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bonin_in_the_boneyard
Trad climber
Oak Land, California
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Mar 30, 2010 - 11:01pm PT
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Bump for everyone's prayers.
A friend and I were planning on climbing Shasta this past weekend, but called it off because of illness. I'm not sure we would have bailed due to the forecast. This is very, very sad. I'm sorry to everyone touched by this tragedy.
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Binks
Social climber
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Mar 30, 2010 - 11:13pm PT
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Hope he makes it. It can get rough up there.
I've been up there in a storm before. I was "ice cragging" in the seracs with a partner on the hotlum. We woke up with a couple inches over the bivy sack and the stuff pouring down. We couldn't see a thing, felt lucky just to get down safely, then couldn't find the parking lot (north side). Managed to get a gps signal and had marked the lot. In the time it took to descend, more than a foot of snow fell.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Mar 30, 2010 - 11:24pm PT
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God bless him. Sometimes miracles happen. But his condition when he was left was bleak.
I still pray.
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Mar 31, 2010 - 12:16pm PT
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Friends and local climbers: please contact me if you're interested in details, debriefings, and community gatherings.
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Jingy
Social climber
Nowhere
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Mar 31, 2010 - 03:28pm PT
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nature - "did you read the report at redding.com?"
no.. but now I have...
bad news from up north...
my thoughts are with the family and friends of the lost climber.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Mar 31, 2010 - 04:31pm PT
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bluering It almost begs the question of a need for an independant/unofficial group of qualified people to be ready to respond to sh#t like this. People who aren't bound by 'officials'.
Nahh. Been there done that and that's not the way it really works. Here's a version.
I got the 10pm call from my regular partners wife @ 25 years ago. Essentially she was saying in many ways "Bob is over due and I'm worried" (she said this while bawling her eyes out) At first I thought it was a joke. The weather was rugged bad - sure, it was the dead of winter and the Pacific Coast storms rolled hard over Mt Hood in the winter. This was one of those occasions. Bob was suppose to be up there with a bad-assed Kiwi dude he'd climbed with while he was down under climbing the New Zealand Alps. I don't remember his name, but lets call him Bozo. 2 more hardy, skilled and experienced dudes probably couldn't be found easily. I asked if she'd called the Sheriff, and yup, not just that but she'd called the local Mountain Rescue too, but the weather was so horribly bad - and would be for a couple of days, that they were not going to initiate a rescue. Once I'd ticked off the list of questions I had (when he left, when he was suppose to be back, which route they should be on, what car did he have - etc etc) I finally started calling my buddies at 11pm. I found exactly 2 who would accompany me. Everyone else had begged off. One was a Mt. Guide and the other was a buddy I rock climbed with who tended to get altitude sickness at @ 8500-9000 feet. Sh#t, we were going there for sure. I took him anyway, he was a strong lad and could carry weight - so we got our sh#t organized, figured out where to meet, what we were going to carry etc etc and off we went to the mountain.
We arrived @2-1/2-3 hours of shitty weather driving later at the Timberline parking lot and the horizontal wind with snow had reduced the visibility to @ 10-12 feet in the lot. Worse than the visibility was that it was very very difficult to even stand upright in the parking lot. Big time gusts. This is at the Timberline, only the 6,000' level, and I wasn't relishing heading up. See, I knew that my buddy would be dug in deep, and I thought I knew, within a 1/4 mile - where he would be. However, getting there and back in this weather was going to be near suicidal. Seriously. It would involve a lot of luck and pluck, but mostly luck. Once we got up there, if we had a broken leg on hand or some other issue to reduce mobility, then it was really a matter of reprovisoning, helping get organized and marking the spot so that a live body would be there is and when the weather did clear in a few days and the Mt rescue folks could be rolling.
I've done some damn stupid things in my life, and was acknowledging to myself that this was definatly and solidly shaping up to be another one. Hating myself for it but not backing off either. We finally make it into the hut, normally a short flat walk across pavement from the car, where the climbers sign out, and even in the relatively sheltered spot it's impossibly cold. A quick check shows that they had signed out, we're the only folks up there (duh) and they had not signed in. Which explained why Bobs car was still there too; F*ck. (repeat that 10 times to self, add we are so ** and say it again)I wasn't looking forward to this at all. We decide to go inside to the bar area, see if anyone is in first aid station (place was vacant but fortunately not locked up, to organize and fill out the paperwork so we can be signed out, inside the building where it was still warm. We're inside sorting gear, and all I can think of is "This is stupid, this is stupid"....over and over. See, Bob and I were both mountain guides, had climbed a lot together and had a close bond: and I couldn't let him down. But then again, I knew him well, he had good gear and was always well prepared and carrying it. He was most likely much much safer and warmer than we would be. I figured he'd see my attempt as lack of trust in his abilities as well -but what ya gonna do? In fact, a storm of this caliber may have easily covered all traces of their snow cave (I was praying they had one-otherwise they'd be dead in this weather) I'd been on an earlier search and rescue in bad weather not long before (not anything like this) where we later determined that I'd actually whistled within spitting distance of where the solo climber had been dug in, he had heard it faintly in the raging wind - but disregarded it thinking his mind was playing tricks, and none of us had seen any evidence of his ski poles marking the cave entrance, despite the fact that they must have been within feet of us standing on top of a short cornice at one point looking down the very slope he'd rolled down and dug into. Despite that experience, We had hope that we could both locate Bob, and see the entrance. Hope.
I spent a few moments silently raging on the damn stupid New Zealander I'd never even met who'd probably caused all this (he had, as it turned out). With my guts churning with fear, we grabbed our repacked packs off the floor and started towards our destiny and the deadly raging Maelstrom outside. We were literally up and heading close to the door and here comes Bob and Bozo coming in accompanied by a massive gust of snow and wind....it's like 4 or 5 in the am by now. Holy crap, I was both happy and relieved that my life would be mine still, we hugged, both relieved. Turned out that Bozo was too slow, too slow, the weather had picked up and as they had all the gear for it, they'd simply dug in. Right where we would have looked as it turned out. After the first night and day, they were thinking that A) no one would be able to easily get up there, and B) it's possible that some friends might try. So Bob thought if they could duck into the nearest canyon and somewhat avoid the wind and be able to stand upright, they could possibly be down by first light, when most normal people would be starting out. They were cramped and not sleeping well in the cave anyway. Indeed that's how it happened.
It all sounds good from the warmth of our cubicals, but up there, it's a different story. It's much better to have a single person to focus a rescue on, instead of 2 groups who may need help.
Wishing your friend the best up there, and hope that he gets some breaks so as to be able to be with his loved ones again soon. It ain't over till it's over and it's not over yet.
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Mark Rodell
Trad climber
Bangkok
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Mar 31, 2010 - 07:28pm PT
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Bump
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Gene
Social climber
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Mar 31, 2010 - 09:51pm PT
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Bump
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zeta
Trad climber
Berkeley
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:(
I am sad and really feel for Tom's family & friends. And for Mark, I wish there was anything we could do to make it easier.
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Phil_B
Social climber
Hercules, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 1, 2010 - 03:25pm PT
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My heart is breaking. . .
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divad
Trad climber
wmass
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Sorry to hear the sad outcome of this. Best of thoughts to family and friends.
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Sad outcome. My condolences.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Sincere condolences.
J Mucci
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Kurt Ettinger
Trad climber
Martinez, CA
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Very sad to hear the news. My condolences to family and friends.
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mooch
Trad climber
Old Climbers' Home (Adopted)
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My heartfelt sympathies go out to the family and to Mark as well.
Mark (aka 'PellucidWombat')-
I know what it feels like to lose a climbing partner and dear friend. It'll hurt for a bit but then all the awesome memories of your times together, good and bad, will flood in and his soul will appear before you. As the late Brutus Of Wyde so wisely put it when referring to the adventure we live and die for.....
"One climb, one pitch, one move at a time....
...until we reach the top."
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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God bless him.
I heard the news on the radio during my lunch. I didn't know him, but it was a rough blow.
Rest in peace, Thomas.
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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I am filled with sorrow. In the too-short time that Tom was part of our community here, he was someone whom I wanted to know better, and someone with whom I was looking forward to having as a trip partner.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Terrible news.
Condolences to his friends and family.
Thanks to the CG and SAR for the recovery.
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