Waiting at 17, and the human factor

Zach called yesterday to report another day waiting out the weather at high camp, still dreaming of that window of acceptable weather. Zach spoke of the common scenario often seen on the West Buttress: several teams leave for the summit in marginal or deteriorating weather but Mountain Trip groups decide to wait in camp; we call it the human factor.

Many groups are waiting for the weather window at high camp and there are many days where the conditions aren't great but not so terrible that a decision to try for the summit would be an obviously bad idea, so inevitably a team of climbers will try for it. Seeing other climbers go for it can override caution and force the decision process in inexperienced groups- once one group goes for it the gates are opened and other teams invariably follow; this is the human factor.

It can be hard for MT team members to watch other parties move up Denali Pass while remaining in camp. MT guides have seen this process over and over again on the West Buttress and elsewhere in the mountains, and experience on the mountain makes for confidence in decisions so Zach will continue to be the good guide and patiently wait, and all the while making soup and hot drinks for the expedition and keeping one eye on conditions up high. All MT guides on the West Buttress have seen parties leave for the summit in bad conditions and come back with frostbite or worse, but injuring yourself for the summit is ugly style and not part of the Mountain Trip ethic. Most often the conservative decision is the right decision.