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Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon

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avatar SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 04, 2013 01:39PM
I checked, but if this is a repeat post, feel free to remove it.


Here's a SAR report with some good advice at the end.

Fortunately for these people, they had a cell phone with reception, but it still took an entire day to be located and rescued.

Lost and Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon


The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.
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balzaccom
Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 04, 2013 03:35PM
Yikes. And the male climber was looking for a way to climb up out over Mt. Watkins without any climbing gear...and with a partner with no climbing experience!


Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963
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Ohnivy-Drak
Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 05, 2013 04:58PM
Quote
balzaccom
Yikes. And the male climber was looking for a way to climb up out over Mt. Watkins without any climbing gear...and with a partner with no climbing experience!

Climbing out via Watkins is exactly what Scaruffi did. http://www.scaruffi.com/travel/tenaya.html http://www.scaruffi.com/monument/hikes07/tenaya.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2013 05:09PM by Ohnivy-Drak.
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avatar Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 05, 2013 05:25PM
Quote
Ohnivy-Drak
Quote
balzaccom
Yikes. And the male climber was looking for a way to climb up out over Mt. Watkins without any climbing gear...and with a partner with no climbing experience!

Climbing out via Watkins is exactly what Scaruffi did. http://www.scaruffi.com/travel/tenaya.html http://www.scaruffi.com/monument/hikes07/tenaya.html

It does not sound like he thought it was such a great idea:

"But i wouldn't recommend this route as it is very time consuming (i basically summited Mt Watkins) and still deadly dangerous."


The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.
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avatar Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 05, 2013 05:54PM
If you really take a look at his photos and can follow along and all... what he did was skip nearly
the entirety of Tenaya Canyon. Once at Pywiack he crossed over and hiked up to the summit of
Mt. Watkins... and then zipped down to Snow Creek trail-ish and down from there.
Some of the comments imho are ridiculous. You do Tenaya Canyon to to be IN the Inner Gorge
and to DO the Inner Gorge. It's an incredible area. Pretty funny that his best view was from
Mt. Watkins which is a simple dayhike that can be done in a few hours.

Have fun and Beeeeee safe


Chick-on is looking at you!
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Ohnivy-Drak
Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 06, 2013 10:49AM
Looking at the pictures, it does seem as if the route he took wasn't as tough as he wrote.

Anyway, round of applause for SAR volunteers. Saw a nice-sized crew carrying a guy on a stretcher up the Clark Point connector trail few weeks ago. Someone likely fell on his head around Emerald Pool footbridge or on way up towards Nevada - sounded like he was gonna be okay though.
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ryanmj
Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 04, 2013 05:25PM
I've heard the easiest (safest) way to to descend the first rap area without rope is to continue along the ledge until you can make it down. Looks like the bypassed the entire length of the inner gorge up above. Maybe the water level was still to high.
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avatar Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 04, 2013 05:34PM
I did not know that there was any other route to the bottom of the canyon that did not require at least some rope work.


The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.
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DavidSenesac
Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 05, 2013 06:52AM
Foolish to be on routes like that without a topographic map or being able to use it. Surprising numbers of climbers still think they can navigate by sight alone much like people did a century ago. Well much of the time one can. But its like throwing dice not expecting snake-eyes to ever come up. And especially foolish in Sierra granite canyons where glacier carved cliffs may have formed in all manner of unpredictable places one cannot always see enroute or back out from.


http://www.davidsenesac.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2013 08:27AM by DavidSenesac.
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avatar Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 05, 2013 11:56AM
Topo Map is all but useless for the Inner Gorge area.
They were trying to bypass the Gorge entirely and then drop back down.

Without proper equip... my rule o thumb: don't go down crap I can't get back up... and don't go up if I can't get back down.
They were lucky.


Chick-on is looking at you!
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balzaccom
Re: SAR report: Lost & Unprepared in Tenaya Canyon
August 05, 2013 07:39PM
Quote
chick-on
I don't go down crap I can't get back up... and don't go up if I can't get back down.
quote]

Rules that we live by as well. Lucky doesn't cut it often enough in the backcountry.


Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963
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