An old but bizarre accident

[Flips]

I've thought seriously about wearing a helmet at all times on my hikes. Windy days push me (no pun intended) closer to that habit.

[JQDivide]

Didn't one of the Pikes Peak AdAmAn club guys get injured in a wind accident a couple years ago?

[JROSKA]

A few years back, when I was new to the forum, I was attempting Lincoln with a hiking partner and I turned back just before the saddle because I was knocked over by a strong gust of wind. Just a guess, but maybe 70 MPH. Everyone descending was reporting stronger winds up higher. Dude was kind of a meathead and would later reference how "Jeff can't handle a little wind" on his blog, but I don't mess around with wind. 6 feet tall, 155 pounds, and 70 mph, that's not favorable physics at all. I like to fly, but not that way.

[kaiman]

I remember reading about Julie Tullis' ascent of K2 a few years ago where she got caught in 100+ MPH winds on the descent and was blown 8000 feet off the mountain to the glacier.

I thought she died of HACE/HAPE on the descent. I've read that she fell, and was caught by belay, but sustained injury that likely contributed to death while they were pinned down in a storm.

Yep, you're right. I am thinking of Alison Hargreaves and not Julie Tullis. Sorry, the stories from Jennifer Jordan's Savage Summit are all blurring together. Time to reread that book I guess...

[MountainHiker]

Whenever I walk through a blow-down area, I marvel at how strong the wind must have been. Some trees are uprooted and others are snapped off and splintered.

[TallGrass]

Whenever I walk through a blow-down area, I marvel at how strong the wind must have been. Some trees are uprooted and others are snapped off and splintered.

May not be as strong as you imagine, if used to seeing small things break. But as you scale something in height (x^1), surface area can increase on the square (x^2), and mass/volume gets cubed (x^3) or so. So a taller tree is a bigger sail acting through a longer lever on a wider trunk (radius) whose outer/inner surfaces see more tension/compression. Snapping a dried twig can seem explosive, but if you've seen tree trimmers in town like when they clear old dead trees, or felled some yourself, it's more like a collapse and breaking apart. All you have to do is get it to it's tipping point and let gravity take over. The *thud* it creates sure makes you look twice at what you're pitching your tent near though! Now seeing what a tornado can do to trees is a whole different matter!

[GreenHorn]

Windy days push me (no pun intended) closer to that habit.

A habit is definitely not the answer! Haven't you seen The Flying Nun?

[cougar]

a few years back, Jon Krakauer attempted Longs Peak on a very windy day, and changed plans to climb MLW instead due to the wind. He was tossed around the boulders and came down battered and bloody.

I've been picked off my feet atop the loft and blown off my feet a few times around Longs and other places (most recently this spring atop MLW where I had to crawl off the summit). A climbing partner had a softball sized rock fly past his head up there, missed him by a couple feet. So wearing a helmet during high winds is a good idea.

Windy days push me (no pun intended) closer to that habit.

A habit is definitely not the answer! Haven't you seen The Flying Nun?

[Jim Davies]

Didn't one of the Pikes Peak AdAmAn club guys get injured in a wind accident a couple years ago?

Yes, in the 2011/12 climb. http://www.adaman.org/newsletters/AdAmA ... 012-1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AdAmAn member Mark Szabo captured a picture of the output from the summit weather station shortly after we arrived at the summit. The max wind gust of the day clocked in at 110.6 mph! The last half mile of the climb was brutal. Members often found themselves on all fours crawling into the wind towards the summit or blown completely off their feet by a sudden wind gust. Carl Lindeman was injured when a wind gust sent him cartwheeling in the boulders south east of the summit. He injured his knee and couldn't stand at all.

[jrs1965]

Has anybody had the experience where they could hear the wind gust coming? On my first attempt of Humboldt I was below the saddle and we could hear the 70mph gusts hit the summit about five seconds before we would get hit. It was pretty cool and scary but gave us ample time to get down on all fours before being blasted...

[polar]

Dude was kind of a meathead and would later reference how "Jeff can't handle a little wind" on his blog

That’s a total dick move. Everyone has a different risk tolerance. One can choose not to climb with someone, but one shouldn’t disrespect others’ risk tolerance. He sounds like someone I wouldn’t want to climb with!

[mtgirl]

Has anybody had the experience where they could hear the wind gust coming?

Yes, the time I was blown off my feet on West Spanish Peak, I heard what sounded like a freight train coming. I didn't know what to make of it, because it hadn't been the least bit windy during the hike, and I was near the summit. Lesson learned.....