Glissading
From BearWiki
Claim: Glissading is a dangerous thing to do in a survival situation.
To begin with, taking unnecessary risks when your life isn't in immediate danger is contrary to near-universal survival advice. When lost, your chance of survival and rescue are extremely high and your chance of death quite low. Doing stupid things that can get you injured, however, flips the equation.
Glissading is the usually voluntary act of descending a steep slope of snow in a controlled manner. Glissading is a dangerous act even when you have experience and know the terrain[1][2][3][4][5][6]. A joke for the inexperienced is that there are three types of glissade -- standing, sitting, and uncontrolled -- and they usually follow each other in rapid succession. To glissade near cliffs, on slopes that you are unfamiliar with and/or when you're not experienced is to give yourself a high chance of outright death, let alone injury. From advice on glissading from Trail Crest on Mount Whitney[7]:
- Did you hike up The Chute? Yes...continue, No...hike down the trail
- Do you have ice axe to self arrest or self belay? Yes...continue, No...hike down the trail
- Have you practiced extensively and/or taken a snow skills course and practiced these skills? Yes...continue...No...hike down the trail
- Have you taken your crampons off? Yes...continue, No...take them off and continue
- Is route you have chosen to glissade entirely in the sun? Yes...continue, No...find another suitable route or hike down the trail or The Chute
- Is there enough run out at the bottom in case you really screw up? Yes...continue No...hike down the trail or The Chute
In short, if you are not well experienced *and* know the terrain well, just plain don't do it. This advice is for non-survival situations. In a survival situation, you don't get medevac'ed if you injure yourself. You bleed to death or die of infection.
Furthermore, trying to use something not designed for arresting a glissade to do so is inviting your own death.[8] Being able to grip into the snow no matter how firm is essential, and the shear stresses can be immense.
[edit] Analysis
support: I've done this before, i almost injured myself because i had difficulty slowing down when i reached the bottom of the chute. i grew up skiing and have lots of experience with snow. this is a hazardous activity.
