Jan 15, 2009, 8:23 PM
Post #51 of 67
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Re: [camhead] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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I didn't vote because there was no 0 option!! I've had some friends and climbing partners have very close calls that *could* have resulted in death, but they were all very lucky. Well, I don't know how lucky you can consider yourself after multiple surgeries, a month in the hospital, months of bed rest and then no weight bearing for several more months on top of that. But at that point, I think he was lucky to be alive!
The closest I've come to knowing someone who died was being at the area when it happened. There were 2 deaths at Squamish last summer -- and both of them were in a cragging area (not even multi-pitch climbing) that is right off the path and gets a ton of traffic. There was a death there a long time ago, and this summer one guy died while either testing his gear or taking practice falls depending on who you talk to (wasn't wearing a helmet, flipped upside down, and hit his head), and the other guy died because he had a heart attack while climbing!! How crazy is it to die while climbing even though the death was completely non-climbing related? I was at the same crag, but not at that area so I didn't see either of these happen, but it was still freaky to hear about at the camp ground that night!! I'm starting to think the Neat and Cool area of the Smoke Bluffs is cursed or something!!
Jan 16, 2009, 1:48 AM
Post #52 of 67
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Re: [caliclimbergrl] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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I've helped recover a body while rafting and heard that more people die of heart attacks than drowning, but that is probably contributed to by the shock of the cold water.
I'm still (very thankfully) untouched by death at the crags, so my vote would be for 0.
Mar 29, 2009, 6:43 PM
Post #53 of 67
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Re: [curt] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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I was going to click 1, but Mike Reardon didn't die while climbing... He had finished climbing as was just posing for a pic at the base when a rouge wave hit him.
I've done CPR on a climber who died in the Gunks, but I didn't know him.
Apr 3, 2009, 11:58 PM
Post #55 of 67
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Re: [oldandintheway] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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i'd be willing to bet that most of you don't know anyone who's died climbing. u see, most climbers who die in accidents die falling, not climbing. the only people i've ever heard of dieing climbing, got smoked by rocks or struck by lightning.
Apr 4, 2009, 12:43 AM
Post #56 of 67
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Re: [EvilMonkey] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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EvilMonkey wrote:
i'd be willing to bet that most of you don't know anyone who's died climbing. u see, most climbers who die in accidents die falling, not climbing. the only people i've ever heard of dieing climbing, got smoked by rocks or struck by lightning.
I feel compelled to tell you that if you are going to argue semantics it's not the fall that kills you, its the sudden stop at the end.
May 5, 2009, 5:01 AM
Post #58 of 67
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Re: [roadstead] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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Im more of a novice climber have not seen any big ones but i remember watching Osman and his gut wrenching dinos and hes the only climber i am familiar with that died
May 8, 2009, 6:53 PM
Post #59 of 67
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Re: [camhead] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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I had a friend by the name of Dwight Bishop - I crewed for him on Race Across America back in 2000 or so. I knew he was into rock climbing but back then I thought rock climbing was just a matter of being able to do pullups. I didn't understand there was any technique involved, and thought it was pretty boring - like climbing the ladder on a radio tower or something.
Dwight offered to take me out climbing if I was up in his neck of the woods, but I rarely visit Montana. I lost touch with him, and heard from a mutual friend that he had died while climbing about 4 or 5 years ago. I was a bit shocked because the people that we knew in common (non-climbers like myself) all said he was very good.
A couple of years ago, I was in the library trying to grab some books in the five minutes before they closed. I grabbed "The Wall" by Jeff Long because it looked kind of outdoorsy. Even before I had finished the first chapter a big switch clicked in my head and I understood that climbing was something that I had always loved but never known about - if that makes any sort of sense.
Anyway, not taking Dwight up on his offer is one of the deeper regrets in my life. I really couldn't understand his perspective because I didn't have the conceptual vocabulary yet. I don't know if anyone here has heard of him or climbed with him. He lived in Butte, Montana.
Jul 8, 2009, 4:41 AM
Post #65 of 67
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Re: [camhead] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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Erica Kutcher, who died about 2 years after I hung with her in Red Rocks and Lover's Leep in 2003. Amazing soul who brought a smile to all around her, and cranked! She turned me onto the hot springs down by the hoover damn, and generally brightened up and already amazing trip. Sadly she was killed by an avalanche just outside her tent at her base camp.
Woody Stark I barely knew, but sadly died due to a sad accident. He put up some of the best routes in Jtree, and was a crotchity SOB to boot.
Jul 8, 2009, 5:04 AM
Post #66 of 67
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Re: [camhead] How many people have you known who died climbing?
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I had to add one to my list last month. And I have to say that John Bachar's death was just as shocking and almost as horrible for me as the deaths of the people I did know.
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