[pct-l] ice axe length

[Ken Murray]

abiegen at cox.net said:

>Remember Gary Embrey, first death on PCT 2006
>http://www.backcountry.net/arch/pct/0602/msg00248.html

>Remember Ali Aminian
>http://www.simpsoncity.com/hiking/news/LAtimes011504.html

I understand and agree with your comments about ice axe length. However, both of the individuals in the articles you cite were climbers not PCT hikers, or at least not hiking the PCT when they fell.

Gary was obviously climbing, not hiking and it was February, not the typical time for a PCT hiker coming through Baden Powell. I've hiked the PCT up Baden Powell in the snow and I didn't see anywhere on the PCT trail where would be a requirement for belaying across an icy chute with helmets, ice axes, crampons, and rope unless you were not on the PCT.

Ali was a hiker and also a climber but his accident happened in January. Not 100% relevant to PCT hikers coming through the same area in May.

I'm not belittling their deaths but trying to relate it to conditions that PCT hikers would encounter since this is a list for PCT thru-hikers not climbers.

TrailHacker
======================

TrailHacker, both were friends of mine, so I am very familiar with the details of the accidents.
I appreciate your comment about relating to conditions that PCT hikers would encounter....

In Gary's case, contrast your experience with this post by Marion Davison:
=====================

Good point, Joanne.  I once did a weekend PCT hike from Vincent Gap to
Baden Powell in late June.  I didn't expect any snow, and it was warm
enough to hike in t-shirt and thin pants.  The upper switchbacks were
full of snow--long patches that crossed several switchbacks.  Crossing
one of these snow fields on the trail, I slipped and slid down to the
next place the trail crossed the snow--a long slide that did plenty of
road-rash type damage to my bare forearms.  Did any of us have an ice
axe?  Of course not. It made me think about how much worse it could be. 
I know how to self-arrest, having taken the class, but don't own an ice
axe, and have always tried to avoid being in a place I would need one. 
Who knew Baden Powell in June could be one of those places?
Marion Davison

=====================

Ali's case, though, is much more relevant to the casual hiker.  Ali, a very
experienced mountaineer, was climbing Mt. Baldy, a 10,000 foot mountain in SoCal.
He was using the Bear Flats route, not so often done (long and hard), and the
problem came when he arrived at what was the first large snow patch on the trail, which 
was angled off to the side.  What Ali didn't realize, was that it was not snow, 
but ice, with a dusting of snow.  When he stepped on it, he slid, and 
took a thousand foot slide down an ice canyon into trees at fatal high speed.  His 
crampons and ice axe were recovered strapped to his pack.  He was using hiking poles.