*** Longs Peak Fatality - 25th Augyst 95 ***

Mon Aug 28 10:44:39 1995
Message : #31046911    From: Ilana Stern
Address : ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu
Group   : Usenet.rec.climbing
Length  : 306 words
Subject : Re: Longs Peak CO (Keplinger's Couloir) (accident report)
Org.  : NCAR/UCAR

In article <41sn5f$33q@tadpole.fc.hp.com>, ron@fc.hp.com (Ron Miller) writes:

> On  Friday,  8/25 a hiker was killed in a 400' fall from  Longs.  The TV
> news  reported  him to be a 33 yr old man who  fell on the  descent.  (I
> didn't get a good idea of where he fell.)  The Ft.  Collins paper didn't
> report it at all.  I listened to the hasty team response, body location,
> body recovery, and collection of personal effects (camp located at Jim's
> Grove) by scanner.
>
> You might ask the Backcountry Office about what led to this so you can
> decide if it was conditions, insufficient equipment or bad judgement.

According to the (brief) article in the Boulder Daily Camera, the
fall was witnessed by several rangers who spoke with the hiker just
before the accident (around 13,000 feet, but the exact location was
not reported in the news).  The hiker told them that he did not reach the
summit, but turned back because he was feeling sick and light-headed
from the altitude.  The rangers warned him he was moving too fast
unsafely, hopping from boulder to boulder, and suggested he slow down
and be more careful.  The hiker ignored them, and fell to his death
moments later.

/\           Enter at your own risk.  Carry water.  Avoid the noonday sun.
  \_][       Try to ignore the vultures.  Pray frequently.  [Edward Abbey]
      \__Ilana Stern | ilana@ncar.ucar.edu | http://www.ucar.edu/dss/ilana.html


Wed Sep 20 18:15:47 1995
Message : #32138864    From: Alan Silverstein
Address : ajs@fc.hp.com
Group   : Usenet.rec.backcountry
Length  : 253 words 1471 bytes
Subject : Death on Longs Peak 8/25
Org.  : Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site

In today's Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper, there was more about the
climber who died on Longs Peak last month right in front of two
backcountry rangers.  Here is an excerpt:

    ...Detterline and fellow RMNP ranger...  were hiking behind (the
    33-year-old person who fell)...  along the Ledges section...  the
    two rangers saw the tired hiker picking his way along the narrow
    trail.  They quickly closed the gap...  until they were just two
    feet behind him.  Then, the unthinkable happened...

    (Detterline:)  "There was a step down or a crack to get to the
    ledge, and instead of using the step down, he went down the crack...
    Instead of lowering himself down to the shelf, he just pushed off
    and hopped down to the lower ledge.  I saw his left ankle turn
    inward, and the next thing I knew, he was cartwheeling down the
    ledge 400 feet down.  At first, all I felt was disbelief.  I
    couldn't believe he hopped to the ledge.  That wasn't the thing to
    do.  The second thing I did was to try to concentrate on where he
    ended up so we could see if he was dead or alive, although I knew
    the answer."

The article also says 19 climbers or hikers died in Colorado in 1994 --
a number I seldom see summarized.  Falls accounted for 80% of the
deaths.  "Human error was responsible for nearly all the deaths."
(Alan Silverstein)

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