food--they would have surely perished in the open.
• With their packs, their chances of survival were considerably improved.
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Lesson 7: Remember that Early Winter Days Have the Fewest
Hours• “It’s the time of the year when it gets late
early”--Yogi Berra
• A Head Lamp is good insurance against getting caught in the dark (with an extra bulb and extra batteries).
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Lesson 8: Always Take Time To Pack Properly
• Failure to stash an item inside your pack (and even inside a plastic bag) can result in it becoming so soaked as to be useless.
• Items can be torn off your pack and lost.
• In this case the price was only some lost sleep.
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Lesson 9: In setting up a tent, never assume the wind direction
will be constant
• Few if any tents can withstand the full fury of a Presidential’s storm.
• Snow caves and Igloos are better, but can be time consuming (and there may be little snow).
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Lesson 10: In Winter, neither wind nor cold are as deadly as warmth and rain, followed by
cold.• When this occurs, leave fast, especially if
your gear is soaked.
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Lesson 11: Many Layers of wool are worth more than the finest down when wet (circa 1968)
• As already discussed, dress like an onion
• Don’t wear cotton anything!!!
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Lesson 12: Never Underestimate Winter in the Mountains
• The average wind speed on Mt. Washington in July is 24.7 mph, in January it is 43.8
• From 1948 to 1975, the fastest wind recorded in January was 124.9 mph!!
• Wind chill factor makes the apparent temp as low as -80 F or lower!