It is a fun, fast, and efficient way to get down, especially when the snow melts out juuust enough: too little snow to ski and too much snow to walk. However, as the rangers patrol the mountain, we've seen a number of golden glissading rules broken. Some with minimal consequences and others with more severe, from lost gear to fractured bones and head injuries. So as a refresher, here are the basics for making your glissade a fun and safe descent.
1. Look at your line. Are you on a glacier right now? Generally a bad idea to be sitting low to the ground, moving fast if you might have crevasses coming up. Even the Inter Glacier has some good size holes just under a thin bridge or past a blind roll. Just because there's a trench from previous glissades, doesn't mean it's a smart or safe line to follow. Do not glissade if you cannot see a safe runout at the bottom AND do not glissade on the upper mountain or when you are roped up.
2. Take your crampons off and wear a helmet. If you value your knees, ankles, and head. It's easy to catch a point when your going fast and next thing you know you flipped around to be flying down face first with a sprained or broken ankle.
3. Have your ice axe ready and know how to self-arrest. On steeper pitches, it is easy to get going faster than you mean to or expect. Make sure you can stop yourself so the rocks at the bottom don't.
4 Keep your pack tight and clean. A lot of gear has popped up in those glissade trenches. It can leave you rather thirsty when you get to the bottom and find your water bottle gone. Or even worse, when the one strap that was holding your tent breaks, and you get to the bottom without your $500 shelter. If it looks like you're having a garage sale of gear on your pack, it's likely to become a yard sale on the mountain.
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| Glissade track down Muir Snowfield |
