Disaster Summary and Analysis

Progress is slow and then Joe finds a series of crevasses filled with powdered snow. Each time he steps into one, he sinks deeply and has to claw his way back out. Then he realizes he has been walking along a huge cornice rather than finding a series of smaller ones and he is suddenly concerned it might give way. When he finishes that part of the climb, he encounters an ice wall that will not hold their ice screws. He selects another route and cautiously lowers himself onto the wall using the crampons of his shoes and an ice axe to hold himself here. Just as he is driving his other ice hammer into the ice, he hears a crack and the ice gives way. In a split second, he is falling. When he hits the ground at the bottom...