Thunderstorm in the mountains
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Some episodes and conclusions regarding thunderstorms in the mountains from the personal experience of a mountaineering guide
Thunderstorm on Ushba
....Nothing foreshadowed a trouble
Just half an hour ago we were relaxing on the snow Summit of Mount Ushba, drinking tea from a thermos and experiencing that unique moment of victory over ourselves and the Mountain. Indescribable, but well known to every climber. Anybody didn’t want to think at all that a long, difficult and dangerous descent lay ahead of us.
It seemed like everything was fine.
Light clouds swirled from the southern side of the fantastic peak, the most beautiful in the Caucasus. In the fog below, the outlines were lost of the steep south-east wall of Mount Ushba, dropping down to almost two kilometers to the ragged rock of the Chalaat glacier.
During the ascent, the weather entertained us with stunning dawn views of the entire Caucasus. Such dazzling beauty of these mountains can only be seen from the narrow blade of the Mount Ushba ridge, which emphasizes the desperate expressiveness of the silhouettes of the neighboring mountains. You can't see it like that from the flat slopes of Mount Elbrus.
By the time we reached the summit at about 10.00 a.m. there were no signs of coming bad weather. We felt like we were in total control of the situation - no one wanted to rush down from this airy paradise.
It was my third ascent of Mount Ushba - “Queen of the Caucasus”. Experience in the mountaineering, as in life, has not yet accumulated in order to feel in advance the impending danger. In the happy “summit euphoria,” the moment was missed when it was immediately necessary to begin the descent.
The problem became obvious approximately at the level of the middle part of the crest, when there was still about 250 meters of traverse of the ridge covered with snow cornices before the beginning of vertical rappels.
Light clouds, which swirled quite harmlessly below us during our stay at the summit, rose to the level of the ridge and began to roll over it in dense streams of thickening fog.
There was a dull thump below, and the air smelled of ozone. Even my limited at this time climbing experience reported without hesitation that this was not a rockfall. The understanding came reflexively that if we were got by a thunderstorm on the Ushba ridge, the chances of getting down alive would be much less.
Another 10 minutes pass and it became clear that we were completely screwed. It was no longer just single streams of fog creeping out from behind the ridge, but the heavy black mass of a real thunderstorm; the air smelled strongly of electricity.
The situation was, if not hopeless, then quite desperate. Due to our own mistake, we found ourselves on the line of passage of the thunderstorm front, at a point with an absolute probability of a lightning discharge hitting us.
Subsequently, during the ascents, there were different situations I got in. And so I noticed one pattern. In the desperate moments, some kind of automation turns on for me imposing me to do some instinctively correct actions.
Without thinking about a plan of action, I chose the only possible solution - fix the rope on the ridge and rappel down the steep slope, at least for 50 meters. It took no more than another 10 minutes for realization of this plan, and fortunately this was enough. Then all the hell broke loose.
Lightning struck the line of the Ushba crest continuously, discharges occurred every 15 seconds and were accompanied by deafening booms of thunder. A stream of wet snow poured out from a thundercloud that had crossed the crest. Within a few minutes, my down jacket turned into a wet, useless plaster, and river of icy water flowed down my back.
The Ushba crest above us glowed from continuous thunderstorm discharges. Electric shocks passed through the wet rope, as if through an electric cable. Any touch of the slope in front of me caused a noticeable electric shock. The hair moved not only on the head, lifting the helmet, but all over the body, aggravating the feeling of wet cold. I desperately wanted to live.
My decision to leave the ridge was the only right one in this situation, and it saved 4 lives. The culmination of the electrical storm lasted approximately 20 minutes. After this, the intensity of the discharges dropped, and soon the thunderstorm stopped.
Completely wet and exhausted, we climbed back onto the ridge and continued our descent under charges of sleet and rain - fortunately, without a thunderstorm.
Visibility dropped so much that in front of the Nastenko rocks, where from the vertical rappels we had to go onto the rocks to the left, we got lost our way and almost went down into the icefall. The consequences of the mistake, given the total exhaustion of the group after the storm, could have been very sad. But a Miracle happened...
A random gust of wind (there are no accidents, we constantly learn this lesson in the mountains) blew a tunnel through a dense cloud. At in end of this tunnel I saw my own sling on the rocks, which I purportedly left on the ascent.
The opening in the clouds instantly closed, but the job was done - the direction of further climbing became clear. After the Nastenko rocks, the descent was no longer so difficult - a couple of rappels and we got access to the gentle slope of “Ushba pillow”
Since then, I have been on more than 15 ascents to Mount Ushba along different routes. But this episode of getting caught in a thunderstorm, from the beginning of my climbing career, stayed in my memory forever... The feeling when you are inside of a thundercloud is difficult to confuse with something else.
The experience gained in this accident can be characterized as follows: in the mountains one should never trust the visible signs of harmless weather. This is critical in the mountains, where everything can change in minutes, and your life may depend on those minutes as well.
Don't forget the main condition of Murphy's law - everything will go according to the worst possible scenario, especially if you find yourself trapped. In the subject of this story - the slightest change in weather can end one's life.
Mount Kurmychi death accident
I witnessed this tragedy with my own eyes. The accident happened during a thunderstorm and because of it, but not from a direct lightning strike. An electrical discharge struck a ridge not far from a group of beginners climbing the easy (PD) ridge route. The static electric shock led to the fall of one young climber.
Falling down from a not steep ridge of PD category would be quite problematic. But the electric discharge helped. The boy was knocked off the ridge by a static discharge from lightning that struck nearby - in fact, my entire article is about that kind of danger during being caught in a thunderstorm on the mountaineering route.
Since, in the case of a direct lightning strike, it would be difficult to write anything other than an obituary.
Of course, no one in the group was belayed - no one expected to get caught in a thunderstorm, and the ridge was so easy... The boy was thrown into the abyss. The cause of death was a deep fall. But, as for me, it was impossible not to notice the approaching thunderstorm. Any bad weather comes from the south, the view from the northwest ridge of Mount Kurmychi to the south is ideal.
Usually the Main Caucasus Mountain Range keeps bad weather for approximately 1.5-2 hours, depending on the power of the front. At the first sign of bad weather, they had to go down immediately - definitely they had time for this.
An accident at Aristov's bivouac
Two climbers from Poland were camping on a bend in the Shkhelda glacier. The place was well sheltered and (in the past) quite popular among mountaineering teams when climbing Mount Ushba, Mount Shkhelda, Peak Kavkaz, Mount Bzhedukh and other famous peaks of the Adyl-su region.
A thunderstorm caught the climbers at the bivouac - there was no reason to fear being struck by lightning. However, the lightning strike hit the moraine adjacent to the camp. The result of the electric discharge was a traumatic amputation of two heels of one of the climbers.
The guy was slightly touching the wet floor of the tent with his heels, so through them the discharge passed. The discharge and the potential difference of electric power were so great that the man’s two heels were literally torn off. The man certainly survived and the necessary assistance was provided timely in the nearby hospital.
The moral of the story also deserves to be a lesson. During being close to a thunderstorm front, especially with close lightning discharges, you should not lie down - this creates a potential difference and consequent electric shock in the event of a discharge passing.
Case of lightning strike on rocks
The storm front was visible across the sea for hundreds of kilometers. However, it was impossible to understand the trajectory of his movement. It was funny looking black cloud with moving legs of dropping lightning. It was walked along the Mediterranean horizon in search of a place where it could discharge its electrical reserves.
According to the mentioned above Murphy's law, this one turned out to be our island of Kalymnos, where we were doing our daily rock climbing. We didn’t want to interrupt the training until the last moment. The likelihood that such a small cloud would land on our island was apparently small.
So we continued to climb. Soon the first drops of rain began to fall. Climbing training, after all, had to be paused. Hoping for a quick continuation of the activity, no one left the rock climbing sector.
We were protected by a powerful rock overhang and hoped not to get wet even in the event of short heavy rain. The danger of a thunderstorm was not taken into account at all - we were in no way located on a hill.
An unexpected lightning strike occurred literally 50 meters from the training site. Most of the climbers were on their feet at this moment, some were sitting on the spread mats.
My friend was squatting, with his buttocks lightly touching the surface of the rocks, which already were a little damp from the occasional drops of rain. The lighting discharge passed through the buttocks and exited through his heels - leaving clear marks along the line of nerve endings on the legs. The effect of the discharge was impressive - the poor guy was thrown into the air almost a meter. He fell down already unconscious.
About half an hour it took us to call 911 and try to organize the first aid. The poor guy showed some signs of life, but did not regain consciousness. He came to his senses after the arrival of professional help and a couple of revitalizing injections.
Having difficulty with moving independently, he also complained of memory loss and lack of sensation in his lower extremities. But few days later he fully regained his consciousness and was discharged from the hospital - our insurance company covered the costs of providing the medical treatment.
So, let's summarize
In order for this text to have some practical application, I would like to make several recommendations - solely and completely based on my own, sometimes painful, experience.
When climbing in the mountains, it is necessary to exclude any, even the slightest, chance of getting caught in a thunderstorm.
The mountain elements are merciless, the probability that it will have a "happy end” should not be taken into account at all. We must be guided by the diametrically opposite principle - any potential sign of danger in the mountains is the last warning.
Ones that didn’t listen to it = got self-destructed.
There is nothing wrong with deviating from the climbing plans, even if the signs of bad weather are light or indirect.
It is better to get back to the route 10 (100) times than once not to return from it.
What signs can be considered threatening?
I won't say anything new. But for me, the following factors may be the basis for starting the descent:
A sharp drop in atmospheric pressure - that is easy to check as the barometers are available in most electronic devices. Many phone models support the barometer function. Any mountaineering watch shows the pressure trend over the last 8-12 hours - which is the most useful function as it can save your life.
Primary visual signs of coming the weather disaster also are increase of the air temperature and the appearance in the sky the clouds characteristic of the approach of a thunderstorm front of cyclone.
The final visual sign is that a black cloud is flying towards you.
But anyway. What to do if you are caught in a thunderstorm and lighting is hitting close to you. I don’t want to imagine this, because I have my own experience...
Move away from any hill or slope. Stand on your feet below the bend of the slope or in some depression. Do not touch the slope or surrounding objects with your hands during the passage of a thunderstorm front.
If you need to sit, if possible, place something potentially electrically insulating and dry (mat, clothing) underneath of you. Do not change your position until the storm front leaves - the discharge phase of a thunderstorm, as a rule, does not last long - if you get stuck, then be patient.
The author of the text and photos - Alex Trubachev
Your professional international mountain guide and climbing coach
MCS EDIT 2024