Some thoughts, pulling together some threads from what others have written at times. I think of this from the perspective of an AMC leader. What are the conditions? Who are the participants? What time will we finish, and what will the conditions be like then?
1) Despite the fact that whoever was in charge of the operation clearly understood the slow speeds at the party would travel, they left the Harvard high cabin at
8:30 in the morning. Go heavens! At that speed, they should have been out at 5:30am. If they had, they would have been in the spot of the avalanche at 1:30 in afternoon--not that they knew there would be an avalanche, but rather, they would have been in the middle of the climb when the sun was high.
2) But they didn't. They left very late. One has to ask, given it took them
four hours to get to the base of Central, didn't anyone suggest they were moving too slowly?
3) The avalanche hazard was what it was, and as JCarter posted earlier, a Moderate danger level, given the size of their party should have set off some bells in someone's head. Look, they flew in from wherever. They hired an expensive cinematographer. They blogged about it in advance. They reserved space at the Observatory. The weather wasn't going to change the day after. Clearly, somebody felt under a lot of pressure to attempt that trip, knowing the conditions were simply terrible, and they had someone who was moving very slowly.
4) Let's assume they completed the climb. That was the easy part! Because on that day, the forecast was for
negative temperatures and winds up to
seventy miles per hour. Clearly those involved in leading the party, not to mention the staff at the Observatory, knew what that party was in for as they attempted the climb.
This forecast was for Monday, and they were climbing Friday, but it wasn't much different that day.
Somebody clearly had to have been asking themselves if a one-legged climber who took four hours just to get to the base of Central Gully from Harvard High Cabin could have made it to the Observatory in very high winds, sub zero temperatures, and in the dark!
This is the story of a bunch of people who should have known better. They had, after all,
professional guides, a North Conway based cinematographer, and were in contact with the Observatory staff, who knew their plan.
That Friday was my birthday, and I had planned a three-day two-night Presi Traverse, and we bagged it because conditions were terrible from Friday through Monday.
I believe they were negligent, virtually from start to finish. You have to respect the Whites and understand that there are simply days when the weather will not cooperate.
Brian