Trip Report

Personnel

Ryan Cordova, California, 27
Kim Clark McGranahan, Colorado, 40
Katie Larson, Colorado, 42
Ian McBride, California, 23
Rob Nachtwey, California, 29
Stan Wagon, Colorado, 55
Chet Roe, 52, Colorado
Rob Knapp, 44, Montana
Martin Reeves, 53, Illinois
Danny Reeves, 31, New York
Allen Dunaj, 46, Colorado
Bob Portmann, 44, Colorado
Jeanmarie Mendesh, 42, Colorado


Sat: Flew in with Canadian Helicopters. Saw Randy Heppell at the exchange. He no longer telemarks. "It will add 10 years to my guiding career." The flight in was super, especially the view, near the end, of the clifftop where Don McTighe dropped us off in 2003.

At the hut we met guide Jorg Wilz. His group reported that we would have to work hard to find unskied terrain. But in fact we found a fine line on Sunday that they had not skied, and then new snow came in on Monday. Perfect (so we thought!) as far as weather went. All but JM, Chet, and I went out for a late afternoon ski. We three organized food at the hut.

Sun: The group went to summit of Mt. Kemmel (10200 feet) on a very warm and sunny day. Tremendous views from the top: Arras and its amazing curves; Forbes towering above everything (though the view of the face is a little blocked by Rosita); Sir Sandford and Iconoclast to the west; Bryce and Columbia to the north, and perhaps Clemenceau. And we found a great steep descent line in a gully straight off the south side. On the way home the bolder members skied a very steep chute (see photos). 4000 feet of climb.

Mon: Rain in the morning, but it quickly turned to snow. Chet, JM, and I went to the same valley and had bad skiing in low vis. The others (except Rob K. who was not feeling well) headed to the valley west of La Clytte and went down and then back up through the Portal.

Tuesday: A storm day. All but Rob K went to the saddle on the west before the final climb to Kemmel and skied down a ways. Then Chet, JM, and I returned home while the others skied some more. We had some fine turns in good powder as the visibility improved. At one point a small slab released a little bit above Chet as he climbed, but it was very small and did not knock him over. About 4000 feet for the three of us.

Wednesday. Katie, Robbie, Rob K, Martin and Danny Reeves, Kim, Allen, Stan, and Chet headed up to SE Face of La Clytte. Excellent weather: clear. At 3:30 Robbie, Katie, Kim, and Danny and Martin were heading towards summit plateau from a large platform to the SE that allowed a view of the top of Groove Tube chute. Four of us hung back, deciding on plans, and were, at this time, following the skin track well behind the leaders. A slab avalanche (8 to 10 inch crown) released above Martin's position. It was small (Class 1.5) and Martin tumbled. Only one ski came off (Fritschi binding). He stopped not very far down, in some pain, and with screaming to accompany it. I hoped his noises were just of trying to regain his breath but it became quickly clear that he was hurt, and that he, and we, had a problem. At the time, the other four ahead of him were at the high plateau. Robbie was the first down to him. Chet (ER-trained doc) came over. A quick evaluation showed that the blood on the nose was caused by glasses, no big problem. But his right knee was in a bad way and the indications were of ligament damage and perhaps the potential of a broken leg.

I had the sat phone and tried to get a signal. I got one and called Canadian. Their heli (or helis?) were down for repair that day but they gave me Alpine's number. I called them but signal was lost. Robbie, Katie, and Kim set up a sled of sorts on his pack and jacket so that he could be slid to the top of Groove Tube, which was a large flat platform suitable for heli and not very far from the site. I then climbed through the debris to the plateau and got no signal. It was not clear (we learned later that there were serious problems with the sat phone system Globalstar) what to try next. I returned to the platform, tried again, and got a signal. I contacted Alpine with the request and the info and learned that one of their machines was in the air, near Rogers Pass I think, and would be in very soon. I gave GPS coordinates as well. The helicopter, with two wardens (rangers) aboard, arrived eleven minutes of the call.

Meantime the rest of the team pulled together to keep Martin warm (we had parkas and big gloves), stabilize his leg, and rig a device to slide him to the platform (we had no rope). His leg was splinted using probe poles and Voile straps. Then Allen and Robbie tried to move him by supporting his shoulders, but the right leg dragged causing pain. So they switched -- Katie's suggestion -- to a head-first sliding technique. That worked well as four people could drag him the distance.

The helicopter arrived, circled, and landed and the wardens used a cardboard splint and ace bandages above and below the knee and taped the boot into the splint, and loaded him. His son Danny accompanied him to Golden. On departure it did a little loop so that the wardens could look at (photograph?) the avalanche.

Meanwhile: radio communication with the walkie-talkies got the news to Rylan and Ian and Bob and JM, and they gathered at the hut and made a sled out of a snow scooper, two ski poles, a thermarest, twine, and duct tape in case they had to go up-valley to meet us.

After this we descended Groove Tube (the skiing was really awful: crust and breakable crust) and cruised home. Satellite signal was still intermittent.

Thursday: A strong group went up Maiden Voyage to the saddle and skied down the other side. They named it Vitamin P (for Powder) and described it as steep but in good condition. They returned via The Portal. This was Robbie, Rylan, Bob, Katie, and Kim (post-trip news: Larry Dolecki reports that this line had not been skied before, as far as he knew). Martin and Danny returned to the Lodge via helicopter! JM, whose leg was bothering her, took the opportunity to leave the hut. Danny and I skied to the Maiden Voyage saddle (Troll Pass) in the afternoon (about 2400 feet).

Friday: Back to La Clytte. Chet and I went to the top of Sharkfin Col while the rest skied the line from the summit plateau. This time we took the low route around the separating ridge and that went well. We all returned together and tried an even lower route after rounding the ridge, but the steep gulleys were difficult, though we made it through.

Saturday: The exchange failed. They tried at 3 pm but not could not break through the last 1500 feet. Several of the group skied to near Kemmel summit and down the S Face in whiteout conditions. I relearned backgammon and played with Allen and Katie to take my mind off the heli-stress.

Sunday: The exchange worked even though the day was cloudy. The mountain tops were clear but not the valleys. The heli first showed up way above the hut and circled around to drop through a hole in the clouds. The flight out was also cloudy and he could not use the pass he usually used. But the clouds were broken up enough that it was not a real problem. At the exchange we met Jon Walsh who was going to try, with a friend (Chris), to leave early on Monday and get to the Mons and Freshfield and out to Peyto in about 30 hours. It ended up taking them 55 hours as the weather was bad for almost the whole trip. They skipped Nivervel Col and went down Forbes Creek and then over Howse Pass and out to Peyto. Jon was one of Doug Sproul's companions on the 80-hour Rogers Pass to Bugs adventure a couple years ago.

The Californians got off first with no problem. Katie and Allen were last. The rest headed to Calgary to try to rearrange flights. Chet and Bob succeeded. Kim, Martin, Danny, and I stayed at the Super 8 and got out the next day.

Medical followup: Martin reports that three ligaments were damaged. The PCL and MCL became detached and might heal on their own. The ACL was torn and will require surgery.