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Fluoride
Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
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Very sad. Sorry to hear.
And he went to my alma mater. Go Dawgs.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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I am so sorry to hear this.
He looks like a wonderful young man.
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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2 climbers above, 1 below? 80 ft fall? Were they soloing?
My thoughts are with his family. So sorry to hear about accidents.
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Lissiehoya
climber
Saint Louis, MO
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2 climbers above, 1 below? 80 ft fall? Were they soloing?
I wondered that too. Does anyone know more details about what happened?
Poor kid. :(
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Mimi
climber
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May have been two parties of two. He was leading, got run out or pro pulled when he fell to fall that far.
Condolences to his family and friends. Very sad indeed.
Yep, Anders' link says that he pulled pro when he fell.
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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Very sorry to hear this, may God's grace be with you!
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, jbar... very sad to hear this... very sad... i am just on to check email tonight when i saw this, only stopped by fast, perhaps
i should be here, then, now, i can pray too with you, very sad... :(
i will go pray now for his family...
my condolences to his family... and prayers for this hard time...
:(
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R.B.
Trad climber
West
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Whenever a climber is lost, we all grieve.
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Yeah, terrible to hear this...God bless you Joshua...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Another tragedy. Be careful and hav eluck!
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Prod
Trad climber
Dodge Sprinter Dreaming
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That sucks! Curious to hear more details.
Best to his friends and family.
Prod.
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dirtbag
climber
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bump--let's get the spammer off page 1
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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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This is truly tragic. My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and loved ones.
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Bill Mc Kirgan
Trad climber
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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I'm so sad to learn of this. By all accounts he brought much positive energy to this world and will be greatly missed. Prayers for comfort and healing to his family and friends...I'm so sad for your loss.
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Chip
Trad climber
Sittin' Pretty in Fat City
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Josua seemed to really get it in the important stuff and was a blessing to those who knew him. I'm sad I wasn't one who did. Godspeed, Joshua, until we meet in another existence. I pray for your families loss.
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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I'm very sorry to hear about this. Loving thoughts to your community and family.
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nita
Social climber
chica from chico, I don't claim to be a daisy
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Very sad news,much to young to leave this world.
Condolences to Joshua's family and friends..
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jbar
Mountain climber
urasymptote
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Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2010 - 02:10am PT
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Edit: Oops, sorry about how I posted this. Just thought I would add it ot my earlier post as an update. I did not know Josh but I climb where he was killed. I was posting for prayers and good vibes for his family. I have been trying to figure out what happened. Right now I still don't know if he was wearing a helmet.
How and Why? A Father's Perspective
By Mark Robertson
I am Josh's father, Mark. Notice, please, that I said I am Josh's father, not was. For God is not the God of the dead but of the living! (Matt. 22:32)
Now when a tragic event like Josh's death happens, we all want to know the how, and I think more importantly the why. How and why? I am going to answer those questions. Let me start out with the how.
On a beautiful spring day, Friday, April 30, 2010, Josh, and three friends who worked with Josh at the University of Georgia climbing wall were climbing in Tallulah Gorge State Park in northern Georgia. They were doing a "multi-pitch trad climb" up a 200 foot route called "Mescaline Daydream." Multi-pitch means that you climb the route in stages. Trad is short for traditional, meaning that you set your own anchors, using nuts, hexes and cams, in the cracks in the rocks as you climb. Mescaline Daydream is a 5.8 route on a scale that goes from 5.0 to 5.15. For Josh and his friends, who are skilled climbers, a 5.8 route is fairly easy. Josh could do 5.12's with great skill.
They began their climb two by two, with Josh in the second pair. In that second pair, Josh belayed for the first pitch, which made him the second person to get up to the first ledge. On that ledge several hundred feet above the base of the gorge, they switched out positions and Josh was to lead the second pitch, while being belayed from the ledge.
Shortly after beginning the second pitch, Josh climbed past an overhang, in which part of the rock juts out of the face of the cliff. After the overhang, Josh continued his climb beyond the most difficult part of the second pitch. It was "trad" climbing which means you insert "a piece of gear" about every 10 feet so that the most you will fall is about 20 feet before the fall is broken.
Then it happened, Josh lost his grip and he called out, "falling." As Josh fell, the last anchor nut he set pulled out and he continued his fall toward the overhang. His feet hit the overhang, which caused Josh's body to swing upside down. As his body swung upside down, the back of his head hit the hard stone surface of the cliff, as the next anchor held his body suspended between heaven and earth. His body only was suspended, though, and not his soul, because the blow to the head killed Josh instantly. Joshua's soul was brought immediately into the presence of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So that is how Joshua Mark Robertson passed from this life into the next. Now, I will tackle the issue of why. Why did God take such a fine young man that had so much going for him? Couldn't God have helped that nut to hold? Or just moved his feet a few inches away from the overhang so he could clear it? We could speak in platitudes and say that this was not God's doing, because a loving God would never allow something so terrible. Or we could say it was just fate, or just an accident, or a result of living in a fallen world, or Satan. NO! I say that God, who is all powerful, took him. And that it was for the good of all who love God, including Josh, and for the glory of God.
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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May 21, 2010 - 02:18am PT
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I'm so sorry for your loss.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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May 21, 2010 - 02:47am PT
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jbar,
You might want to edit your last post, to indicate that you are not Mark Robertson, and that you copied his writing from some other source?
[Edit:] Thanks for clarifying your post. And for finding and posting it.
Very tough for parents to experience the death of a child.
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climbrunride
Sport climber
Purgatory
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May 21, 2010 - 03:08am PT
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This sucks! My condolences to his family and friends. And a big thank you to his father, for being willing to share the account of the accident. It was very well written, so even a non-climber can understand.
It just doesn't make sense sometimes. I've taken similar falls, flipping upside down, and somehow escaped, ok. And this guy, on probably his first ever fall like that, gets the chop. It reminds me to appreciate every day, and everything I get to do in this short life.
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jbar
Mountain climber
urasymptote
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Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2010 - 03:36am PT
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climbrunride - my thoughts exactly! I read accounts such as what happened to Josh and wonder if I have just been lucky. How many times have i dismissed a rope behind the leg because I knew I wouldn't fall and why do I rarely wear a helmet? Makes me briefly wonder if I should even head out the door Saturday to go climb. I also thought his father did an outstanding job with writing. He tackled multipitch, trad and the rating system all in one short paragraph.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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May 21, 2010 - 04:16am PT
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hey there jbar... say, thanks so very much for the post, that comes, even as we all have wishes, and or, praying for the best for his family,and for them to get through this hard trail...
thank you to the father, for sharing in the concerns of others, even others that may not have known his son....
it is a strange thing, this passing from this life, to another...
we can see, when in life, a so called accident, turned into something so
far more better, that we are shocked, amazed and near never get over, or
even want to.... but THIS is due to things were life, or loved ones
still go one living---but the huge vast change that happened, was so
powerful and powerfully seen...
with death, we never see this, as we are not on the other side, to see such things... so we ourselves do not know...
we only see the very sad bad part, (similar, as to the above story of bad things that turned to good)...
thus, maybe as this father says, there is something far more
wonderul that has come from the bad, that we will not see here... or that some may see here, but yet, it will still not make full sense...
loved ones and life, are just that fully and enormously more precious than anything we can imagine....
i remembered this, from when one of my dearest friends died, and i never saw her again... it was an unknown cancer, that had grown into two huge
tumors, inside her and no one ever discovred them, though she even had regular checkups.... and she loved the lord and prayed...
some reason, we dont always see...
thank you mark, for you letter about your son...
god bless...
:)
thanks, jbar...
say, the things that surface, when we all pray, etc...
:)
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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May 21, 2010 - 09:26am PT
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My condolences to the family and friends.
-Tom
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jbar
Mountain climber
urasymptote
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Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2010 - 04:49pm PT
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I hate to keep bumping this stuff but I just got an email with more info about the accident for anyone who may be interested and I think any climber can appreciate what his friends and family did to honor him.
"Josh had forgotten his helmet in the car. It is difficult to get back to the car once scrambling or rappelling to the base of the climbs. All the routes are trad. The injury to his head was in the back near his ear, which could have been covered by a a helmet.
He was buried in his typical climbing clothes of a t shirt, knickers, sandals, with his climbing shoes, holding a knit cap. A friend of the family built his coffin out of wood with his rope for handles into bolted anchors. His family had the bottom of the coffin at the Ascension Climbing gym for people to write messages and the top at the memorial. The youth team made new team shirts with his picture on the back in his honor. It was standing room only in the church that held his memorial. He was much loved and touched many lives in his 19 years."
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micronut
Trad climber
fresno, ca
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May 21, 2010 - 05:07pm PT
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I am so sorry for the loss felt by those who knew this young man. I lived in Georgia for seven years and climbed at the Gorge as often as I could. Mescaline Daydream was my favorite route there. What an amazing place. I cannot imagine what Josh's parents are going through. A sad day indeed. May their faith in God comfort and sustain them during this difficult time.
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Macronut
Trad climber
Fresno, Ca
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May 21, 2010 - 06:24pm PT
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I learned trad climbing at this place and this very route. Many fond memories with Micro and I here. Sounds like a guy I would of loved to climb and fellowship with. Someone who made the most of his 19 years making an eternal difference. My heart and prayers go out to Mark, family and friends. May all those who knew him and are grieving have a peace beyond understanding.
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Dirka
Trad climber
SF
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May 21, 2010 - 08:54pm PT
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Prayers to his friends and family.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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May 21, 2010 - 11:39pm PT
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WAS HE WEARING A HELMET, OR NOT?
I'm so very sad to hear this. Glad he was a Believer.
In Him,
PTP and PTL Pete
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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May 22, 2010 - 01:17am PT
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hey there say, jbar... thanks for sharing again....
you know, in life, all parts of the sharing are needed, as you never
know who is need of such deep heart-felt things to help them
get through in their lives...
thanks for passing the ripple, to reach out farthers...
ripples ALWAYS look nice, when done well...
:)
god bless...
:)
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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May 22, 2010 - 11:16am PT
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Clearly stated above he was not wearing a helmet.
Condolences to his family.
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Matt
Trad climber
primordial soup
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May 23, 2010 - 01:14am PT
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ever notice how you can (often so easily) tell who cares enough to simply read the post(s)-
... and who just wants to JUDGE
i mean really, what's the point, at this point, of that?
sorry to hear the sad news.
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| Messages 1 - 34 of total 34 in this topic |
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