Oregon: (3) Cascades. .On 1 July 1951 a party of the Obsidians, Inc. of Eugene, Oregon, climbed Mt. Jefferson (10,500 feet). During a rest stop in the ascent, Clarence Bankhead wandered away from the party to the edge of an ice field, where he lost his footing and fell. He was wearing crampons and carrying an ice axe. He apparently did not attempt to employ the axe to arrest his slide, but tried to use his crampons to stop himself. As a result, he suffered a sprained ankle which was taped by a doctor in the party. He was able to continue the remaining 3,500 feet to the summit. On the way down, his ankle gave out

and he had to be carried off the mountain by his companions.

In the spring of 1951, the Obsidians had conducted a Snow and Ice and Rock school, but it is stated that the injured man had attended very few classes, and was apparently unfamiliar with the safe use of crampons and ice axe.

Source of information: report by the Climbing Chairman of the Obsidians, Inc.

Analysis. This accident would most likely have been prevented had the victim not wandered away from his party during a rest stop and had he been able to arrest himself by safe and accepted techniques.