Cornice Safety
by Willy Hersman, Scree

History Corner.  Well, I suppose it's time once again to reprint part of an old article which appeared in the Scree back in 1967.  Last year when the club did a trip up Byron Peak some of our members were shocked to find themselves on the edge of a cornice as they dug a hole to place a summit register.  The cornice went crashing down to the Skookum Glacier and our folks scrambled immediately for safer ground.  I hope the people who were on this April, 1967 trip don't mind a little reminiscing.  It was written by William Hauser; the other members of the climb were Bob Spurr, Chuck McLaughlin and Nick Parker.

"...Arriving on the summit we all welcomed the rest and fantastic view with our backs in the wind.  The 4500 foot vertical climb was completed at 2:30 p.m. Without warning, a dynamite like explosion shattered our tranquil perch.  The wind, sun, and snow blurred our senses until it was obvious that only two of us remained on the summit and two were being hurled toward the Skookum Glacier which is at the base of Byron's 4000 foot west face.  My rope to Mclaughlin promised to pull me into the void.  I grabbed it with my bare hands and managed to heel into the snow.  An ice axe was rope wrapped four times, jammed into the hard snow, and held with the feet.  Here I had 12 inches of rope left and held McLaughlin on belay.  Spurr luckily grabbed an ice axe until he skillfully transformed his stance into a sitting hip belay.

Two packs were gone.  Two ice axes were gone.  Two of our friends were dangling below the cornice overhang.  All we could do was hold our friends and hope for the best. This is too much responsibility for any man, and anxiety was overwhelming.  An hour and a half passed by.  I had 120 feet of rope out.  Spurr had 100 feet out.  We couldn't communicate because of the wind.  All of a sudden we could hear Parker.  A surge of hope began to replace our despair.  An ice axe popped over the brink; next came Parker.  We heard McLaughlin.  He had no ice axe and was stopped about six feet from the top.  With Parker holding Spurr on belay, Spurr tied a bilgeri loop into the rope, crawled to the edge and lowered the ice axe.  Soon we were all united and somewhat stunned, not able to understand why we were so lucky.

Parker (had) prussiked up 80 feet with two prussiks.  He went up ten feet and retrieved an ice axe which stuck like an arrow into the hard cornice.  The rope cut deeply into the overhanging face.  Parker jammed the axe under the rope and moved up the prussik knots.  Without the ice axe, Parker would have been unable to negotiate the overhang.  McLaughlin took some good photos of Parker and the 4000 foot view."