The top part of Grand Canyon trails are icy!— Grand Canyon NPS (@GrandCanyonNPS) November 25, 2019
Don't risk it - like these folks.
If you plan to hike this week bring your shoe traction devices and trekking poles - or purchase them in village shops: (shoe traction $20-$45) (Rent poles at General Store $3 per pole per day) pic.twitter.com/VkaVKtlOq4
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Crampons.
I've noticed that since the weather has gotten colder here, the shorts-in-winter trendoids are out in force.
There we go. Althouse is policing men's bodies again.
Winter vigor!
It's easy enough to fall off The Rim in warm weather. These folks are angling for a Darwin award.
His pants are wet. He's already fallen down.
I've been backpacking before where I needed to get down on all fours. Pretty good indication that you are in deep doo-doo.
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
His pants are wet. He's already fallen down.11/27/19, 1:22 PM
You could be right! Or maybe he just peed in his pants because of fright and his stupid decision to go there?
going down is going to be the easy part, one way or another. After all, gravity is your friend. going up, may be an issue.
They're not even wearing crampons. Coupla idiots.
I'd need my studded bike tires on that thing.
Glad I'm seeing this.
Rim to rim hike is on my bucket list.
I will make sure there is no ice when I schedule my trek!
Looks like this book will soon need updating. Available through the Althouse Amazon portal:
"Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon"
Gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps in the most famous of the World's Seven Natural Wonders.
Two veterans of decades of adventuring in Grand Canyon chronicle the first complete and comprehensive history of Canyon misadventures. These episodes span the entire era of visitation from the time of the first river exploration by John Wesley Powell and his crew of 1869 to that of tourists falling off its rims in Y2K.
These accounts of the 550 people who have met untimely deaths in the Canyon set a new high water mark for offering the most astounding array of adventures, misadventures, and life saving lessons published between any two covers.
His pants are wet. He's already fallen down.
He's not too bright or he'd head back. Darwin Award if he keeps going.
When I still lived in WA I went out for a morning walk and, finding the sidewalk icy [but not visibly so], I put on crampons and walked merrily around the neighborhood. Several neighbors suffered fractures on the black ice that morning and I often wonder if they saw my carefree stroll and thought it must be OK. Crampons are gold.
Coming up, new contestants for a Darwin Award.
Thanks, Rick T. I just ordered it.
You don't have to be a woman to wear crampons!
Those trails are next to a big hole - don't fall in!
“They're not even wearing crampons. Coupla idiots”
I’d add a ice axe too. Gives you a third point of stability, plus makes self arrest much easier (what you need to do if you fall down and start sliding).
Don't call him unprepared. He has granola bars in that pack.
rhhardin, are they store-bought or homemade? I recall an article from a while back ('80s) when I was really into cycling about some guy who had modified some regular tires with sheet metal screws or such driven through the tire from the inside. I guess with some attention given to protecting the tube and modest pressure this could work.
Hat tip to you if you reinvented the idea, otherwise it's another reason to celebrate the market economy.
At first I was offended--no, my feelings were hurt, which is worse--when I saw the juxtaposition of the "men in shorts" and "stupid" tags, but upon examination, this guy has the whole package: Wrong hat, wet pants, senior citizen sneakers, and worst of all, black socks.
My wife and I have an agreement such that if I ever wear black socks with shorts, she is permitted to euthanize me using whatever means are expedient.
Bet he's Asian. Asian Asian.
Tried to use the yaktrax I bought thru the portal, but had to take them off at the end of the driveway. Oh well!
Some risks are worth taking. Hiking the grand canyon in icy conditions is not one of them.
Bet he's Asian. Asian Asian.
I took a few photos in Alaska this summer of 'Asian Asians' crouching precariously on cliff edges taking photographs. While they're not the only ones taking unnecessary risks, they can be frequently seen rushing headlong into danger as if it's a source of personal or cultural pride. OTOH, I'm sure they are horrified at Americans' eccentricities, as well. In fact, I know they are. ;-)
Hiked down and up in one day a hot July many years ago. Packed lots of water, nutritious snacks, and did just fine. However, I noticed that the trails going down in seem to attract many candidates for the Darwin award. I will never forget meeting college kids begging for food on their way up.
My wife and I visited the North Rim in early August, amazing sights... spent a couple of nights in Kanab, UT and then went through Zion Nat'l Park on our way home. Beautiful country!
Hiked the South Rim twice, the North once and rafted the river - but always in blistering summer heat. Snow is for boarding, yo.
The shorts won't kill them, but the improper footwear will.
Assuming the photo was taken today, these guys are even more stupid than the picture makes them appear. The forecast is for more snow through the weekend. Conditions are apt to be much worse on the return trip! This morning it was just wet and icy. This afternoon, it may be wetter, icier, and hard to see where you're going. As a youth, I hiked out of Yosemite, along return creek, at the end of a week-long hike. We started out in a slight drizzle, that quickly turned to rain, which became snow as we climbed higher. The last few miles, we could only see a few feet in front of us. Fortunately, there were no sheer drop-offs at the edge of the trail!
Climbing down into the Grand Canyon with today's forecast -- even with good boots -- is madness. Too many things could go wrong even if you were well prepared. If something does go wrong, help may be a long time in coming. No. Just don't do it.
maybe the crampon dispenser was empty in the lavatory.
...if they slip, fall and get impaled, they will be "swish Kaibabs"!
Well it beats the 100 degree heat that I've hiked in. And I wore shorts too. Hiking in ice in tennis shoes is new one on me, the usual idiocy is to hike the Canyon, without any water, and need to be rescued.
"Tried to use the yaktrax I bought thru the portal, but had to take them off at the end of the driveway. Oh well!"
Huh. I swear by yaktraxs. We have a steep driveway which is treacherous when clearing snow and ice. With yaktraxs, it's a piece of cake.
Darwin Award hopefuls.
I hate walking on ice, I'd rather have ankle deep mud.
up your life insurance, as well.
That enlarged picture???.......this is what it looks like when your sphincter snaps shut!!
OOPS!
I'm sure he's landed on his butt several times. Although the pack helps to cushion the fall when you do the Full banana peel whooppsie.
Hopefully they have not yet procreated.
Are they wearing Skechers?? They're gonna play the switchbacks like a washboard in a blue grass band.
Oh. Put a pair of socks outside your shoes. Preferably wool ones. Not the best solution but it might keep you from falling over a cliff.
Inappropriate-footwear-R-US.
Corked boots.
We walked the trail in Bryce Canyon when the was some ice.
Blogged here : https://althouse.blogspot.com/2017/03/greetings-from-bryce-canyon.html
After a winter storm at Scott AFB, IL, I was walking off to the side of the sidewalk in the fresh snow over where the grass was when a Captain came out of a building, saw me, and criticized me for walking on the fresh snow. He reached the sidewalk and promptly slipped and fell on his ass. When he got up, he apologized and set off, with a limp, in the fresh snow.
We had trekking poles but just regular hiking shoes, not the Katoola spikes we use around here when walking on ice.
Why do you say it's a man?
Dude's underdressed by at least 40 degrees. No gloves. And those shoes don't look like much, traction-wise. History shows again and again how nature points up the folly of man.
I once hiked up the Tanner Trail, one of the many rough backcountry trails in the Grand Canyon, through a Memorial Day weekend storm. At the Colorado River it was about 60 degrees in a light drizzle. One mile higher, on the last mile or two of the trail below the rim, it was a howling blizzard with eight inches of blowing snow and drop offs of several hundred feet or more just a step away. Terrifying.
Problem is that under those conditions you're in just a short way before going back up becomes impossible.
Stupid men in shorts.
That guy in the foreground is, at best, a casual hiker. Crappy inappropriate shoes and clothing. Grade school caliber backpack. Don't get me started on the hat.
Wait, I get it, they are vying for the 2019 Darwin Award!
P.S. h/t to Skylark on the Darwin Award reference.
Anne: "We walked the trail in Bryce Canyon when there was some ice."
Hoodoos magical in winter.
And I'll second the part about going down being the easy part. Last month, I was on the Big Island of Hawaii and took the Pololu Trail at the north end of the island down to the beach. It was a rough volcanic trail, and while going down wasn't too hard, going back up to the top was an experience. Fortunately, I found a stick by the side of the trail that was just the right length and that made the climb back up easier. My phone told me that by the time I made it back to the top, I'd climbed the equivalent of 37 stories -- about 370 feet.
If we just let idiots like these suffer the consequences of their idiocy, it wouldn’t be all that bad. But they’re likely to need rescuing and then some other young people will have to risk their own lives to try to bring them back to safety.
Total idiots and assholes. Jeez.
If we just let idiots like these suffer the consequences of their idiocy, it wouldn’t be all that bad. But they’re likely to need rescuing and then some other young people will have to risk their own lives to try to bring them back to safety.
True, Big Mike, but people in S&R really love doing what they do.
Isn't there a hotel with a bar just a little way from there?
The village shops nearby will sell you slip-over-shoes crampons for about 45 bucks. They will also rent you hiking poles with spikes for $3. Sadly, sense is not a rentable item.
@mockturtle, I know that S&R people love what they do, but they sometimes do lose their lives doing it -- and if only the people they were trying to rescue had applied elementary common sense ahead of time they'd still be with us.
It isn't the fall that will kill that man in shorts, but the sudden stop.
> Hiked down and up in one day a hot July many years ago.
Did that from the South Rim one evening when I was young. Started down in the late afternoon and it was dark by the time I got back up. The last section was a chore, had to lie down for a bit every couple of hundred yards. I couldn't even these days.
@AllenS, Snopes rates that as true.
This season, hike the famous Schlippenpfall Trail !
@mockturtle, I know that S&R people love what they do, but they sometimes do lose their lives doing it -- and if only the people they were trying to rescue had applied elementary common sense ahead of time they'd still be with us.
I totally agree, Mike. And I get especially concerned when a rescue helicopter is required as there are so many dangers associated with that. There should be some places, like Everest, where you aren't guaranteed a rescue and climbers, hikers, etc. should be warned that they are 'at their own risk' and will not be rescued if they ignore basic safety measures. Maybe some exceptions for kids, as they are unavoidably stupid. ;-D IMO, hiking the GC when icy or climbing glaciers without a permit or w/o proper gear would be in that category.
anyone mention the "no gloves" yet? That's a nice touch.
I went down this very trail on a mule this time of year 25 years ago. There were icy patches the first quarter of a mile but the deeper we got the warmer. My mule’s name was Arluff and he preferred the edge to the wall. These guys will be ok if they go slow. If they fuck up they could slide to the abyss.
an early scene in midway shows a bomber pilot disengaging his electronics and cutting his fuel in order to make a more difficult approach and landing to the carrier his gunner (it was one of those bombers with the pilot in the front seat and the gunner bombardier in the back seat) says - what are you doing ....
the pilot says, hey, it could happen when we don't want it to happen, let's practice now, so we are ready then.
Great movie , one of the outstanding war movies, which is something that still happens.
No good westerns anymore, but even in the 1960s there were lots of old people who knew the cowboys and other denizens of the west from the 1880s or so, where my favorite Westerns were set ....
and now we are to WWII what the great age of Westerns was to the last years of the untamed West.
Anyway, maybe the person in the picture is a talented mountaineer who was just seeing what it is like to embrace difficult conditions with the wrong equipment
Oh, good grief! Yes, it is icy at the rim, but it gets warmer as you descend into the canyon. The risk is ascending from within the canyon and not realizing how much the temperature declines as you ascend. Hypothermia is a significant risk when ascending this time of year. When descending, ice is a challenge at the top, but not for long.
"The Grand Canyon wants you dead. It's your job not to become so."
-some hiker guy
If you visit the Grand Canyon, I recommend taking the Kaibab Trail on the South Rim. You can take it down to Ceder Ridge which is about 1.5 miles one way. It is a fairly easy hike but the return will take about double the 30-45 minutes it took going down. Yes, hiking boots are favored over flip-flops. You descend from 7,260 feet elevation to 6,060.
The advantage to this half-day hike is that it puts you out in the middle of the canyon much quicker than the alternative hike, the Bright Angel Trail, which begins at the El Tovar Lodge.
Take the shuttle to Yaki Point to find the trailhead of the Kaibab Trail. Ceder Ridge is a perfect spot to picnic. It is far enough down to keep most people away. It is quiet enough to hear the breeze. If you are lucky, you might spot a condor.
Here is a tip: Don't goof around near the edge. This is the most common way people have died at the Grand Canyon.
Man in shorts.
Short pants are for children.
AZ Bob - is that true - that goofing around near the edge is the most common way to die in the Grand Canyon?
I thought, based on what I have heard from friends who live in Arizona, that the most common way to die was walking too far in the heat without enough water.
I am not sure this is something I could look up, one way or the other.
Either way is a sad way to go, of course.
Kahtoola microspikes and Leki trekking poles up here in the White Mountains New Hampshire, and the good common sense to know when the trial (or weather) wants you dead.
I hope they made it OK.
Just to add to the incredulity already expressed by others, I see that looking ahead on the trail there is a mound of ice/snow that looks like a perfect chute for sending them down into the void below, and even if they did get over it, the trail appears to narrow considerably beyond that point.
And for this week’s episode of “Where are they Now?,” we present Beavis and Butthead.
Stephen Cooper: Thanks for the reminder that Midway is a must-see. That Ferrari v. Ford are on my list. I won't go to a theater to see them, though. They'll have to be available on DVD at some point. I hope.
Focus on what's important. If those two slide off the edge, wearing shorts won't be the fatal mistake.
My recollection from reading the book, Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, the most common method of death is falling, which many times is the result of goofing around. Getting lost and dying from dehydration is up there but it turns out that the number one cause of death is something different.
According to this LA Times story from 2012, the most common cause is airplane crash.
Airplane crashes are not the 'most common' cause of GC deaths but are responsible for the most deaths.
I'm glad they didn't show the picture of him sliding off the trail and into the abyss.
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