Vesper Peak

I had a similar situation to Incident #3 a few years back while descending the east ridge of Silver King Peak. A student froze at top of a 35-degree, 500' glissade, and no amount of coaxing could get her to go. Finally, I dug out my scramble rope and tied us together about 5' apart using bowlines on bights, with me in the back to control our descent. This arrangement gave her the confidence to not only initiate our glissade, but to control her own speed as well - kind of like Dumbo's magic feather. Roping together allows the person in back to go into full self-arrest if need be.