|
rradjc
Mar 12, 2004, 12:42 AM
Post #76 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 15, 2002
Posts: 64
|
Jeff, in case you are are reviewing our posts:
*********
Hi Chris,
i'm trying to contact Jeff, the survivor of last sunday's Camelback
accident for more information regarding the incident
to forward on to "Accidents in NA Mountaineering"
Can you put me in contact with him?
Thanks,
bob
__________Maricopa Co. Sheriff's Office-MR
Bob Zimering,
PhD, EMT-B (602) 738-7601 (cell phone)
Rescue Technician I (602) 205-2351 (Pager)
bob.zimering@honeywell.com
Central AZ Mountain Rescue (CAMRA)_____
|
|
|
|
|
climberchic
Mar 12, 2004, 2:54 PM
Post #77 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 24, 2000
Posts: 2077
|
In reply to: There are better and more effective products and techniques to get rid of bees. A climber and exterminator in Austin got rid of a hive in a popular tufa wall at Reimer's Ranch, TX not too long ago. He sealed up the holes the hive was in when he was done. It was the only hive removed. Another down at another less popular wall was left alone. Common honey bees as you might guess are not the real problem. But the common bees can start a hive and the Africanized bees will displace them. Since they are in no way native to the area, wildlife managers should have no problem with exterminating these rogue hives. And we the public certainly won't complain.
Tim,
I think this was mentioned earlier as well, but if non-Africanized honey bees do occur here in Arizona (unless kept for honey production (I think)), they are a rarity. Studies done several years earlier showed that the number of random bees tested that were bred with Africanized bees was so high, that they stopped doing the tests anymore.
It's probably the safest to assume that any bees you run into down here are Africanized and to protect yourself accordingly.
~Erica
|
|
|
|
|
jstuart
Mar 16, 2004, 5:01 AM
Post #78 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 16, 2004
Posts: 2
|
The climber you saw was Keith Abbe 34 yrs old, originally from Midland, Michigan. He was a good guy caught in a bad situation. Here is a link to his obituary and a clip from his local paper for those who want to know more about him. He was an amazingly wonderful guy and will be sorely missed by many.
http://www.wilson-miller.com/obituaries.php?id=305
Friends gather to celebrate Abbe's life
By:
Angela E. Lackey , Midland Daily News 03/15/2004
Hundreds gathered in Midland Missionary Church to celebrate the life and mourn the death of Keith J. Abbe.
"Many of you know him as a friend," said Pastor Fred Becknell. "One knew him as a son. ... One knew him as brother."
Abbe, 34, died March 7 in Arizona. He and a friend, Jeff Passage, 31, of Auburn, were climbing the Hart route of Camelback Mountain when bees attacked them, causing Abbe to fall to the canyon floor.
Struggling with tears, Passage described Abbe’s last climb. The mountain is 200 feet from the ground to the top. Passage said they were about 150 feet up the route when the bees attacked.
"The first couple of bees got him," Passage said. "He stood up (and) climbed up to the ledge. They swarmed him at that point."
Passage said he tried to get the bees off Abbe. The bees then started attacking Passage. The two men started going down.
"At this point here," Passage said, pointing to one spot on the picture of the mountain, "we ran out of rope."
They couldn’t see very well.
"I said ‘Keith, we’re going to have to untie and climb down,’" Passage said.
Abbe made it several feet down, then fell.
"That’s it. I climbed down the rest of the way," Passage said. "I never saw him again."
See the full story in Tuesday’s Daily News.
©Midland Daily News 2004
www.ourmidland.com
|
|
|
|
|
jstuart
Mar 16, 2004, 5:11 AM
Post #79 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 16, 2004
Posts: 2
|
Hello Bob, You might start by contacting Keith's Family or the Funeral Home. Here is a link the funeral home in Midland, Michigan where Keith's service was conducted today or you can contact the Midland Daily News and they will put you on the right track. I've included the article written by Angela Lakey of the Midland Daily news on my last post regarding Keiths tragic incident. It might help to warn others of the danger that exists. Keith was an old friend of mine from high school. Hope this helps. JStuart
Http://www.wilson-miller.com/obituaries.php?id=305
Http://www.ourmidland.com
|
|
|
|
|
caryjanegordon
Mar 16, 2004, 7:53 PM
Post #80 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 16, 2004
Posts: 2
|
Hundreds gather to celebrate, mourn Keith Abbe
www.ourmidland.com
KEITH ABBE
He was a great man.
Midland Daily News 03/16/2004
Hundreds gathered in Midland Missionary Church to celebrate the life and mourn the death of Keith J. Abbe.
"Many of you know him as a friend," said Pastor Fred Becknell. "One knew him as a son. ... One knew him as brother."
Abbe, 34, died March 7 in Arizona. He and a friend, Jeff Passage, 31, of Auburn, were climbing the Hart route of Camelback Mountain when bees attacked them, causing Abbe to fall to the canyon floor. Abbe had recently moved from Midland to Arizona.
Struggling with tears, Passage described Abbe’s last climb. The mountain is 200 feet from the ground to the top. Passage said they were about 150 feet up the route when the bees attacked.
"The first couple of bees got him," Passage said. "He stood up (and) climbed up to the ledge. They swarmed him at that point."
Passage said he tried to get the bees off Abbe. The bees then started attacking Passage. The two men started going down.
"At this point here," Passage said, pointing to one spot on a picture of the mountain, "we ran out of rope."
They couldn’t see very well.
"I said ‘Keith, we’re going to have to untie and climb down,’" Passage said.
Abbe made it several feet down, then fell.
"That’s it. I climbed down the rest of the way," Passage said. "I never saw him again."
There were tears and laughter throughout the morning, Two karate students, wearing their uniforms, stood by Abbe’s closed casket before the funeral began. The song "Stairway to Heaven" was played and then three women walked up to the casket.
"He is here ... Amen," they sang. "The presence of the Lord is in this place."
Becknell called his sermon "The fight God had to win for me" – a quote from Abbe.
He asked the people to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for Abbe’s life, and a prayer of peace for his family.
Becknell said he remembered the face of Abbe’s mother, Deborah Gordon, when she stood by her son’s casket.
"She told him he left too soon," Becknell said.
Students and staff from the Education and Training Connection, where Abbe taught, put together a slide show of his life. Images flashed on the screen – Abbe holding a plate of food, a young Abbe with long hair, Abbe in karate uniform and at the weightlifting bench.
The last picture showed Abbe in the outdoors, a helmet on his head and climbing gear on his body.
"He is free," Becknell said.
|
|
|
|
|
caryjanegordon
Mar 16, 2004, 7:54 PM
Post #81 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 16, 2004
Posts: 2
|
> 'Always a smile'
>
>
>www.ourmidland.com
>
Midland Daily News 03/10/2004
>
>
>
>
> Very thoughtful and religious. Always making people smile. A really
good
> teacher.
> Keith Abbe, 34, who died Sunday in Arizona, was many things to his
> family and friends. He and a friend, Jeff Passage, 31, of Auburn, were
> climbing a mountain when bees attacked them, causing Abbe to lose his grip
> and fall to the canyon floor below.
> Passage was hospitalized after he descended the mountain face with
more
> than 100 bee stings.
> Deborah Gordon, of Midland, is Abbe's mother. She called her son a
"very
> giving and caring person."
> "That's one of the reasons that led him to become a teacher," she
said.
> "He cared about those kids a lot. They were like his kids."
> Gordon said her son was teaching troubled children in Arizona.
> "He made a difference," she said. "We're pretty proud of that."
> Kevin Lee was Abbe's friend and karate partner for more than a decade.
> The two owned and operated a karate weapons school, Yamashita Budokan of
> Midland, until Abbe moved from Midland to Arizona last summer.
> "We did almost everything together," Lee said. "We trained in karate
> three, four, sometimes five days a week.
> "Keith was a positive, ebullient, life-loving person," Lee said.
> As a teacher, he brought those traits to the Education and Training
> Connection.
> Jennifer D'Hondt, 20, held a picture of her and Abbe. She is wearing a
> yellow graduation cap and gown. He is in a tie and blue shirt, his arms
> around D'Hondt's shoulders. Both are smiling.
> "He was so about doing your work," she said. "At the same time, he was
> goofy and off-the-wall. You never knew what to expect.
> "He always used to say 'Duh, big red truck' when he didn't get
> something."
> D'Hondt said Abbe was serious when it came to work, pushing the
students
> and helping them to do their best. She remembered what she said when he
left
> for Arizona last summer.
> "I told him, 'You picked this year to leave because you wanted to see
me
> graduate,'" she said, laughing. "He was a big part of why I graduated,
too."
> Joe Hickerson, 18; Matthew Wille, 20; Bryan McLeod, 17; and Adam
Fraley,
> 17, squeezed into a small office to talk about their friend and teacher.
> They had taken Abbe's classes in U.S. history and construction.
> "I came here because I got dropped (from school)," Hickerson said.
> "Keith was one of the guys that made it bearable."
> Wille remembers when he got into a car accident. Wille wasn't hurt,
but
> his passengers were. He said Abbe helped him through it.
> McLeod was responsible for Abbe's most recent hairdo.
> "I tried conning him into shaving his head," McLeod said. "In return,
I
> had to shave my head."
> The four young men sometimes built on each other's words when talking
> about Abbe - such as when one mentioned Abbe was "pretty good at playing
the
> guitar."
> "Rock mostly," another said.
> "His favorite band was the Rolling Stones," still another said.
> "Mick Jagger's his role model," a third chimed in.
> Fraley remembered playing games with him - "He let you know he won."
> "He's one of those teachers you actually can say he's not doing it for
> the money," Fraley said. "He was doing it because he cared."
> His former co-workers Marisa Boulton and Colleen Rabine, both
teachers,
> were stunned by his death even as they praised his life.
> "It's still not real," Boulton said. "Keith always had a smile. Always
> positive."
> "He was the kind of person who would go out of his way to spend 10
> minutes with someone," Rabine said. "He stopped. He made eye contact."
> Student Shawn Heckmann, 18, called Abbe "an experience."
> "He just put you in a good mood," Heckmann said. "It was fun in
> construction. We built that shed out there.
> "The way he was just made you want to better yourself," Heckmann said.
> Gordon said maybe God had driven Abbe to do so much in such a short
> time.
> "We are going to miss him," she said, crying.
> Abbe's funeral has not been set and arrangements are being handled by
> the Wilson MILLER Funeral Home. ETC students and staff will give a
> presentation of Abbe's life during the funeral.
>
|
|
|
|
|
lou
Mar 20, 2004, 6:08 AM
Post #82 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 29, 2003
Posts: 23
|
Hey gang..FYI... myself and another went up to the bee hive on the Hart route and sprayed 3 cans of hornet an bee killer into the hive..... the hive is about 15 feet left an 10 feet above the third belay.. requires scrambleing up (5.4) to get where you can get to them... it is an oval pothole which cuts back into a crack... about 18 inches across.... the spray is a foam which fills up the crack and kills for days and is suuppose to drive them away?? You can not scoop them out by hand as I was hoping and throw them away.... but you can seal off the pothole with sealer foam or mortar... Im hoping this will do the trick.. I went up at dark.. and was up till 9pm.... dont follow my footsteps.. the Rangers and Police were waiting in the parking lot.. headlamps gave us away......Boy ill tell you even at night with bee hoods on and leather jackets.. those bees were humming in the mountain like no tomarow.... no one stung... keep our fingers crossed..... lou
|
|
|
|
|
epic_ed
Mar 20, 2004, 7:41 AM
Post #83 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 17, 2002
Posts: 4724
|
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Jeezus, Lou. Bold move. Hope that does the trick, and good to hear no one got hurt. Any hassle from the rangers?
I'm curious if you did this of your own accord or if someone gave you the good-ahead to take care of it? I'm not condeming you or trying to imply you did anything wrong, but I'm wondering if you were working with the municiple park service on this, the Phoenix FD, or if you just took matters into your own hands.
Regardless -- thanks for sticking your neck out, and I'm glad everyone is OK. What is the next step?
Ed
|
|
|
|
|
rockscaler2
Mar 20, 2004, 7:49 AM
Post #84 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 12, 2003
Posts: 94
|
Me and a EMT worker who was there that night climbed the Hart Route to see this hive the other day and he took a picture of it, I'll ask him to scan it for me and I'll post it up. Good going man wit htthat midnight hive wrecking lol
Joey
|
|
|
|
|
lou
Mar 20, 2004, 6:36 PM
Post #85 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 29, 2003
Posts: 23
|
Hey epic Ed; there was no cooperative effort with the Fire Dept. nor the Parks...the rangers seemed to be somewhat antagonistic.. the week before I placed a small sign(8x10) in the Kiosk there at the trail head... stating there was an active bee nest on the Hart route to alert climbers...which was removed twice by the rangers.. and thrown into the garbage!!! therefore.. knowing attitudes.. liabilities.. red tape...supervisors permissions.. pubic meetings..everyones differing opinons.. I thought it better in this matter to "beg for forgivness rather than ask permission"...I called the 911 operator once I saw the rangers in the parking lot.. and explained there was no emergency... when we got down..(myself another firefighter.. and a nurse),, the Rangers and the Deputy Sheriff were cool.....hopefully that will do the trick.... I am planning to go up when its cold (???)..and safe.. he he. in the daytime.. and seal it perm. like with mortar........
lou
|
|
|
|
|
howdidshedothat
Mar 20, 2004, 8:41 PM
Post #86 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 15, 2003
Posts: 171
|
:shock: :shock: Right on!!! hope you upload that picture soon!!
|
|
|
|
|
epic_ed
Mar 21, 2004, 5:44 AM
Post #87 of 87
(15976 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 17, 2002
Posts: 4724
|
Thanks again, Lou. Yeah my buddies have been speculating about how long it would take to go through official channels to get that done. We all agreed that it wouldn't likely be any time soon. We envisioned quite a CF of red tape leading to an eventually decision on how to proceed, followed by a rather humorous execution of the plan that bureaucrats devised. I could picture a highly trained expert team of bee keepers being taught by the PFD how to rappel down to the hive after all their gear and extermination truck had been air-lifted to the top of the route. It might have been fun to see how they bungled it. On second thought, I'm glad someone took the matter into their own hands. I hope no reprecussions come your way as a result.
Ed
|
|
|
|
|
|
