Why do people climb? The danger, mixed with being in an exotic place can be really exhilarating. Being safe and coming home is one of the most exciting things about climbing. Ed Viesturs from Seattle has a mantra, "Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory". When mountains are covered in snow they become very dangerous. Combine that with high altitude and things become very dangerous. Snow will cover crevasses (caves or cracks) and some climbers will have fatal falls. Some crevasses are hundreds of feet deep and a mile long. Snow is basically water that is always shifting and moving. It moves slower, but suddenly an avalanche or a serac (giant ice blocks) can crush climbers in a second. Many climbers also get lost because they lose the trail. Willow wands or markers help climbers stay on course during the decent. Surprisingly many climbers don't use willow wands when climbing in the snow because they think its a nice sunny day. Mountains are notorious for having afternoon storms, and many climber get caught and the trail gets covered with fresh snow. Another factor to deal with, especially a bigger mountain like Mt. Rainier is altitude sickness. Headaches and dehydration problems are usually normal, but occasional pulmonary edema, (fluid in the lungs) could occur, and the only remedy is to get down fast. Altitude sickness is something that could happen to anyone at anytime, the only thing one could hope for is that someone is around who is capable of a rescue. Here is a great video about the risks on Mt. Rainier by Ed Viesturs; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt3mRvwmPQY.
Cited: Ed Viesturs Book. No Short Cuts to the Top.
Interesting post this week. I was curious, what is a you will want? It occurs to me that if you continue doing this blog you might want to have a little discussion about the different type of equipment that climbers use, why they're important, and where you can find them in Seattle. Work on embedding your links correctly. When you do your posts on blogger, you should see the image for a link in the editor, if you highlight on the text that you wish to link from and then click on the link picture, you can embed the URL address.
ReplyDeleteIt's relieving to hear the depth of your knowledge on this subject. Obviously you've been writing about it for a while now and have carefully planned your climb. I can't imagine myself in your position, though I'm not nearly as adventurous. You say that the thrill of getting home alive and well is the best part of the climb. My mind would suggest that if I never climbed at all, I would be even safer. By that line of thought, you are much braver than I. I wish you a whole lot of luck on your climb when the day comes! Fortunately, it seems like you've also got a lot of good information to back you up.
ReplyDeleteClimbing can definitely be a rewarding and exhilarating practice. I come from colorado (a well spring of 14ners) and the few that i've attempted altitude sickness was a very real (and in 2 of the 5 cases final) deterrent to the climb. Getting dizzy like that is something that i'll never forget, looking back though, climbing a technical climb that ended in a 1 mile rock wall with a keyhole overlooking the entire state of colorado is something i'll never forget.
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