Snowy weekend...

Numerous climbers spent the weekend on the mountain. The deteriorating weather on Saturday and Sunday prevented most from summiting.

Reports from Camp Muir and more on the projected road openings later today.

Impossible Drop; Surviving a 3,000 foot fall after an avalanche, Gabe Coler

I met Gabe's parent's last weekend in Minneapolis. At the time of the climbing accident on Mount Deltaform, they were in Poland. Through a number of bureaucratic nightmares, Gabe’s parents did not get a chance to see their son for 10 days!

The information about Gabe was positive considering the fact that he was carried over 3,000 feet in an avalanche down the side of a major Canadian mountain! After the slide, Gabe fortuitously was not buried, but did end up spending three days and nights alone (at times in sub-freezing weather) on top of the debris.

Gabe is on the recovery schedule, but it’s going to be tough. He lost a fair amount of weight and was severely injured. Gabe fractured his right femur and tore numerous ligaments and tendons in his left knee. The femur fracture will mend, but the torn muscles, ligaments, tendons AND bone will be much more problematic. Included in the injury was a partially collapsed lung. As his father best said,

“All of this [however] seems so trivial compared to the wound he sustained from
losing his best friend, Charlie. I am far less certain of that injury ever
healing.”

Gabe was medi-evacuated to Eugene Oregon for extended treatment. If you’d like to send Gabe your thoughts, his address is:

St. Charles Medical Center
2500 NE Neff Road
Bend, OR 97701
Room 333

I’d like to acknowledge and thank the Canadian Park Wardens, medics, doctors, nurses and other caregivers that have responded to this incident and cared for Gabe and Charlie. This image is courtesy Parks Canada, Brad White.

Reservations and Roads

Some news on the reservation front! All of the climbing reservations have been processed. A new batch of confirmation letters is being sent out daily with climbing cards. Virtually every permit was approved. If you didn't get your reservation, feel free to call the climbing rangers at Paradise. We have suggestions on ways to enhance your chances of getting a "walk up permit."

Roads...

Lately, the weather has been warm and dry. Because of this, the rangers habe been leaving the road to Paradise open throughout the night. Note however, that this is only done during periods of good weather.

The Westside Road opened on May 1 to Dry Creek.

It looks as though HWY 123 is definitely going to be closed for part of the summer.

Conditions...

A number of teams summited this past weekend. More about the route conditions soon.