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Daniel Eubank
Sport climber
Woodbridge, VA
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Jan 20, 2011 - 02:04pm PT
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Dan Osman said it best,
"it's not a death wish, it's a life wish"
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jan 20, 2011 - 02:26pm PT
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Kevin's was not a free-soloing accident. I don't remember Kevin doing any free-soloing at all. Kevin and Barbara were retreating from the Hornli Ridge of the Matterhorn under severe icing conditions. Kevin was rapelling off an in-situ anchor that failed. Barbara was not clipped to it and so survived.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 18, 2014 - 10:35pm PT
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how 'bout a separate thread remembering our fallen soloist brethren in YNP? It's way more than 3... one guy went from Cloud's Rest late 70's? Plus very cute redhead who worked at the T Meadows store summer of '81...was following some dood up Tenaya Peak.  Stephen Anthony Serada, age 22, August 16, 1979 - between Clouds Rest and Little Yosemite Valley
Judith Ellen McDade, age 22, August 7, 1981 - Tenaya Peak with Bennett Johnston (who had to be rescued)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=118397716
from Death in Yosemite
I didn't include these in my original count because they were listed in the "Scrambling" chapter.
Usually this means less than 5th class, and/or climbing without rock shoes.
[Edit:] Thanks, nita.
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Aug 18, 2014 - 11:48pm PT
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*
*
^^
Both of those beautiful people were Yosemite employees and Wonderful humans....
Those two Lovely people were so much more than a footnote on their death.
Breaks my heart to see their ages in print...although, at the time i knew how old they were when they died.
I am still haunted by Judy's death.
ps.. Sewellymon, Judy was blonde , not a Redhead.... she worked at the T.M. grill. and Bennett was following Judy on Tenaya Peak...
Bennett is a lovely guy...His father was a Senator.. serving the state of Louisiana for several terms...
Judy had just graduated from Duke University ~ Summa c#m laude..and was supposed to leave for the Peace corps to Africa after T.M...
And it's Judith E McDade...Ellen.
http://culturalanthropology.duke.edu/undergraduate/awards
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Tommy D
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Ca
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Aug 19, 2014 - 01:31pm PT
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Rumor has it that Derek Hersey's body was found well to the left of the Steck-Salathe. Historically speaking, Croft had just free-soloed Astroman, Hersey was at his prime and had done similar levels of soloing in Colorado (pumping laps on the Diamond). Chouinard-Herbert was a logical target for him. It was May, and the crux pitches were likely wet. We'll never really know, but it seems far more logical that a soloist of his caliber fell from the Chouinard-Herbert, than the Steck Salathe.
Let's face it, free-solo is a wholly unjustifiable pursuit, but that does not mean that the risk/ reward factor is not high enough to make it worthwhile to some people. Expressing mastery in any craft has undeniable appeal. Mastery is always inspiring, and death is always sad for those left behind.
I am far more averse to a risk averse life than to risk. We never really know when that bus is gonna stop for us, but it is coming whether you wait for it in a chair, or on the face of a cliff. Gotta stay focused, hone our skills to the optimum, but I for one have no plans to wait around. I'm heading back out there and engage fully with this wonderful life and all the adventures that we can find and share.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 19, 2014 - 01:47pm PT
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It was May, and the crux pitches were likely wet. Not just likely, it rained that afternoon.
According to the report in Accidents in North American Mountaineering:
Derek Hersey told Craig Leubben at 10am that he planned to climb the Steck-Salathe'. (Of course he could have changed his mind).
Derek left camp at 11am.
At 1-2pm that day, there were thunder showers which were heavy enough to cause people to retreat from climbs on El Cap.
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aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Aug 19, 2014 - 02:04pm PT
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Chris Chan:
According to this article, she was free soloing, but I think she fell on the descent:
"Chan, 31, died Friday afternoon doing what she loved — scaling a massive wall of rock. The former president of the Stanford Alpine Club fell to her death while descending Eichorn Pinnacle in Yosemite National Park.
National Park Service representatives confirmed Tuesday that Chan was free solo climbing without ropes or gear when she slipped and fell about 300 feet around 1:30 p.m. It is not known why she slipped."
Descents are especially dangerous, as we are tired, and sometimes the lighting is poor. After the adrenalin rush of the ascent, the mind sometimes goes into a more passive stupor.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 19, 2014 - 02:38pm PT
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Chouinard Herbert is right of SS, not left. Incorrect.
Might you be confusing the Chouinard-Herbert with the Sentinel West Face?
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Laine
Trad climber
Reno, NV
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Aug 19, 2014 - 02:41pm PT
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Another Yose solo gone back.
From Rock and Ice...
[Brad Parker died in a fall on Saturday, August 16, while climbing Matthes Crest in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite, California. The Press Democrat reports that Parker was attempting to free-solo the Matthes Crest Traverse]
Just proposed to his GF, very sad.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 19, 2014 - 03:01pm PT
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I can't ever remember any photos or accounts of Kauk climbing hard stuff without a rope In the Sports Illustrated article, the opening page is a photo of him soloing Little Wing.
As to whether that is "hard" for him, that could be debated, but it's 5.10d and you can't entirely jam it.
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Rankin
Social climber
Greensboro, North Carolina
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Aug 19, 2014 - 03:18pm PT
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Rumor has it that Derek Hersey's body was found well to the left of the Steck-Salathe. Historically speaking, Croft had just free-soloed Astroman, Hersey was at his prime and had done similar levels of soloing in Colorado (pumping laps on the Diamond). Chouinard-Herbert was a logical target for him. It was May, and the crux pitches were likely wet. We'll never really know, but it seems far more logical that a soloist of his caliber fell from the Chouinard-Herbert, than the Steck Salathe.
Croft had soloed Astroman about 6 years before Hersey's death. And a fall from the SS should not be surprising if the flare before the Narrows was wet.
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CrackAddict
Trad climber
Canoga Park, CA
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Aug 19, 2014 - 05:12pm PT
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Soloing is inherently and obviously dangerous: but that is why there are relatively few deaths attributed to it. For the same reason that putting airbags in cars has not really decreased driving death rates (people drive faster and more carelessly) soloing is probably not significantly more dangerous than many other facets of the sport (such as leading, rappelling, and worst of all... driving home). For everyone who dies soloing, I can point to 10 who died leading. Of course leading is more common, but also much "safer".
People accept a certain amount of risk in their lives and then try to milk as much as they can from life within that risk level. As Bachar said, "Soloing is serious business, because you can be seriously dead". But climbers who write off soloists as insane while they go around leading in places like Joshua Tree and Tuolumne are simply whistling past the graveyard, IMO.
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CrackAddict
Trad climber
Canoga Park, CA
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Aug 19, 2014 - 05:14pm PT
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Rumor has it that Derek Hersey's body was found well to the left of the Steck-Salathe.
Don't the upper pitches curve to the left though? Not sure where he fell from, of course.
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gonamok
climber
dont make me come over there
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Aug 19, 2014 - 05:42pm PT
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Then the should the x rated relics/botch job museam pieces be fixed
hahahahahahahaha no bias there, right? Learn to climb and those troutes wont be so scary
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Aug 19, 2014 - 05:54pm PT
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To the extent that anything matters, motivation matters. A person free-soloing as an expression of their joy for life, taking a risk calculated to be within one's abilities and accepting the consequences of potential failure, that is one thing. Perhaps the equation becomes skewed when the motivation includes an effort to earn acceptance or approval, either acceptance of one's self, acceptance from respected peers, or others... these cases become more tragic because a person literally kills him/herself in an effort to be accepted. The tragedy is a person valuing his or her life less than the approval or acceptance of others. It shows how deep our psychic needs can be, that it's not just mushy feeling stuff to be ignored.
Somehow separating out this issue from the "pure" inner pursuit of personal satisfaction, oneness with nature, spirit, etc... somehow teasing out this distinction should be part of this discussion.
Yet another thread to tease out- it is easy to become desensitized to the seriousness of what we pursue as climbers, after hearing/seeing so many stories of radness, or being in the presence of other folks willing to do the same crazy sh!t as you, so it doesn't seem so crazy any more... how does a person maintain their bearings on mortality and our limits when an unlikely number of people do death-defying things and seem to get away with it? Maybe in the go-pro generation it will be statistically harder to survive youthful folly before acquiring enough life perspective and personal awareness to make more careful choices.
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Aug 19, 2014 - 05:55pm PT
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climbers who write off soloists as insane while they go around leading in places like Joshua Tree and Tuolumne are simply whistling past the graveyard
metaphor aside, I have no idea what point is purportedly being made
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Aug 19, 2014 - 06:01pm PT
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http://news.yahoo.com/climber-proposes-girlfriend-falling-death-yosemite-report-175857266.html
(Reuters) - A veteran outdoorsman fell to his death on a solo climb at Yosemite National Park in California the same day he proposed to his girlfriend, a newspaper reported.
Brad Parker, 36, of Sebastopol, California, and his girlfriend, Jainee Dial, climbed to the top of Cathedral Peak on Saturday and it was on that trip that she accepted his marriage proposal, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.
Later, Parker set out alone to scale Matthes Crest a few miles away, the newspaper said.
Yosemite National Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said other climbers saw him fall on Saturday evening from the Matthes Crest traverse, which is a jagged rock ridge hundreds of feet in elevation.
Park rangers found his body that night and removed it by helicopter on Sunday, said Cobb, who added that she had no information on whether Parker got engaged before he died.
Parker's father, Bill Parker, told the Press Democrat his son called him after his girlfriend accepted his proposal and told him it was the "happiest day of his life."
Bill Parker said he believes fatigue may have played a role in the death of his son, an experienced climber, after he climbed to Cathedral Peak and went on a run to Matthes Crest.
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crankster
Trad climber
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Aug 19, 2014 - 06:29pm PT
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People will climb free solo and people will die. You can't stop the allure, it seems. I'm not passing judgement, if that's what you seek and you accept the risk, then have at it. Just don't romanticize it.
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Rankin
Social climber
Greensboro, North Carolina
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Aug 19, 2014 - 06:31pm PT
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Don't the upper pitches curve to the left though? Not sure where he fell from, of course.
Yes, a fall from high on the SS could bring a climber's body down to the left of the Flying Buttress, which is where CH begins.
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