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Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 14, 2005 - 06:43pm PT
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Erica's a friend to many and a familiar face in Camp 4 and the rest of the valley. She was on a climbing trip to Shipton Spire and went missing when doing a dayhike from the K2 basecamp apparently (was erroneously reported earlier she was missing in an avalanche).
If anyone hears anything about her status, please post. She's a great girl and friend to many here.
A site with some photos of her, it's already in the international press. I was suprised it hasn't got more attention in the climbing world:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-limiss0714pg,0,6574570.photogallery?coll=ny-li-bigpix
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Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2005 - 06:48pm PT
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Oh, here's the most accurate article I've found so far. Damn, it's been 5 days now. Hope she's found safe and sound:
NY Newsday:
July 14, 2005
A 27-year-old Great Neck native who explored the world through biking and mountain climbing was reported missing last Sunday during an expedition to climb Shipton Spire, a mountain in northern Pakistan, her father said Wednesday.
Erica Kutcher had been climbing in the remote area since mid-June and was missing from base camp on Saturday, said her father, David Kutcher of Great Neck.
State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said Wednesday that her agency was investigating reports that Kutcher was missing. An Associated Press story quoted a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Pakistan who confirmed her disappearance.
The same report claimed Kutcher was feared dead after getting struck by an avalanche while climbing near K-2 in Pakistan, the world's second-highest peak, but her father denied the claim Wednesday.
David Kutcher said he contacted officials Monday about his daughter's disappearance, moments after he fielded a phone call from Pierre Olsson, Erica Kutcher's climbing partner.
David Kutcher said, according to Olsson's account, that his daughter went for a walk alone on Saturday and when she didn't return two hours later, Olsson and several porters searched for her until night fell.
Olsson, who is from Sweden, notified local officials and was transported to the nearby town of Skardu, where he is assisting in land and air search efforts, David Kutcher said. Blue Sky Trek & Tours, the company that sponsored the expedition, is also helping with the search, he said.
When Erica Kutcher told her parents she was planning an expedition to Pakistan, they expressed only "political concerns" -- which her father declined to elaborate on -- but no reservations about her climbing expertise.
"She's an extreme athlete and has an extensive athletic resume," her father said.
Kutcher's passion for outdoor sports began when she was 14 years old during a summer program of hiking, camping, bicycling and kayaking.
Kutcher studied outdoor recreation at the University of Vermont in Burlington, and spent a semester abroad bicycling around New Zealand. She then flew to Australia and biked alone for months throughout the continent.
Three years ago, Kutcher planned a biking trip from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica. With a friend, she bicycled from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay in the Arctic Circle to Baja California in Mexico, where the trip ended after two months due to an illness that immobilized her.
"They biked 110 miles a day," said Blossom Kutcher, her mother.
Her father said Kutcher is certified in survival training, including ski patrol and rescue and avalanche control. It is those skills that her parents hope will bring her home.
"Erica is a survivor," he said.
David Kutcher said he is upset about reports that she was caught in an avalanche because he said that contradicts what he was told by Olsson and officials.
"It's upsetting to receive calls and condolences when her death has not even been confirmed," David Kutcher said
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Holdplease2
Trad climber
All over
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Jul 14, 2005 - 07:40pm PT
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Prayers for our friend, Erica.
-Kate.
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malabarista
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Jul 14, 2005 - 07:40pm PT
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Erica is bad ass! Had some fun times hanging out with her in C4 last summer. She can climb circles around me, and she has a great sense of humour. http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=IMGP0703
I'm praying for her safe return.
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jacs
climber
Colorado
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Jul 14, 2005 - 07:55pm PT
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Hope she's OK.
Anyone heard from Micah, Nick, and Renan, who are also in that area? I figured that was the team that was most likely to get in trouble.
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ChrisW
Trad climber
boulder, co
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Jul 14, 2005 - 09:30pm PT
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Erica told me she was going to shipton spire. How close is that to K2? Renan, Micah and Nick are at the trango towers.
I really enjoy hanging out and climbing with Erica. I hope she's found and is in good health!!!!
I am going to get a hold of some people and try to find out what's going on? I am definitley not jumping to any conclusions.
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peanutbutter22
Trad climber
SLC, UT
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Jul 15, 2005 - 03:23am PT
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Thanks for getting some better info out there, Fluoride.
I'll never froget climbing the Central Pillar of Frenzy with Erica. We kept catching a 18 year old kid at the belays, so naturally we sang 'Baby Got Back' to this poor kid until he left for the next pitch, it was great. It was all about the fun with her, after all, what else is there?
By the next summer, Erica would only climb with me on her 'rest days', that's how good she was.
God, I miss her like crazy.
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up2top
Big Wall climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Jul 15, 2005 - 02:03pm PT
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I, too, have been blessed by getting to hang out with Erica. I met both her and Pierre and shared a few meal in C4 last June, and was working on Zodiac when they came up and sent it in a day. In fact, I have a few great photos of her at home from the C4 parking lot that I'll post later. She is an absolute doll, incredibly down to earth, and wicked talented. I hope they find her very soon -- it would be a tremendous loss to the climbing community, and I can only imagine how people she has touched and lives she's influenced in her travels.
Ed
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Q
climber
SLC
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Jul 15, 2005 - 03:06pm PT
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I just wanted to chime in with some hope. She's gotta come back, because after our third failed attempt, I promised her I wouldn't climb the Rostrum with anyone else. And I really want to do that route.
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rockgeir
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Jul 15, 2005 - 04:32pm PT
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Even though the picture looks very bleak, let's not give up hope yet. Keep in mind that Aron Ralston and Joe Simpson both faced incredibly bad odds and survived, unaided, for days. These guys were strong, resourceful, and determined. Erica's like that; if she's got a chance, she can make it work.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2005 - 06:47pm PT
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Yep, if there's ANYONE I know who could survive anything, it's Erica.
I've never met anyone as committed to climbing and outdoor FUN as Erica. She's not in it for sponsorships, fame, getting in the mags, being an online personality, getting a pro gig out of it. She's 100% about her own personal goals and her own fun. She's a good enough climber she could get sponsored by any company out there (and she's also cute with a wicked hot body that would be phenomenal to photograph). But that's not her. She's the most free spirit I know in the climbing world.
I totally have hope she's okay. Tomorrow will be a week since she went missing.
Here's the only info I could find today, from the Daily Guardian....sounds like they're still continuing the air search. I wonder if it's true that she went missing on Saturday but wasn't reported missing til Tuesday. That's kinda strange. But then again accuracy of info out there seems on and off so who knows what to trust:
Friday July 15, 2005 1:46 PM
GILGIT, Pakistan (AP) - Army helicopters continued on Wednesday to search for an American woman who went missing while on an expedition to climb a mountain cliff in northern Pakistan, officials said.
A Swedish climbing partner of Erica Kutcher, 27, reported to police on Tuesday that she disappeared over the weekend when she left for a walk after eating lunch, said Abdul Qayyum, a police official in Shigar, a village near the rock cliff the two mountaineers were climbing.
The climbing partner has been identified as Pierre Olsson, 36.
On Tuesday, another police official in the area reported that Kutcher disappeared after she was caught in an avalanche, but that information appears to have been erroneous.
Sher Ali, an official with the Blue Sky Tours, a company that organized the tour that Kutcher was on, said Olsson was helping in the search for Kutcher.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Greg Crouch said Tuesday that U.S. officials had been in touch with Kutcher's family.
``We hope she would be found safe,'' he said.
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WBraun
climber
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Jul 15, 2005 - 10:33pm PT
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OK, we should send YOSAR over there and see what we can do. Oh ....I wish we could go there and help out.
But, I hope she shows up somehow.....best wishes for her safe return ....
Werner
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Holly Wood
Mountain climber
Bozeman, Montana
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Jul 16, 2005 - 12:17am PT
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Erica is amazing. Crossing my fingers and praying that she will pop up soon and return this fall to Camp 4 to tell us "a funny thing happened to me on the way to the climb in Pakistan..."
She is one tough mother and knows her way around the outdoors. She has too much left to accomplish on her long ticklist of fun and far too many admiring friends who aren't ready for her to leave. Such an inspiration.
I do hope she's safe and that we'll all hear that funny laugh of hers again soon.
~Peace
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Jul 16, 2005 - 12:46am PT
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Hope for the best. She sounds like a great and amazing person. Stranger things have happened than a person wandering in from the wilderness after going missing for a week.
JL
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Chatsworth
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Jul 16, 2005 - 02:03am PT
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Lets all keep praying.
Juan
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up2top
Big Wall climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Jul 16, 2005 - 03:20am PT
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As promised, from June of '04:
Erica and Pierre at the base of Zodiac:
Erica with the poi balls in C4 parking lot:
I hope we get some good news about her real soon, and my thougts and prayers go out to her friends and family.
Ed
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Oliver
Trad climber
Quebec, Canada
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Jul 16, 2005 - 04:22pm PT
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To Erica's friends and family.
I had the amazing chance to climb whit her during the time she was in Yosemite last may. I spent enough time with her to know that she is one of the most talented women climber I ever meet and by far, always have the best attitude about it. She push herself constantly in life and hopefully that determination in her his going to bring her back home safe. To her eyes everybody is important and her smile and laugh always make everybody happy around her event if you are having a bad day.
I am shure she change people way to look at life more then once by the way she see things and friendship. A lots of people are missing her and hope the best for her friends and familly. She suprise me more then once, so please do not loose faith in her coming back.
Oliver
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KEVIN STURMER
climber
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Jul 16, 2005 - 07:22pm PT
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Erica is an amazing person and can get through anything. We met in Nevada but we are both from LI (small world). She was kind enough to show me around the valley several years ago. i last spoke with her in Feb. and she filled me in on her trip. Things will work out for her.
Kevin
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Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 16, 2005 - 09:28pm PT
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Saw this posted over at rc.com, firsthand from Pierre:
Hey all,
I have to bring you some very sad news from our trip to Pakistan.
On saturday the 9th of July, Erica Kutcher was out walking the glacier near our basecamp. The weather was good with blue sky and no wind. Erica was walking alone. She told me she was going for a short walk, it was our second restday in camp after much climbing. Erica left camp between one and two pm. She did not return. We did a search that evening (starting at five pm) and all night and the next day. At one pm on Sunday I called for army helicopters and we did a full air search on Monday the 11th of July with the help of two helicopters. We found no trace of her. The search is still going on.
I am missing my very best friend and climbing partner, we pray and hope for her every second.
I am currently in the little town of Skardu, talking to officials about the incident, Skardu is located 10 hours by jeep and tre long days hiking from basecamp.
Please inform anyone we know about this,
pierre
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Courtney
Trad climber
California
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Jul 17, 2005 - 04:30am PT
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Hi Everyone...couldn't sleep. Had to write. Hope you enjoy a few Erica stories and that everyone takes this in the spirit with which it is meant: hope and love, Courtney
Dear Erica,
It’s just after midnight urban Santa Barbara time on Sunday July 17th. I can’t even begin to calculate through my sobs of hope and fear what time it is in Pakistan. I just know it’s been a week since you went out for your hike and haven’t come back--yet.
Statistics tell me you’re dead. My heart and soul hope that you are alive. I want you to know, either way, you are, were, and will be one of the inspirational women in my life. I think of you and I want to go out and do big things. I think of you and I smile.
The first time I met you, you were wearing green plastic Incredible Hulk hands about twenty times larger than life from some sort of Halloween costume that I think you somehow found on a shopping trip to the great shopping Mecca of Mariposa, pretend boxing with one of the guys who so generously shared his salad with me (probably to conjure up some female companionship in the scarcity thereof in Camp 4). You jumped up on his back and he swung you around in circles while you pretended to use your superpowers to fend him off.
My first impressions of you were that you were spunky, hot, vivacious, and probably just a bit too thin for your own good. I learned more about you from the usual suspects – one of my favorite tales being how you took a hula hoop up El Cap and hooped three thousand feet off the Valley floor. I, like everyone else, love being in your presence—you make everything so fun.
Being the superhero you are, you soon came to my rescue. You and Hollywood, (a.k.a. Scott Stanley) saved me from the entertainment starved Tourons the night Lincoln was away and I, as the volunteer to the climbing ranger, had to host the weekly climbing film, but could not get the video projector to work. Somehow, instinctively, I knew you would save a sister in trouble. As I fumbled with the video connection and the crowd in the Village amphitheater grew restless, I had an idea and got on the mike.
“While I am sorting out this technology, I’d like to ask Erica and Hollywood, two real life climbers, to come forward to talk to you about what it’s like to climb in Yosemite,” I announced over the P.A. system, giving you zero warning.
True to your style, you energetically sprung from your seat and fielded questions from the audience. They loved you and your authenticity. You were dressed in form-fitting navy blue sweats, a long-sleeved synthetic top, and a matching blue knit beanie with your super-cute little pig tails sticking out either side — all topped off with a headlamp. Hollywood, whose nickname origin still eludes me, was wearing a Hawaiian print shirt and was dashingly unshaven. The two of you captivated the audience with your frank, quick-witted Q&A. Hollywood remembers the questions and answers much better than I — I simply remember a great sense of relief and thankfulness that you were there. Eventually I got things sorted out, the audience saw the film, and we hung out and built human pyramids afterwards.
That night we planned a First Ascent of sorts -- an F.T.A. -- which, we to this day have yet to do.
I don’t know if tonight is your last, or if tonight is my last for that matter. I pray that you’re alive and that we get to do more of the things we have each planned. I want you to know, we are all thinking of you, cheering for you, and thankful you are in our lives. You might be physically by yourself at the moment, but know that spiritually, you are surrounded by loving friends, now and always.
I miss you.
Come home and play some more with us.
Love,
Courtney
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