You mean like this bail out?BHallDDS wrote: Yeah, what still gets me is the decision to ascend into Keplinger's with the weather the way it was. ... If you were truly "experienced in the backcountry" you'd at least talk about bail outs that right?
With the storm hitting when it did, their options were poor and limited. You don't always have the choice of just walking down the trail when things get bad. That's just how some routes are.At about 1pm on September 12th, we made the decision to attempt to descend the gully and make it to the ranger station. The excessive water from snowmelt and rain had turned the rock surface into a mudslide. The center of the gully was gone, and in its place was a rushing flood of mud, water, falling boulders, and rocks. We slowly and carefully downclimbed and several hours later made it into the valley, putting the exposure of Longs Peak behind us. We continued climbing down the valley, bushwacking through extremely rough terrain, rock ledges, tree fall, thick vegetation, and pooling water in steady rain. At this point, even with the hard work, we were still shivering uncontrollably. The river and stream volumes were many times their normal flow. We set up camp for the night and at first light continued onwards in cold rain.
Edit: To be clear, I am not anti-discussion or anti-analysis. I think this is an interesting case study and a pretty good example of how to manage a crisis and successfully self-rescue. However, the attempts to second-guess in hindsight aren't going to teach anyone anything. If anything we should be applauding them for being prepared and level-headed enough to get themselves out of the mess.
