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cliffhanger
Trad climber
California
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Jul 20, 2011 - 05:30pm PT
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I think that at least one of the party may have been fairly experienced with getting close to wild rivers in other situations. Not realizing this rock was extra highly polished and much slicker than any encountered before, they all got swept away.
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corniss chopper
climber
breaking the speed of gravity
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Jul 20, 2011 - 06:11pm PT
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eyewitness account
http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_18514426
...
Bibee said he was mortified when he reached the top of the Mist Trail and
found members of the group on the river side of the barricade. He had
just spent a good part of his hike explaining to his companion how
dangerous the wilderness can be.
One man, he said, was posing near the waterfall with a screaming young
girl in his arms while a teenage girl snapped photographs.
"People became unglued on this guy," Bibee said. "They said, you know what
man, get your ass back over here."
As the man complied, another man and woman in the group crossed the
barricade and made their way to a rock in the middle of the river to pose
for photographs.
"That's when the woman started to slip," Bibee said. "He reached for her
and fell in. Then another one tried to help and she falls in the water.
We literally watched them get swept over the edge of Vernal Falls."
The couple on the rock hugged each other tightly as they disappeared over
the edge.
"It was brutal," Bibee said.
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dirtbag
climber
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Jul 20, 2011 - 06:21pm PT
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The couple on the rock hugged each other tightly as they disappeared over
the edge.
That mental image is heartbreaking.
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Anastasia
climber
hanging from an ice pick and missing my mama.
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Jul 20, 2011 - 06:38pm PT
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Nature is brutal and unforgiving. I heard of a scuba death that happened in only ten feet of water with the victim's husband only a foot away. A friend of mine Xanth died in the plane accident on her way to skydive. Heck, I was switched out of the driver seat in order to keep someone fresh behind the wheel and despite our caution, our driver fell asleep...
Horrible things happen...
All I can say is don't go asking for it and when it does happen despite whatever the circumstances, who's fault it is, etc... You need to learn whatever lesson there is and move on. Blame is a waste of time since no one goes through such tragedy intentionally.
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Mangy Peasant
Social climber
Riverside, CA
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Jul 20, 2011 - 07:28pm PT
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Statistics are things that happen to other people, never me.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jul 20, 2011 - 08:22pm PT
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This is saddening, gruesome and unnecessary beyond belief.
My heart goes out to the surviving congregation, especially the children.
I wonder how long it will be before the bodies come up? Perhaps another month when the falls diminish?
It will be horrific for those who find the surfaced bodies.
There's no way anyone can blame the Park Service. The railings and signs are there, other people were warning them back. Common sense was absent.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jul 20, 2011 - 08:45pm PT
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These 3 idiots could just as easily have died 50 feet to the left or right while acting like rock climbers. It would be equally idiotic.
Dragging Todd Skinner's name into this thread and drawing a comparison has got to be the single most f*#k-tarded thing I have ever read on Supertopo.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Jul 20, 2011 - 09:31pm PT
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These 3 idiots could just as easily have died 50 feet to the left or right while acting like rock climbers. It would be equally idiotic.
Dragging Todd Skinner's name into this thread and drawing a comparison has got to be the single most f*#k-tarded thing I have ever read on Supertopo.
Not true.
read the directions. Read The Directions. READ THE DIRECTIONS!
In both cases, people failed to read the directions, in a scenario of life and death actions. Why? Apparently because they did not think the directions applied to them? I certainly don't know. Such things are probably unknowable, ultimately.
Simply because we liked someone, or because they were doing our sport, doesn't give them the out, when they don't read the directions, and do something that most people would not do, and it costs their lives.
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Jul 20, 2011 - 10:00pm PT
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All that really comes to mind are the words of my Grandfather - a cut no slack backwoods mountain man from the Dark Corner of the Carolinas.
To wit "Sad is when it weren't yer fault. Stupid is when it was."
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squishy
Mountain climber
sacramento
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Jul 20, 2011 - 10:22pm PT
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It was a church group, super irony is ironic ain't it?
The nurse who tried to help was a hero.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jul 20, 2011 - 10:35pm PT
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having elected (elected freely or compelled by their moral goodness) to help in an effort to rescue a distressed second party - died in the rescue If you KNOW the attempted rescue will be fatal to you and won't help the victim....you're an idiot to go for it. Not to say that some strange love thy neighbor instinct won't cut in and send you over the edge before you've actually formed any thoughts.
All very sad.
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Leggs
Sport climber
El Presidio, Tucson
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Jul 20, 2011 - 10:46pm PT
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This story breaks my heart...almost couldn't keep it together when I saw it on the tele...
The Mist Trail and Vernal Falls was one of the first hikes I ever did as a child, with my parents, as the Valley slowly became by playground while growing up in California...
edit:It's sad and sick to see some of you call the deceased idiots. Sickening.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Jul 20, 2011 - 11:05pm PT
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It's sad and sick to see some of you call the deceased idiots. Sickening.
I agree. While, by definition, they were idiotic for ignoring signs and calls for caution, it's poor taste to call the dead names and show an apparent lack of regret or remorse.
They underestimated the situation and paid the ultimate price.
Think of those who died, and those who had to watch it go down. Nasty.
Almost makes me want them to put up a sin that reads, "Go in the water - YER GONNA DIE!!!", there now. It wouldn't help though and it shouldn't have to...
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saa
climber
not much of a
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Jul 20, 2011 - 11:10pm PT
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Food for thought… (more)
July 2010, Merced Lake, YNP. A storm surged all streams and we had to host some exhausted hikers at the ranger station. The ranger was not there and she gave me grief later for taking people in for the night. According to her, they should have crossed the stream even if the water was hip high, and YOSAR could be called if there was a problem. It takes under 4 minutes to drown, it takes YOSAR 4 hours to hike from Little Yosemite Valley (assuming you have a NPS radio to make the call, which we did not have). We’re talking: raging water, murky, can’t see your steps, pieces of trees coming down fast. That ranger is incompetent and dangerous.
She destroyed NPS and private survival gear stored in the ranger station on the account that mice had peed on it, she killed wildlife in a national park on the account they were a threat (Hanta virus -no vet assessment). The list of her exploits is long. And guess what… She’s again in the park as an YNP ranger 2011, paid by your taxpayer’s money, and despite complaints from a number of YNP employees. Unreal.
In my humble opinion, the people who drowned in the last 2 months (RIP) should not be called names in the light of things like this.
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2 l l
Sport climber
Rancho Verga, CA
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Jul 20, 2011 - 11:16pm PT
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Hormiz David, Ramina Badal, Ninos Yacoub
At the risk of neg feedback, what would be the racial identification(s) here? Just curious.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Jul 20, 2011 - 11:53pm PT
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It has nothing to do with intelligence.
It's all about the unfamiliar environment.
the nightmare on a construction site or heavy manufacturing floor is a group of visiting engineers or managers.
They will blissfully wander into dangerous situations that are obvious to even the janitor.
They aren't stupid. Just in an unfamiliar environment.
Same principle applies.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
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Jul 20, 2011 - 11:56pm PT
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TGT - Thank you.
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Tattooed 1
Trad climber
Sebastopol, Ca
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Jul 21, 2011 - 12:06am PT
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I don't think these people were idiots or stupid as much as they were ignorant. I see so many people doing things in the park that we might think are stupid but they are just unaware of the dangers because they are poor ignorant tourons. We take for granted the experience we have gained from a life out doors. Many people are just unaware of how dangerous some of these situations can be. I was amazed to see some of the people going up and down the cables on Half Dome a few weeks back before the cables were up. I think some of these folks just don't understand the dangers.
Tim
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saa
climber
not much of a
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Jul 21, 2011 - 12:18am PT
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If I had money for every time I did something stupid,
or crazy I'd be rich.
Number one of course would be ... climbing.
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