It was my buddy that got hit today. He was halfway up the first pitch when it happened. I was belaying him up from the cave when a huge slab of ice came off the top. It sounded like a bomb went off and then an avalanche of ice came cascading down over him. 2 or 3 blocks of ice about the size of a large suitcase went flying by, plus 5-10 the size of basketballs. The slab exploded as it came down the route and for a couple seconds I lost sight of him in the whiteout. Scariest things I've ever encountered in the mountains.
from what I was told by a group repelling down the right side of the route at the time, the lead climber of the group ahead of us climbed straight up a sketchy bit of ice on the last vertical section and dislodged the whole face as he topped out. I guess it missed his second on the way down because she seemed fine.
Luckily, our rope wasn't cut or damaged and we were low enough that I could lower him down. I rapped down from the cave.
He has a large cut on the back of his head (his helmet did its job!) and we went to the hospital in N.Conway and he got 6 staples to keep the gash closed.
We were lucky and it could have been much, much worse. He had stopped to remove a screw and a minute or 2 later he would have been climbing up over the bulge and the ice would have hit him square in the face/chest, etc. As it was, he was able to crouch down against the bulge and much of the ice cascaded over his head.
