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lostinshanghai
Social climber
someplace
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Tom Rohrer is on his way to the LA Marathon which starts March the 9th so will not be able to e-mail him or until after the 12th of March. Have a contact # will try.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Holy buckets, this is like the fourth thread on this accident?
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Grif
Mountain climber
Kenai, Alaska
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Check with John Dill or Tim Setnika. Tim was the SAR officer then and John was his asst, I was a ranger in the Valley and remember the incident but wasn't directly involved. I think Tim is still in the Ventura area.
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pjschlick
Social climber
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 6, 2014 - 09:33am PT
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Rocky, not too graphic at all- appreciate the sensitivity. Thank you for posting.
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pjschlick
Social climber
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 6, 2014 - 09:34am PT
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Survival,
if there are four threads point them out to me, I'm missing something here.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Mar 11, 2014 - 11:45pm PT
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Karl Mueller teaches geology at the University of Colorado. You can get ahold of him using the faculty directory or calling UCB.
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MAD BOLTER
Trad climber
CARLSBAD,NM
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Mar 14, 2014 - 08:18pm PT
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I was informed about the incident by YOSAR and consented to come up there to check out the situation. They were nice enough to helicopter me to the top so I could rap down to retreive the anchor for them (solo rap)!
I photoed all aspects of the location, removed and photoed each element and evidence-bagged them individully. Then replaced the anchor to get myself dowm. 3/8in Star dryvins set with epoxy 2" deep and chain connected using lap links. The bottom one being 3/8" for rope pulling when down. The upper was I think 5/16" lap link.
The items removed were sent to a metalurgist for analysis--he said the upper Dolt H hanger failed because of a manufacturing defect. Microscopic crack -would require high quality testing-magnetic/X-ray or something to have detected the crack. The hangers were chrome plated by Dolt and not improperly stored by me. It was just about 6 months before that I set them and I was surprised at the amount of rust penetration inside the hole. That was the last time I sealed bolt holes. They need to be able to air out (breathe). The climbers did several not-smart things:
1-used sling for anchor attachment around the chain
2- no attachment to any link or hanger
3- the last guy heeked into the top hanger with a biner on top of thr chain attachment lap link This improperly loaded the hanger-twisting the outer rib.
I found that the chail had slipped down over the bottom large lap link with no shock-loading evidence. The sling just slipped off the end of the chain when the top hanger failede.
I will provide some pictures of the set-up and results--later
By the way I never have more than 2 people on one anchor assembly; unless we are standing like on a ledge.
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pjschlick
Social climber
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 15, 2014 - 08:47am PT
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BVB- Thank you for the info on Karl Mueller. I really appreciate everybody's help.
Mad Bolt- Apologies in misinformation and conjecture about who we spoke to in the village cafeteria in 1980- Yeah, 36 years is a long time. You spoke with Pat Padden, and I stood away, but was there. As I recall, you overheard us talking about the accident and pieced together that we were hometown friends. I remember you coming over to the table. You were generous and personally concerned that we knew the whole story. Its still necessary to digest this acrid truth that not one, but three bad moves on their part caused their deaths. I hope everyone reads your post. Its informative- Thanks for the pictures ahead of time.
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mtkraabel
Social climber
Minneapolis, MN
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Jan 12, 2015 - 02:47pm PT
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I was never a climber, but I worked with John G. at McQuay-Perfex in Golden Valley. He was an engineering student at the time, and I seem to remember he dropped out of school and quit his job to climb. I would drop by Midwest Mountaineering to catch up with his adventures. Great guy, still hurts to think about this.
He had dreams of Everest. Memory is pretty foggy, but I think they had trekked to the base (and maybe a little further).
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Mag
Social climber
Eagan, MN
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Jan 21, 2015 - 06:43pm PT
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Pam
This is Mark, John Garton's brother. Reading these posts brings back memories from 37 years ago as if it were yesterday. I was on the phone with our mother the morning of May 14th 1978 wishing her a happy birthday and mothers day when a policeman came to her door. She said she would have to call me back, but somehow I knew she would be calling me back with bad news.
I appreciate your driving Nuba back to Bloomington with John's gear. My wife (then girl friend) took that VW out west more than once and used to laugh every time we went up a large hill commenting how appropriate the name you gave to the car was.
I still have a letter that I mailed to John on April 27th from Bemidji State University care of General Delivery Yosemite Lodge. I also have John's return letter mailed May 12th 1978 from Yosemite Lodge that was waiting for me at Bemidji State University when I returned after John's funeral. John's letter commented on his climbing adventures and how he needed five good days to tackle El Cap. If you are interested, I would be happy to share the letters with you.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jan 21, 2015 - 06:54pm PT
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That was the spring that I did the LAC. George Manson and Alan Chase were still alive.
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E
Ice climber
mogollon rim
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Jan 21, 2015 - 07:05pm PT
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i think that alan nelson (rip) also witnessed that accident
cant talk to him though
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Jan 21, 2015 - 11:11pm PT
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I believe 'Zappa' Dave Austin said he knew those three Minnesota climbers quite well. He may have some more information. Check with him. I remember being in El Cap meadow when the accident occurred. Heard some noise over at the base of the Captain but didn't go up there. Of course, everyone was talking about it afterwards. A lot of people cleared out of Camp 4 because of the 'unlucky' dark feeling in the Valley. Bad ju ju and that sort of thing.
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