Alta Ice Anchor Failure Incident

August 12th 2022. A beautiful sunny Friday. I decided it was time to have a break from teaching and become a student for a change. I am not a strong mixed climber, so I decided to pay and enrol in a cheap mixed climbing course with an experienced climber friend of mine. However, she was not an instructor. Just an experienced recreational climber. People say you get what you paid for... In this case, I lost. 

I was a student, top roping on water ice. It was a hot day. As I was about to get lowered, the anchor she had built failed due to some very strong solar input. And I hit the ground. I fell 25 meters ish, hitting the ice and sliding on the snow for 20 more meters ish. I self arrested and had my ice axes in my hand. And I walked away. With invisible injuries that one year later are slowly becoming visible. 

Due to the lack of the reporting from the organizers, many people believe I was instructing that day and in charge of anchors and decision making. That would totally make sense taking the fact that I am a mountaineer and instruct this stuff normally, so I understand the assumption. However, that this is not correct and the rumours have been spread and haunted me for over a year now. 

My intent with this post is to clarify: I WAS A STUDENT on that day and I HAD PAID MONEY to be there, a conscious decision of mine for my own personal reasons. I WAS NOT THE INSTRUCTOR, I HAD NOT BUILT THE ANCHOR, AND I WAS NOT IN CHARGE OF MAKING DECISIONS THAT DAY. 

This post is just a very simplified summary for the busy people out there. The full RAW account I will post soon. No filters...for those who want to read the full story. A long account, however, in my opinion, worth reading...(you might want to skip the technical details if you are not a climber...)