SLIP ON SNOW âAlberta, Rocky Mountains, High Rock Range, Mt
S L IP O N S N O W — Alberta, Rocky M ountains, H ig h Rock Range, Mt. Bishop. P eter V erm eulen, H erb Kariel, and a com panion w ere descending th e SW face of Mt. Bishop on O ctober 26, 1975. At about 1600 hours, while traversing a gently sloping w ind slab about 25 m from th e edge of a cliff, H erb stum bled an d fell, knocking P eter dow n. B oth w ent into self-arrest, b ut th e snow was soft an d H erb stopped him self only by digging his axe into th e scree. P eter fell over a cliff ab o u t 20-25 m. H e landed on his pack in soft snow an d sustained a m ultiple fractu re of th e rig h t shoulder. H e was able to walk dow n, ro p ed betw een his com panions, an d they reached th e car at 0430 hours on O ctober 27. (Source: H erb Kariel, Chinook (Bulletin of th e Calgary Section of the ACC), N ovem ber 1975). A nalysis. P erhaps we should have been ro p ed an d spaced fa rth e r ap art. Likely, th e axe should be carried adze forw ard an d p o in t backw ard in a self-arrest position. (Source: H erb Kariel, Chinook, N ovem ber 1975.)
