GWI Ice fall/avalanche

Today 1/23/09 there was a collapse of the majority of the last pitch which then entrained the majority of the center of the climb above the bulge. Approx. 225' of ice and snow.
This ran full track with the debris stopping 75' Below the normal base of the climb.
I was TRing the first pitch with friends new to ice when this occurred.
We are all OK. My rope is fixed to the anchor with the other end stuck in the debris pile.
Once I recover from the hangover I'm about to bring on and if it ever drops below 32 degrees I will try and dig it out.
If anyone, though I can't imagine anyone would, goes up there please throw it down. If you get it out PM me.

Glad everyone is alright, and hopefully you can get the rope back man. Good luck

I am so thankful nobody was killed. This is the single reason I only ice climb when I don't have something else to do. Ice climbing is great, but its becoming more and more fickle each year. What a damn dissapointing time. No wonder Ouray is becoming more and more popular and synomomous with ice climbing, the real ice is becoming less and less. Don't get me wrong, I really thrive on a half-pick in plastic ice, but I try not to expect it unless it is really there. Thanks you all for letting me vent my frustration. I'm going on a ski tour up Teton canyon tommorrow. If I see ice, then maybe I'll climb it the next day, probably not.

Once again, I'm glad every BODY is safe from this. It sounds like the old reliable Great White Icicle is now the Great White Unpredicable.

Stevie Nacho

p.s. BILL BONES is Gay!

cdec wrote:Today 1/23/09 there was a collapse of the majority of the last pitch which then entrained the majority of the center of the climb above the bulge. Approx. 225' of ice and snow. This ran full track with the debris stopping 75' Below the normal base of the climb. I was TRing the first pitch with friends new to ice when this occurred. We are all OK. My rope is fixed to the anchor with the other end stuck in the debris pile. Once I recover from the hangover I'm about to bring on and if it ever drops below 32 degrees I will try and dig it out. If anyone, though I can't imagine anyone would, goes up there please throw it down. If you get it out PM me.

Jesus, that sounds scary. I can't imagine your friends are interested in ice climbing after that experience! When it came down, how did you get everyone out of harms way? I can imagine the belayer was off to the side, but the person on top rope must have shit their pants.

Glad to hear everyone is okay.

It is only through a combination of doing a few things right and a LOT of luck that we are all OK.
First, we shouldn't have been there I'll say that.
Knowing that it was warm I was sitting on the rocks keeping an eye out for falling ice/rock. I never imagined a slide of that magnitude would occur.
The belayer was off to climbers left and the climber was on easy snow about 8 feet below the new anchor on the left.
I heard a roar and knew what was happening and yelled "AVALANCHE MOVE"
which they did. Both experienced climbers, they made the very best desicions they could have made in those split seconds. The climber tension traversed left away from the climb, as the belayer ran down and left. I ran climbers right under the cliff.
It was when I saw the size and amount of debris coming down and hoped it would be enough.
Not knowing exactly what let go we cleaned up and ran away.
Picture is of what's gone, taken from the road.

Good description, I can picture the scene vividly.

Here is a thought, think about where the old first belay was before the rock fall... I think the climber would have been fucked, although maybe he/she could have jumped into the "cave" that used to be on the right. Either way, yeah, super fortunate you were.

I am excited that you all escaped.
TRing the bottom of an 800 foot ice climb which has gaping holes and muddy streams flowing down it, in 40 degree rainy weather.... glad you realized you should not have been there.
Very glad everyone is OK.
"If your gonna be dumb you gotta be tough"
Hussein

Muafti wrote:"If your gonna be dumb you gotta be tough" Hussein

Tough or really lucky.

There were indeed small holes from the climber traffic prior. The ice that remains was much less brown and stream was completely iced/snowed over prior to the fall.
The area within the grey circle in the pic was all ice and snow when we arrived.

I was aware that ice might come down but there's so much low angle snow that rarely does anything from up high make it to the bottom. I admit that I hadn't considered the whole friggin thing coming down.

Gota make sure your out of the run-out zone if the big one rips.
Familiarity breeds complacency.

Happy to be typing.

On the morning of the 23rd at 6:45am there were gaping holes from melt out clearly obvious from the road.These were not small holes from previous climber traffic,they were 4' plus in size and they were plentiful, especially on the bulge pitch and the last pitch.

craig,
You obviously know much more than me and you are right,the many gaping holes produced by a week of high temps, melt out, and increased waterflow made the GWI look just like it always does. Sorry!

Glad everyone is ok. Might get people rethinking ice laps at 3:30 in the afternoon (and this is not a shot at anyone involved, just a comment on the resource). For a fairly mellow route...this thing has jacked a lot of folks. Be careful and say NO to the GWI conga-line.