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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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May 21, 2015 - 08:58pm PT
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never been hit however look for sprites when in desert
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philo
Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
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May 21, 2015 - 09:04pm PT
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Lightning strikes the Earth on average over 8,000,000 times a day that's about 100 times a second.
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philo
Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
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May 21, 2015 - 09:24pm PT
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http://youtu.be/lEt2hFLBoK8
This old man gets leveled.
Probably shouldn't have been walking in the storm.
It happens faster than gravity!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 21, 2015 - 09:31pm PT
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I don't know anything about the mystery, but I've sure seen the power.
I worked on a fire crew in central BC back in the long-ago, and I remember one smoke we got called to that turned out to be not much. A big tree had been hit, and broken off about 40 feet up. The spiral grooves down the trunk were an obvious indicator of a lightning strike, and the top 40 feet was lying on the ground nearby. Lots of smouldering debris on the ground, but nothing really flaming up, so we blew a trench around the circumference of the burning area and went to work on the hundreds of little hot spots.
But throughout the time we were there, something just didn't seem right. Something was nagging at me just enough to make me keep looking for... For what? I didn't know. All I knew was that something wasn't right, but whatever it was didn't seem dangerous, or important enough to get in the way of poking around in all the woodchips on the ground and putting out whatever was glowing.
And then it hit. All those woodchips. What the hell was going on that the ground was blanketed several inches deep with little chunks of wood?
Look up at the standing trunk. A foot and a half in diameter at the top where it was broken off. Look at the top of the tree lying on the ground. Eight inches in diameter at its bottom end. Look around for other trees with bases similar to what was still standing in front of me.
My best guess, based on the rest of the forest, was that about 40 feet of tree, tapering from 18 inches to 8 inches, had been instantaneously disintegrated when the lightning vaporized the moisture inside it. And when I say disintegrated, I don't mean broken into a few pieces. I mean disintegrated. There wasn't a chunk on the ground much bigger than a golf ball.
I don't know how much wood that is. Maybe one of the loggers who hangs on ST can speak up, but I would guess that enough wood to build a small house was turned into woodchips in about a microsecond.
How much energy does it take to do that?
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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May 21, 2015 - 09:32pm PT
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That was a pretty good program, philo.
The one that follows it is good, too...a Nova special on lightning. Both are worth watching.
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philo
Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
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May 21, 2015 - 09:37pm PT
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Thanks Apogee it really is a fascinating video.
Here is another informative bit.
http://youtu.be/L1HhRAUqFqM
Yea don't stand under a tree in a lightning storm. If the tree gets hit the potential timber shrapnel can easily be lethal.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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May 21, 2015 - 10:09pm PT
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Lightning has scared the schist out of me since I started climbing, and after witnessing mountain thunderstorms, I read about lightning and studied the subject.
Since I’ve studied the subject, I have not been hit by lightning.
Unfortunately, I keep having close-calls!
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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May 22, 2015 - 03:24am PT
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Well worth the watch-Thanks
I've been hit twice by lightning. Once on Devils Tower, and in the Alps,
on the Walker Spur. Both times with John Bouchard, who almost died on the Walker. He had burn holes in his mittens and out his socks.
Un-forgetable memories.
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Gary
Social climber
From A Buick 6
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May 22, 2015 - 07:16am PT
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It happens faster than gravity!
Yeah, you sit there wondering WTF just happened.
Noobie PCT hikers worry about bears and mountain lion attacks. I tell them they need to worry about lightning more than anything else.
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crankster
Trad climber
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May 22, 2015 - 12:08pm PT
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Cool stuff, philo.
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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May 22, 2015 - 01:11pm PT
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I think it was Aldo Leopold who said "the man who doesn't fear lightening hasn't ridden the high country in July." Been in lots of Sierra thunderstorms but I'll never forget one up by Lake Italy under Bear Creek Spire... never saw a storm build so fast and produce such an incredible amount of lightening... real scary... ever since I pay more attention to the weather.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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May 22, 2015 - 01:27pm PT
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Philo: That was a tough way to make it into Outside Magazine. Glad you're still with us.
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philo
Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
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May 22, 2015 - 01:31pm PT
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Thank you Fritz.
colorado has had weeks of non stop storms. Very uncharacteristic. And though I've mad a lot of progress it still weighs and wears me down.
Kind of hoping others would share their stories and experiences.
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thebravecowboy
climber
liberated libertine
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May 22, 2015 - 02:51pm PT
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Philo, I have had good fortune with the stuff (since I am an unabashed sissy about avoiding such bad situations); your story, and those of several friends burned via a proximal ground-strike, not to mention that of Earl Wiggins, keep me wary.
Still though, my better judgment is often trumped by alpine and/or summit-fevah: see above.
One late spring day, after climbing the CO NE Ridge on the Kingfisher, my buddy was champin' to get up Citibank Tower (Ancient Art). Beer was plenty, and despite the storm traipsing eastward from Castle Valley and the relatively dismal forecast for the afternoon, I agreed to give it a go. We climbed efficiently and without cheating to the final ridge of the formation. By now the storm-clouds had couched directly above us - it was dark and ominously quiet. Admiral Grungebunny tiptoed across the sidewalk, clipped some ancient gear and was within a foot or two of clipping the summit slings when first the summit gear, and then ALL OF THE METAL WE HAD started to hum and buzz in kinship for the electrical buildup just above our heads.
I flipped; this I can justify post-facto because I was straddling the ridgeline with the rap chains and all of our cammage on me body. I could think of nothing other than my genitals being cooked on that ridge.
Grungebunny kinda laughed and aquiesced to my pleas to bail. He skipped back across the sidewalk as I raced to rig the rap. Grungebunny, man of action that he is, remarked that my squirmy fear did not one lick of good to lessen the risk of our being grilled alive. We didn't get zapped, probably because he was Mr. Mellow, cool as a cuke.
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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May 22, 2015 - 03:12pm PT
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Thanks for the link.
What an awesome power.
I was close to being struck twice while climbing. Once on Arrowhead Arete with John Long, and another time crossing the summit ridge on Concord Tower at Washington Pass.
It produced a different level of fear.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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May 22, 2015 - 03:41pm PT
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Hey, Ghost, good story about the exploded tree!
Came across one myself once, day after it got hit in a dry storm with just a few, heavy bolts of lightning.
Wild! Spikes and slivers of wood and bark were scattered for forty feet around, some stabbed into the ground. Nothing caught fire, though.
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philo
Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
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May 22, 2015 - 03:50pm PT
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Absolutely lethal!
Shiver me timbers.
It amazes me that lightning here on Earth may be a corollary effect of cosmic particles from exploded stars hundreds of millions of light years away.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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May 22, 2015 - 04:00pm PT
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Isn't that a crazy thought, philo?
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