Play@YSDC

The time was approaching 10.00am and Randy knew they had about eight hours before it would be dark, by which time they would have just the light of the moon and stars to guide them, if they had any light at all. The weather in this part of the world was unpredictable at best and any hold-up could leave them stranded

A few experimental steps highlighted another problem. Without snow shoes, each step into the snow sunk a foot deep; it would be hard work and slow going, probably only around a mile per hour. Moving carefully forward to the edge of the slope, they could see the plane on the riverbank below. On the otherside of the frozen river, they could see the pipeline, that could presumably lead them to the pumping station.

The only problem was that the river was around 100 feet below where they were. They would have to climb or find another way around…

"We'll have to climb down first to get anywhere," says Benjamin. "That's where that climbing gear will come in useful."

Randy looked at the 100' drop and then at the rest of the party.

"What's our plan? Lower people down? Without slipping in the snow? And what happens to the last few up here? One or two of us will wind up stuck up here."

"Or are we talking people climbing down with a fixed safety rope? How experienced is everyone with climbing? I do have the Scout Advanced Climber badge but this looks hard."

"Or maybe a combo? Lower the first three down. Then fix the rope and the second three actually climb down using it?"

Randy started digging a small hole in the snow, trying to get to the presumed rock surface below.

Randy's attempt to assess the most feasible plan for climbing down:

1d%L60%

Fail. Randy has no clue. Not a promising start...

OOC:   Are there places where a rope could be safely fixed to the ground / a tree trunk etc, where the party currently is, near the drop to the plane?

Looking down towards the plane Gavin shakes his head. "Without the correct equipment climbing down in these conditions would be close to suicidal. We can barely walk properly,never mind climb down or lower anyone down . On the plus side we at least know the direction of the station...probaly. We should shelter amd then we can assess what the best course of action. Has anyone seen anything from the plane lyimg near is? Possibilty that something else could've fallen from the plane as it crashed."

OOC:   What roll would it be to try and see if there's possibly any other items from the plane near us?

"We need to decide fast, but I doubt I could make that climb. Maybe there is another path, even if it takes longer?"-Boyd

Can you give me a luck roll.

If you have more than the base skill then you can consider yourself to have had some experience at climbing, even if it is just your scout badge Otherwise, you’re a novice climber and this is probably your first time in harness, as it were.

Going back to LostKing’s explanation of climbing, it will occur to Randy that the biggest problem will be the length of available rope. It’s 100’ down and you only have 150’ of rope, which would discount the possibility of belaying, which appears to need the climb distance x2 in rope, if I understand that correctly.

You could be lowered down (although there are no obvious anchor points) and potentially could find some more rope in the wreckage, but if not, where do you go from there?

OOC:   cC'mon lady luck..

Ouch......think Gavins broke a few mirrors.....

Philulhu wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 2:15 pm Going back to LostKing’s explanation of climbing, it will occur to Randy that the biggest problem will be the length of available rope. It’s 100’ down and you only have 150’ of rope, which would discount the possibility of belaying, which appears to need the climb distance x2 in rope, if I understand that correctly.

With a Sticht plate (the appropriate belaying equipment for the time) you don’t need to double back the rope. However, you would be self-belaying yourself down a fixed rope, so no one could help you if you got stuck. If you fell, the Sticht plate would catch you, assuming your rope was still attached to the top. Additionally, multiple people could climb down the same rope if they each had their own individual climbing gear, since a climber isn’t necessarily on the end of the rope, but is instead moving down the middle, if that makes sense

“Since we’ve only got one set of climbing equipment, whoever goes down should tie the equipment to the rope. We can pull the rope up when they reach the bottom, and another person can climb down after them.”

Amanda tried to consider the situation carefully, after a while as everyone was discussing she gave her opinion as leader.

"We are still early in the day, and we have over 6 hours to stablish appropiate shelter, abandoning for today would be silly. We dont have exactly enough food for staying arround here for a week. Lets try to find a way to go down safely, I am unsure about the climbing plan, if we dont have anything in two hours, we try to go lower with the climbing equipment."

"If we dont find a solution, we form a shelter."

Randy looked relieved. He was clearly doubtful that the whole party could safely get down the cliff using climbing equipment.

"Excellent. Let's get on with finding a way to hike down that won't involve death or spinal injuries."

OOC:   Can the party see a direction to take where they can at least start hiking down the mountain?

Ben made his roll earlier.

There are effectively two choices, upriver or downriver. Upriver leads towards the pumping station, which you think could be achieved in a couple of days at the outside, with having to find a way down to the river likely to extend your journey somewhat.

Downriver would take you back in the direction you came from but it’s probably a longer journey and the only thing Ben recalls seeing were a few snow huts. They may have some resources they could use, but then again they may not.

Either way, there;s no obvious way down to the river, so the party could be on this high ridge for some time.

"I have a little climbing experience," says Ben, "but I'd be just as glad if we could find a better way down. If we follow the river upstream once we get down there, that will take us to the pumping station. We can probably get there in a couple of days, so we'll want to get down as fast as we safely can. In the other direction, I saw a few snow huts. However, they're even further away, and I don't even know if there's anything of use in them." He looks around for a safer way to descend.

Randy nods. "I'm all for following the river upstream.
And we try to descend when we can."

Gavin shrugs his shoulders, seeing the direction that the group seems to be going. " Upstream is the better option at least we k ow roughly where we will end up. Downstream may be safer, but take too long and the possibility of snow huts isnt a certainty, 50-50 and thats being generou, i suggest we set off soon as to cover as much ground as possible. "

"Agreed," says Benjamin. "We just have to get down first."

With no obvious safe way down to the river, the only option was to trek along the ledge until such an opportunity presented itself. It was hard going, with the snow a foot deep and soon everyone was perspiring with the effort.

CON checks, please.

CON (70) 1d100