Another soul lost at Half Dome

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this just in

climber
north fork
Aug 24, 2011 - 03:04pm PT
What I like is most scientists try to support theories not necessarily prove them or claim them as true. I have nothing to offer on yet another death other than it sucks for those who knew him.

Paul Martzen

Trad climber
Fresno
Aug 24, 2011 - 03:46pm PT
Aspendougy wrote:
I am a friend of the family, and I spoke with the Mother of the deceased. She does not think it was a suicide, but an accident. In this case, it may be that they cannot determine one way or the other, so I hope that ends the debates on this thread.

Thanks for posting. My sympathy goes out to the family and friends.
Gene

climber
Aug 24, 2011 - 03:48pm PT
Anyone know if there's still any wetness up there near the edges, just curious.


HFCS,

I was thinking the same. On the Valley/GP side of the Visor, there are some sandy down sloping slabs near the edge that if wet and/or have goo growing on them could cause a slip if one were not careful.

Regardless, Dude was way too young. RIP and thoughts for the family and friends of the lad.

g
squishy

Mountain climber
sacramento
Aug 24, 2011 - 03:51pm PT
where did the chef go? his opinions were so super awesome...
the Fet

climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
Aug 24, 2011 - 04:09pm PT
The "Diving Board" is where Ansel Adams took his photograph, "Monolith, The Face of Half Dome". It's over on the west shoulder around the corner from the start of Snake Dike.

Above the NW face is the visor. There's a little rock projection a little west of the peak of the visor, I'm not sure what that's called.

If you stand at the edge of the visor and look down you can get rocked by some petty good gusts of wind...
jstan

climber
Aug 24, 2011 - 04:19pm PT
" hasnt science attempted to prove/disprove theories for ever?"

Ron, your question tells us your framing for life. Life consists of absolutes. Right. Wrong. Proven. Disproven.

Science does not deal in absolutes. In the effort to find a better theory, everything is open to question.

The satisfaction does not come from having the answer.

The satisfaction does not even come from being the one who finds a better answer.

The satisfaction comes just from the prospect there may be a better answer.

When you look underneath a stone, even when you find no gold there, it feels good just to have looked.
thetennisguy

Mountain climber
Yuba City, CA
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 24, 2011 - 04:23pm PT

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- The man who tumbled from the face of Yosemite National Park's iconic Half Dome has been identified as a 23-year-old man from the San Francisco Bay area.

Park officials say Ryan Leeder went over the side of the granite dome and fell 2,500 feet Monday evening, but rangers weren't able to reach his body until Tuesday afternoon by helicopter.

Yosemite spokeswoman Kari Cobb said Wednesday the Los Gatos man's death appears to be accidental.

Leeder was hiking alone, and no one at the top of Half Dome saw him fall. The accident was reported by climbers who were ascending at the time.

Officials say Leeder's death is the 17th to occur in the park or from injuries sustained in the park in what has been one of Yosemite's deadliest years.



Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/23/3857084/man-dies-in-fall-down-face-of.html#ixzz1VyoUY1QC
neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Aug 24, 2011 - 05:06pm PT
hey there say, aspendougy....

thank you for sharing about your lost friend...
my prayers and condolences to the family and loved ones...

:(

may the good lord help you heal from this, and always hold your friend dear, though with good memories and hopefully less pain, in the future...

god blesss at this hard time...
llk

climber
Aug 24, 2011 - 05:36pm PT
Has anybody seen Alex recently?
Gunkie

Trad climber
East Coast US
Aug 24, 2011 - 05:44pm PT
Leeder was hiking alone, and no one at the top of Half Dome saw him fall.

The loud yelling and high pitched screams that the unfortunate Reg NW Face team heard (from the TR) were from whom? I can't imagine yelling in that poor fellow's situation. I'd be a full-on space potato.



Gene

climber
Aug 24, 2011 - 05:55pm PT
About 15 years ago, I did my annual HD hike, this time with a friend who had never done it before. A few minutes above where the HD/Clouds Rest trail splits, we passed a young German kid, probably in his early 20s. Being gregarious, Greg and I tried to talk with him. He didn’t have much to say. On our way down from the dome, we passed the same fellow just short of the sub-dome. He was sprawled out next to the trail. We chatted with him and offered water and food – I can’t remember if he took any. He appeared to not be in any obvious physical distress so we continued the hike back to YV. We just thought he was a tad odd and lacking in social graces.

I found out later that that evening he jumped. Left a note to his parents in his rental car.

So sad.

g
Peter Haan

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
Aug 25, 2011 - 10:11am PT
Well here he is. Ryan Leeder, from Los Gatos, CA. Twenty-three years old.

Bill Mc Kirgan

Trad climber
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Aug 25, 2011 - 01:24pm PT
Rest in Peace Ryan Leeder


Sincere condolances to your family and dear friends.
HighTraverse

Trad climber
Bay Area
Aug 25, 2011 - 03:20pm PT
OUr liberals in California forced Reagan to close "cruel" institutions.
Now THAT's revisionist history, nonsense and thoroughly offensive in this thread.

The Lanterman–Petris–Short (LPS) Act (Cal. Welf & Inst. Code, sec. 5000 et seq.) concerns the involuntary civil commitment to a mental health institution in the State of California. The act set the precedent for modern mental health commitment procedures in the United States. It was co-authored by California State Assemblyman Frank Lanterman (R) and California State Senators Nicholas C. Petris (D) and Alan Short (D), and signed into law in 1967 by Governor Ronald Reagan. The Act went into full effect on July 1, 1972. It cited seven articles of intent:
To end the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of mentally disordered persons, people with developmental disabilities, and persons impaired by chronic alcoholism, and to eliminate legal disabilities;
To provide prompt evaluation and treatment of persons with serious mental disorders or impaired by chronic alcoholism;
To guarantee and protect public safety;
To safeguard individual rights through judicial review;
To provide individualized treatment, supervision, and placement services by a conservatorship program for gravely disabled persons;
To encourage the full use of all existing agencies, professional personnel and public funds to accomplish these objectives and to prevent duplication of services and unnecessary expenditures;
To protect mentally disordered persons and developmentally disabled persons from criminal acts.
The Act in effect ended all hospital commitments by the judiciary system, except in the case of criminal sentencing, e.g., convicted sexual offenders, and those who were "gravely disabled", defined as unable to obtain food, clothing, or housing [Conservatorship of Susan T., 8 Cal. 4th 1005 (1994)]. It did not, however, impede the right of voluntary commitments. It expanded the evaluative power of psychiatrists and created provisions and criteria for holds.

note:
The act set the precedent for modern mental health commitment procedures in the United States.

My son had "developmental disabilities" and could have ended up institutionalized before this law. No Republican governor since has tried to repeal it.

The act was not about "cruel institutions" it was about unreasonable and archaic imprisonment of ill people.
Are you suggesting Ryan should have been involuntarily institutionalized? What an obscene thing to say about a young man who died, however it was that he died. I'm shocked that even you would imply this.
Take your ultra conservative claptrap to one of the political threads where it belongs.

Ryan's family and friends: I am very sorry for your loss. I know that Ryan meant a lot to you. I too have lost a son and have a notion of the depth of your grief.
klinefelter

Boulder climber
Bishop, CA
Aug 25, 2011 - 03:29pm PT
Yet another extremely insensitive remark from fattrad, just to get his ideological digs into a thread where politics has no place. Can't you just leave this site alone, already?
powderdan

Social climber
mammoth lakes
Aug 25, 2011 - 03:46pm PT
small consellation...it wasnt a climber
John Moosie

climber
Beautiful California
Aug 25, 2011 - 04:07pm PT
What more can be done?

There is plenty that can be done. Just take for instance how poor people get mental health care. If you are poor, and need mental health care, you go to the county. The county assesses you and puts you in one of their programs. If you are suicidal, you can end up in group therapy. Group therapy is reasonable for teaching coping skills. It sucks for really digging into the problem and helping a person.

Then what happens is that your care moves from one person to another without any consideration for continuity of care. So someone who could be stabilized with continued care, and possibly even lead a reasonably normal life, working a job and paying taxes, instead gets disjointed care, which often leads to things like over medication and many other very basic problems. I know people who chose to live on the street and avoid the county mental health care, because the care they get from the county is so piss poor. The problem is many mental health problems don't remain stable, they get worse. So it can be a victory just to keep a person stable, but that rarely happens with county mental health. Often because of the discontinuity of the care. And these are people who often can't protect themselves, because they are mentally unstable. So they don't know what to watch out for, or are incapable of even recognizing a problem.

I have one friend who, when he gets stable care, is a great auto mechanic. He isn't able to work in a shop, because he is too nervous and flips out easily around others, but he is great out of his home, or coming to your house. But his care often isn't very stable, and he ends up either over medicated, or under medicated, and even though he is able to rebuild a transmission, he can't tell when he is getting out of whack. And when he gets out of whack, then he does stupid stuff that gets him into trouble with the law. The last time he got out of whack, he started hallucinating and thought he was under attack from a bunch of bugs. To save himself he started a grass fire which nearly burnt down the place he was living in. So he got kicked out and ended up back on the streets.

When he is stable, he creates very few problems. He Works, he pays taxes, he doesn't cause trouble. But keeping him stable requires a doctor that knows him.

but hey.. if he gets into trouble, he can always go to the emergency room. uh huh..
Barbarian

Trad climber
The great white north, eh?
Aug 25, 2011 - 05:30pm PT
This will be my only post to this thread.

My condolences to the friends and family of Ryan Leeder. I did not know Ryan, but know that you are suffering in this time of loss. I pray that you find peace and comfort. Please remember all the happy times and keep his soul alive in your hearts. I am sorry for your loss.
Peace,
Scott
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Aug 25, 2011 - 05:31pm PT
Those institutions were closed by your god Raegen to save money fathead . Liberals had nothing to do with it. And you're old enough to remember that.

That is the lowest blow I've ever seen you take Fatty. You know better than to lie like that!
klk

Trad climber
cali
Aug 25, 2011 - 05:44pm PT
OUr liberals in California forced Reagan to close "cruel" institutions.

that's pretty weak, even for you.

reagan's only interest in governor was as a platform for a presidential campaign, so his team devised a catchy hook for a national stage: a ten percent across the board cut of all government programs. since none of them knew anything about the actual state govt., they didn't realize the chaos that would ensue: felons released early, DMVs closed, mental institutions shutting down and pscyhos sent out into the streets.

the result was such a disaster that reagan's next step as governor, was to sign into law the single largest tax increase in the history of the state.

there was indeed a small faction of folks in psychiatry and behavioral science calling for more "mainstreaming" of certain hospital populations. and there was a small, but spectacular, fringe of whackjobs saying things like, "schizophrenia is invented by the fascist state." but they had no political leverage of any sort.

mental illness is brutal, incredibly hard on families, and it demands support networks that few families can actually provide. the newspaper report on this kid makes him sound seriously ill.

it's over for him now, rip.



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