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I feel it is important to share this accident on its own before the full descent, to bring awareness and reflect upon the power of mountains.
While exploring the Wheeler Peak ridge in Great Basin National park, I made a very poor choice on my descent line. The snow had softened just enough that I felt confident to observe this drop, only to find it was a frozen ice chute with no other exit. At that point, I was perched on a 55 degree frozen slope, contemplating hiking back up (likely impossible), or dropping the line which fed into the remaining 2,500ft long couloir.
After waiting around to collect myself, I straight lined down. I thought I could slow down quick enough, but shot out too quick, and clipped my uphill arm on a big bump, yanking me downhill headfirst in an uncontrolled slide within the blink of an eye. Instinctively, I somehow self arrested and came to a stop after a very quick 100 feet of sliding. Any more sliding, and I would’ve simply been going too fast to stop, headed toward a blender of jagged steep rocks. Glad to be able to write about this experience, and take away a lot as well. Gotta respect the mountains, pretty crazy how poor judgment can nearly cost a life.
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