In reply to martinturner:
> Probably my inexperience and not appreciating the effects of altitude showing. But just what sprung to mind watching it.
Have a little go at practising crevasse rescue down at a local wall/sports centre. Its quite sobering and exhausting doing this exercise at ground level where it is warm and void of objective dangers.
I have only ever had my foot fall through a snow bridge into a crevasse. At the time I smirked to my mate that my foot fell into a crevasse and he bluntly stated, well take it out then. Just practising cassavas rescue in a safe environment reinforces the desire never to get into that situation with just two people, one of whom is underground.
At altitude, I struggled to put one foot in front of the other without even having to think about doing anything excessively aerobic or physically demanding.
A good rope-up would have just been like a knife cutting through butter with the rope digging into the snow and ice.