Naughty Pine
Hangin' Out
I can't imagine being able to handle that! You go, Tower!I’m pretty high-alert when conditions are sketchy because I don’t do winter mountaineering trips often. I’ve had to self-arrest for real only one time (almost certainly not deadly, was roped up, not too steep and wouldn’t have gone far), but I fell head down and had to flip and arrest. I think practicing it for years made me just react without thinking. If it was too steep, though, I don’t like my chances.
That ice on Mount Baldy sounds deathly smooth and hard...very hard to get crampons in. And I guess SAR/LE is saying crampons won't work.