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Climber hit by Lightning - Pierces Pass 5-Jan-2011 At 5:05:33 PM Jezlevett

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We abseiled to the ground we put our lights on flash laid our ropes on the slope and tried to sleep. As we thought it could be smarter to walk out in the morning as we would have a better chance of not possibly hurting ourselves on the way out as we knew it was a bit of a bush bash. At 2.30 we heard noises and were surprised and happy to see the rescuers. We were dehydrated and cold. But otherwise in good spirits.

In the morning we left.

The moral of the story: Bring more water than you need. Leave early if you anticipate an epic day, don’t get a phone that has 6 hours of battery life, and if there is a chance of storm be prepared to bail out.

Huge thanks go out to all the climbers and non climbers that helped or contributed to us getting out of there and also to the advanced rescue team and all those involved in the back ground.

Mike:
I think there was a mix up we got as far as pitch 6 until we were forced to retreat.
1. Awesome retreat abseil from pitch 6 very exposed and amazing with the lighting around.
2. It probably would not of mattered about the bivi on the half way ledge because at pitch 6 we had decided to bail out. But it still sounds like a good idea.
3. I think the rescuers knew a little about the climb, but they did not know as to my knowledge about the abseil points at mirror ball. Im not sure if they knew the exact location of hotel California, but they seemed to know there location at the time and maybe where ours was. , Im pretty sure this place was knew terrain for these guys, although it looked like they knew what they were doing. I don’t know if they had a guide book im not sure. I thank them for their efforts as it is an epic walk in from the base jumpers track at night.

Apologies about the grammar I wrote all this quickly.