The Pack That Tried To Get Away
Two of these pictures are close ups of the first one.
The mountainside beside the icefall on the east side was a bit steep. To get down from the top we had to squeeze between a rock and the mountain side after taking our packs off. One person would slide the pack down to the person below after they had scrambled down. This was a stretch for the person above and below.
When Tom’s pack was passed down to him, the pack got loose and flipped end over end (sideways) for about 60 feet down the mountain.
In one close up, you can see Tom (bottom left hand corner) in relation to the rocks (top of picture) we squeezed by. In the other close up you can see Tom (top left hand corner) and the pack (bottom right hand corner) that tried to get away. When Tom crabbed down on his back to grab it, it got away again and went another 20 feet down the mountain side. None of us were experienced mountain climbers, after all. The drop was even steeper at this point and 50 more feet would have dropped it over the cliff edge, not to be recovered until the glacier melted. We did manage to rescue it but it added a little spice to the day.
