[pct-l] Falls before Sonora Pass

[Jack Haskel]

Yep, yep, yep.  This fall account sounds pretty familiar. I too fell at, I
think, the very same spot this year. In fact, four out of six hikers that I
was around fell right here.

- I was the only one with my ice axe off my pack and I successfuly self
arrested (my first self arrest ever). Good thing because of those rocks.

- One hiker slipped, splayed out kissing the snow and managed to stop her
fall after just a few feet of sliding.

- One hiker slipped, built up speed and then managed to turn it in to a
guided glissade, narrowly missing the rock band below. I didn't see this.

- Another hiker, that I didn't see, fell and had a serious cartwheel. Head
over heels, and over and over again. Luckily, she somehow escaped without
hitting the rocks or sustaining serious injury. It was a very close call I
heared.

Anyways, point is, TAKE your ice axe off your pack!! Also, don't send it
home at Tuolumne. Some hikers did that. In general, people who weren't
carrying an axe, said they still thought it was a good decision. I think
that's because they survived this time without incident. It's still bad
judgement.

In my experience, the ice axe was actually most important around Sonora Pass
(north and south of it), on some of the major sierra passes and on Dick's
Pass in Desolation. Dicks for me was super scary, very firm ice/snow with no
purchase and no prints. I didn't have an axe or crampons but definitely
should have. If it's a big snow year, I'd recommend keeping your axe until
Truckee/pooh's.

> I had to hike 18 miles north to get to Sonora Pass from the 1000 mile mark
> of the PCT. This was one of the most scenic days of my entire PCT hike. At
> about 3:00PM, as the dirt trail eventually came around to the north side of
> the Peak at Sonora Pass, I could see the vehicles down below. Eventually the
> dirt trail came to the steepest section of snow. I looked up and saw a skier
> who was skiing down from the very top of the peak. Girl Scout and
> Ridgewalker had already made nice footsteps in the snow heading across and
> down the steep slope. They were both about 50 yards ahead and ready to begin
> glissading straight down on a less steep section. I figured I could just
> follow in their footsteps without any problem, even though the slope was
> very steep.
>
> As I took my first couple of steps in snow I began sliding (both feet)
> downhill immediately. I knew this was not good as there was a large rock
> outcropping directly below about 50 feet. As I fell on my butt I tried to
> dig my fingers into the snow while holding onto my two trekking poles. My
> speed was increasing as I tried to "steer" my way to the right of the large
> rock outcropping. I managed to avoid hitting the rocks, but I fell feet
> first into a depression between the rocks and where the snow had melted away
> from the rocks about 3 feet. I was surprised I did not lose my hat or
> sunglasses. I think my pack actually kept me from hitting the rocks. This
> depression was about 4 feet deep, and I landed on my chest on loose scree,
> mud, and snowmelt. The sudden stop nearly knocked the wind out of me. My
> ribs and back were immediately sore. I had lost one of my trekking poles
> during the fall and noticed it was lying on top of the snow about 15 feet
> above me.
>
>