14ers.com

From Caic:
"There was apparently a person caught in a slide on Torreys Peak Sunday. Not a lot of details yet, but the slide started not far below the summit on a NE aspect. Sounds like the person may have lost a ski. They may have triggered several slides while trying to regain a ridge"

Uh yeah that was me unfortunatley. My partner is busy this weekend, so does anyone wanna belay me from the summit of Torrey's on saturday or sunday? I can provide all the necessary gear, (rope, harness, belay device, etc..) Theres two skis in the slide path, two poles, and a RENTED crampon near some rocks about 50 - 100 ft below the summit that I have to get to. The route up torreys is avalanche free and I can guarantee that there will be no danger of any kind for the person belaying. I'll carry everything up too! Any help would be greatly apprectiated. The skis arent in the slide debris, there ontop of the slide path so they arent buried right now, but if it snows.... if someone with a metal detector wants to come that be be absolutely great too.

This whole operation will only take 5-10 mins, so it is still a great oppurtunity to get a winter climb in with someone who knows the route, conditions, etc...
We could also go over to Grays if one is so inclined and if I recover my skis, I'll ski way less steep terrain if you are also so inclined.

Please let me know if anyones intrested,
I miss my skis terribly....

Phil
570-604-1196

This is my favorite post of the year so far.
Are you going to tell the story or do we just leave it up to our imaginations?

This is darn funny...why cant you just climb down and get your gear yourself? Torreys aint that steep.

Damn I'm somewhat tempted. Can I ski down? I assume you're going up via Steven's Gulch?

You could probably set up a self belay. Just buy an ascender and anchor the rope on to whatever you were going to have the belayer anchor to. Rappel down the slope and then use the ascender on the way up in case of a fall. The extra person would be pointless without something to anchor to. All seriousness aside, I agree wholly with the cheeseburgler. Its also a hell of an approach right now, you might offer beer/cash or a combo of the two if you think that a second person is really needed.

Some weather moving in this week, not sure you are going to be able to find them under the new and wind deposited snow.

cheeseburglar wrote:This is my favorite post of the year so far.
Are you going to tell the story or do we just leave it up to our imaginations?

From the CAIC website...

"One skier triggered a slide on Torreys Peak Sunday. The fracture was about 30 feet below the summit, so about 14,230 feet on a ENE aspect. A witness at the bottom of the slope said he looked up and saw a large powder cloud engulf the east face, and when it had settled down he saw an individual standing at the crown. The size estimates were 2,000 vertical, and about a thousand feet wide. The crown depth was tough to judge, but apparantly involved just the new snow and wind drifted snow. The individual regained the summit and walked out without skis. We are still tracking down more info so hope to keep adding to this event."

More info please...

rijaca wrote:The size estimates were 2,000 vertical, and about a thousand feet wide. The crown depth was tough to judge, but apparantly involved just the new snow and wind drifted snow. The individual regained the summit and walked out without skis. We are still tracking down more info so hope to keep adding to this event."

More info please...

Wow! The suspense is building.
If you have to self belay and can set a top rope, you could use prusiks rather than an expensive ascender. I can see why you would want someone else along. You should probably use prusiks anyway, it would make for a better story. Although it's pretty good already.

Definitely is the best post I've seen in a long time.

I think it behooves Mrwaffles989 to post the full story, since he might as well add an educational component to this hilarious post. For those of us who ski Torrey's, some more detailed information would be really appreciated.

I don't mean to make fun of the original poster, as he had a very expensive day and a long hike down, but to say things like
"The route up torreys is avalanche free and I can guarantee that there will be no danger of any kind for the person belaying."
makes it even funnier, given the fact that you are asking someone to hike up a fourteener in mid-winter with a novice (the rented crampons and the request for a belay give it away).

Redeem thyself, Mrwaffles! Tell us your story!

Glad you're OK. Sounds like an embarrassing accident that could have ended badly – very badly.

Sorry about all the wankers on this site, but consider the ribbing a rite of passage (we’ve all done dumb $hit – OK maybe not this dumb, but I know I’ve tested the boundaries of common sense more than once).

Hope you get your gear back. It’s expensive, especially for a college kid. If not, hey – at least you got out with your life, and you didn’t hurt anybody else with those slides.

Sounds like quite the learning experience! If the slope slid out big and you could see the gear, why didnt you just go gather it up? Is it beneath cliffs or what?

Wondering about your avatar - looks like the small squares of "special" paper I used to see at Grateful Dead shows...

Might explain...