Outward Bound Couloir Rescue - Sunday 9/13/15

[AlexeyD]

Everyone thinks "it won't happen to me" then it does.

Truer words have not been spoken. Speedy recovery to you both!

[TexLowlander]

I believe this is the same Alex we met on Mt. Shavano on Labor Day Weekend. My Dad and I met her on the way up, she was on her way down. She was very nice and helpful. Spent a good 10 minutes talking. Alex actually told us about this site. We are very sorry to hear that she had an accident. My prayers go out to both of you. We were both very shocked to hear about this incident. Even though we only met 10- 15 min. This accident hits very close. Please send our Best Wishes to her. And that her friends from Texas wish her a speedy recovery!

[jscully]

If Im correct, thats a snow only climb right? Similar to the kirk couloir. There is a sign in between the saddle between KC and challenger, saying something like "steep large rocks many people have died." They should put the same one on the other side now.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Eventually, it's probably a good idea to have a couple of large cairns up there so it's more clear where to return to the Avenue. In the meantime, please keep in mind that the Avenue is near 13,600' in this area and if you start to get below that elevation, you may be off-route.

If you're looking for a GPS waypoint to use on the climb, check out the route description and click on the "Turn Left" route milestone icon to display a milestones map. On that map, click on the waypoint to display coordinates:\

kitc2_1.jpg (590.7 KiB) Viewed 3156 times

[Bombay2Boulder]

Yeah, about the sign, pardon me for being paranoid but wouldn't it be a good idea if a legit organization put a sign at the turn off? I am against people putting permanent signs but CFI or FS on the other hand. This again is just a thought I wanted to share around. I have seen people put some sort of "sign" on some routes they arent comfortable with and packing the said sign out on their return journey particularly in whiteout conditions, which totally seems fine to me. Again, I wish you guys a speedy recovery!

[unclegar]

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm very glad to hear you are both on the road to recovery. I sometimes carry an axe in the summer as well as others that posted, but you would have had to have it in your hand and ready at the time of the slip to do any good. This could happen to anyone. How many times have we all placed our weight on a rock with it not giving out?

I agree with Jay. Alex sounds like a keeper. My wife always says, "I'll follow you anywhere." Not sure that Alex will be saying that j/k but...now that I think of it I haven't heard that in a while either. My thoughts and prayers are with you both for a quick and complete recovery.

[Hungry Jack]

Bill, I think the addition of this picture will help show that the avenue is not directly below you as you down climb, and that you really can't see it from above. Since we did the North Ridge approach, we did not have the benefit of being on it earlier. Down climbing Kit Carson, heading toward Challenger you can see something that looks like the avenue and this is where we went. This picture shows what it looks like, but it is not the avenue and it cliffs out around the corner.

DSCF5822-2-2.jpg

That's no Avenue. More like the Road to Hell.

[TallGrass]

Glad to read Alex is steadily recuperating.

Yeah, about the sign, pardon me for being paranoid but wouldn't it be a good idea if a legit organization put a sign at the turn off? I am against people putting permanent signs but CFI or FS on the other hand.

Note: Otina has a good photo of the Avenue turnoff at http://otinasadventures.com/trip/img/ki ... _route.jpg
In lieu of a sign, the "natural" method is a cairn wall like a mini wind break as found on the outside of a switchback turn so people don't follow the erosion path instead of the turn. It's something you'd notice both on the way up and way down. Adding a cairn uphill from the turn on the Avenue would help too. "Oh, here's little wall. Where do we go? Wait! Look up there. There's that cairn we passed right before turning." Not sure about snow though. Guess that's why folks use those 1/4"-round 5' orange poles on their driveways.

Here's a photo I took of alittle cairn-wall going up to Haystack Pass from the standard route to Capitol, this one being on the inside curve.

[14erFred]

Thanks for sharing the details of your accident. This has been quite an ordeal for both of you. Prayers for a full and speedy recovery for Alex.

[Audie]

As of today, there are about 7 cairns leading up the dotted line route up from the avenue to the scramble up to the summit.

[adamjm]

Like some others have said, the gully right before the gully on the standard route is a better option. You could call it class 3, but to abuse the YDS for a minute it would be like a 3.0, easier than the homestretch on Longs, something like walking up a steep ramp. Not only is it more solid rock than the standard route, it has a large rock formation right as you turn up off the avenue, that's easy to see & remember on the descent and know exactly where you're supposed to turn right and go back up the ave. Honestly, it should probably be the default.

Glad to hear that you and Alex are OK, Sean.

[shizupple]

I believe this is the same Alex we met on Mt. Shavano on Labor Day Weekend. My Dad and I met her on the way up, she was on her way down. She was very nice and helpful. Spent a good 10 minutes talking. Alex actually told us about this site. We are very sorry to hear that she had an accident. My prayers go out to both of you. We were both very shocked to hear about this incident. Even though we only met 10- 15 min. This accident hits very close. Please send our Best Wishes to her. And that her friends from Texas wish her a speedy recovery!

Yes! This was her. She says she remembers running into you. She wants to get in touch with you - I'll send you a PM. Thanks for the kind words.