Snowmass Rescue on Sat 8/13

[onebyone]

..."part of the ridge dislodged"... Could be related to the recent rains contributing to more unstable rock on a notoriously unstable mountain/range.

As Bill has reiterated, be careful out there. I know many people have their self-imposed deadlines to get certain peaks within often limited vacation time but sometimes nature has other plans where having a Plan B is a good idea.

That day and the day prior saw alot of rain and there was thunderous rockfall on Capital so I wouldn't be surprised.

More than a few times I've stepped on a very large boulder and have had it move. Boulders so big that you would think would never move but can. No idea what happened here, but def crossed my mind that with a little bad luck, things can go south pretty quickly. I've done Snowmass from the west side

[Skimo95]

..."part of the ridge dislodged"... Could be related to the recent rains contributing to more unstable rock on a notoriously unstable mountain/range.

As Bill has reiterated, be careful out there. I know many people have their self-imposed deadlines to get certain peaks within often limited vacation time but sometimes nature has other plans where having a Plan B is a good idea.

That day and the day prior saw alot of rain and there was thunderous rockfall on Capital so I wouldn't be surprised.

It’s kind of gnarly out at the moment. I had a chimney fall apart on me while doing the pyramids Thursday. Thank god I wasn’t seriously injured!

[bbass11]

..."part of the ridge dislodged"... Could be related to the recent rains contributing to more unstable rock on a notoriously unstable mountain/range.

As Bill has reiterated, be careful out there. I know many people have their self-imposed deadlines to get certain peaks within often limited vacation time but sometimes nature has other plans where having a Plan B is a good idea.

This was something that caught me off guard several years ago too. Mountains seem like such static objects, permanent and non-moving, but it is amazing how much rock a little rain can dislodge. We did El Diente north buttress a day after some torrential rains. From reading reports and trail descriptions, the north butt didn't really seem known for loose rock. But the whole mountain was alive that day after the rains. Fortunately everything was falling into a gully off to our side, but we witnessed numerous rock slides that were just naturally released with no trigger above us as the soil warmed, dried, moved under the rocks. Also had a boulder the size of a small house start to move as one of my partners stepped on it. Fortunately that one only slid a few inches before stopping again.

[alpinenut]

The injured hiker was located by a classic air medical helicopter, than the colorado army national guard used a cable winch system to extract him and deliver him to the marble airstrip . West elk mountain rescue and careflight of the Rockies were waiting there to stabilize and transfer him to the hospital. Part of the ridge dislodged and he fell several hundred feet. Remember your helmets out there and thanks for the in reach activation.

Thank you for the update. Really glad to hear they are both ok.

[alpinenut]

Yes Ed. It was the west slope route

My understanding is that they were attempting the S Ridge route. The West Slopes route is really loose. I’ve heard the S Ridge is as well.

[yaktoleft13]

Yes Ed. It was the west slope route

My understanding is that they were attempting the S Ridge route. The West Slopes route is really loose. I’ve heard the S Ridge is as well.

S ridge is not loose, but the west slopes are. However, most people descend the west slopes after ascending the S ridge, so they have to deal with the west slopes anyway.

Prayers up for a speedy and complete recovery

[nsaladin]

..."part of the ridge dislodged"... Could be related to the recent rains contributing to more unstable rock on a notoriously unstable mountain/range.

As Bill has reiterated, be careful out there. I know many people have their self-imposed deadlines to get certain peaks within often limited vacation time but sometimes nature has other plans where having a Plan B is a good idea.

That day and the day prior saw alot of rain and there was thunderous rockfall on Capital so I wouldn't be surprised.

More than a few times I've stepped on a very large boulder and have had it move. Boulders so big that you would think would never move but can. No idea what happened here, but def crossed my mind that with a little bad luck, things can go south pretty quickly. I've done Snowmass from the west side

The biggest moving rock I have ever stepped on was about 13,600’-13,800’ on the west side of Snowmass. 4Runner sized.

[nyker]

..."part of the ridge dislodged"... Could be related to the recent rains contributing to more unstable rock on a notoriously unstable mountain/range.

As Bill has reiterated, be careful out there. I know many people have their self-imposed deadlines to get certain peaks within often limited vacation time but sometimes nature has other plans where having a Plan B is a good idea.

This was something that caught me off guard several years ago too. Mountains seem like such static objects, permanent and non-moving, but it is amazing how much rock a little rain can dislodge. We did El Diente north buttress a day after some torrential rains. From reading reports and trail descriptions, the north butt didn't really seem known for loose rock. But the whole mountain was alive that day after the rains. Fortunately everything was falling into a gully off to our side, but we witnessed numerous rock slides that were just naturally released with no trigger above us as the soil warmed, dried, moved under the rocks. Also had a boulder the size of a small house start to move as one of my partners stepped on it. Fortunately that one only slid a few inches before stopping again.

Scary. It always amazes how from afar most peaks looks solid and strong but up close are piles of broken rocks of all sizes.

[-wren-]

..."part of the ridge dislodged"... Could be related to the recent rains contributing to more unstable rock on a notoriously unstable mountain/range.

As Bill has reiterated, be careful out there. I know many people have their self-imposed deadlines to get certain peaks within often limited vacation time but sometimes nature has other plans where having a Plan B is a good idea.

This was something that caught me off guard several years ago too. Mountains seem like such static objects, permanent and non-moving, but it is amazing how much rock a little rain can dislodge. We did El Diente north buttress a day after some torrential rains. From reading reports and trail descriptions, the north butt didn't really seem known for loose rock. But the whole mountain was alive that day after the rains. Fortunately everything was falling into a gully off to our side, but we witnessed numerous rock slides that were just naturally released with no trigger above us as the soil warmed, dried, moved under the rocks. Also had a boulder the size of a small house start to move as one of my partners stepped on it. Fortunately that one only slid a few inches before stopping again.

Scary. It always amazes how from afar most peaks looks solid and strong but up close are piles of broken rocks of all sizes.

And this part of the state in particular is home to a lot of them that are at least the size of a VW bus

a couple days before this happened I was talking to a group about their abandoned plans to summit snowmass due to rain just a little while earlier. I remember noting that the cap/snowmass group seemed like one of the sketchiest places to be in the high CO peaks after heavy precip.

[CORed]

That day and the day prior saw alot of rain and there was thunderous rockfall on Capital so I wouldn't be surprised.

More than a few times I've stepped on a very large boulder and have had it move. Boulders so big that you would think would never move but can. No idea what happened here, but def crossed my mind that with a little bad luck, things can go south pretty quickly. I've done Snowmass from the west side

The biggest moving rock I have ever stepped on was about 13,600’-13,800’ on the west side of Snowmass. 4Runner sized.

Around 35 years ago, I was descending the gully between Pacific and Atlantic, on microwave+ sized talus, when the whole area, including boulders above me, started to move. I somehow managed to scamper across the slope onto more solid terrain and emerge unscathed, but it could have ended very badly.

[cbskies]

More than a few times I've stepped on a very large boulder and have had it move. Boulders so big that you would think would never move but can. No idea what happened here, but def crossed my mind that with a little bad luck, things can go south pretty quickly. I've done Snowmass from the west side

The biggest moving rock I have ever stepped on was about 13,600’-13,800’ on the west side of Snowmass. 4Runner sized.

Around 35 years ago, I was descending the gully between Pacific and Atlantic, on microwave+ sized talus, when the whole area, including boulders above me, started to move. I somehow managed to scamper across the slope onto more solid terrain and emerge unscathed, but it could have ended very badly.

I had a similar experience this summer on Tomichi Dome. I was descending through refrigerator size talus when I found myself on a steeper slope where a large boulder below me loosed and rolled down and the entire slope suddenly wanted to start moving. Was unsettling to say the least, I quickly realized I needed to spread my weight on all fours as much as possible and that I needed to traverse the slope instead of trying to go up or down any further. I took my time and there were numerous boulders that wanted to move but fortunately I was able to get to a more gentle slope and happy to get out of there.