Capitol Peak Rescue on 8/16/2025

[kyrawhitworth]

We heard the heli in the AM on Sat. I was surprised they'd fly with the thick clouds, SAR does so many amazing things. That is honestly infuriating to hear the stupidity of the interactions other had with this person--ugh.

What do folks think about placing a sign or two "No Descent--must return via knife edge" or something similar? There are signs like this on other 14ers (KC, Longs, Crestone Needle). I know this goes against LNT but if it saves resources and lives, maybe this is a good case for one? I understand that the vast wealth of info out there makes it abundantly clear there are no shortcuts and this is not a descent route but alas here we are...

[seannunn]

We heard the heli in the AM on Sat. I was surprised they'd fly with the thick clouds, SAR does so many amazing things. That is honestly infuriating to hear the stupidity of the interactions other had with this person--ugh.

What do folks think about placing a sign or two "No Descent--must return via knife edge" or something similar? There are signs like this on other 14ers (KC, Longs, Crestone Needle). I know this goes against LNT but if it saves resources and lives, maybe this is a good case for one? I understand that the vast wealth of info out there makes it abundantly clear there are no shortcuts and this is not a descent route but alas here we are...

I agree with the need for a sign. We don't want signs everywhere, but this seems like a no brainer. I don't remember exactly if there is only one gully that could be misconstrued as a descent, or more than one. Might be harder if there are a bunch.

Sean Nunn
Peculiar, MO

[justiner]

I don't think a sign would work in this instance. The same person that won't listen to reason from multiple hikers that had just completed the route also won't read a sign. Decisions based on emotion v decisions based on reasoning etc etc etc.

[Gandalf69]

I can hear DW saying "reading is for old people!" LOL I definitely agree, a sign won't do anything for people who don't want the information. Plus, there are signs at the th already! I blame smart phones for the decay of common sense.

[Eli Boardman]

Opinion: rescues caused by gross incompetence (not random luck/rockfall/whatever) should be billed at the full cost to the party involved, not the taxpayer.

I understand this would likely lead to reluctance to call for help in some scenarios, with all that entails.

Make Mountains Dangerous Again

[justiner]

I think it's a bad idea, as people are still afraid to call 911 thinking the SAR costs money. If there is an actual chance it will, you've now increased the likelihood they won't call it on themselves, putting themselves in even more danger.

I know there is the issue that every mission puts SAR personnel in danger, but what's more dangerous: getting the call as soon as possible to plan, then act, or getting the call late where the clock is ticking on a life-threatening situation and where SAR has to make some really risky moves in order to save a life.

The other option is a "license to hike", which sounds weird and another hurtle for those that just want to enjoy the outdoors.

[mtree]

We'll never read a report that a sign saved a hiker from a bad decision. But we will read about them making a bad decision. Something to ponder.

[Wentzl]

I am generally in the "let people figure it out" camp, but so many have made this same mistake, I have to lean into the sign idea. Hell, so many, maybe a net?

But seriously, while we won't read a story about the guy who read the sign and changed his mind, that's the point; to never read about that guy.

[justiner]

I am not against signs, I just don't see them as the ultimate panacea against accidents. And I don't know if agree with the, "no bad news is actually good news" pov of tracking the efficacy of any signs. As we are in a litigious atmosphere in this fine country, signs do allow the placer of them to say with more confidence, "too bad about the accident, but there was a sign", which ultimately doesn't help the victim. I honestly don't know if there is a method to stop people from doing dumb things, us being people after all, comes with the territory!

This is all ground we've covered before in these hallowed forum pages — did this accident have anything to do with going the wrong way, even? I thought the victim got injured and was overdue, not stuck in a precarious position off-route before traversing back over the knife edge (they very well could have, I just don't see it in the report being pasted here).

[Veory]

We could fix the issue by simply building a slide from the summit down to the lake, thus removing the need to take shortcuts AND providing more time before weather comes in!

[bdloftin77]

We could fix the issue by simply building a slide from the summit down to the lake, thus removing the need to take shortcuts AND providing more time before weather comes in!

+1

Or a zip line!

[RhodoRose]

This is all ground we've covered before in these hallowed forum pages — did this accident have anything to do with going the wrong way, even? I thought the victim got injured and was overdue, not stuck in a precarious position off-route before traversing back over the knife edge .

The Next Summit article says the climber was "well off the standard route" and the SAR after-report expressly states "there is NO shortcut". They didn't say if it was the Death Gully; seems they would have, if that were the case.

The sign debate... who knows. If someone is freaked out by the knife edge on the ascent, scared and desperately looking for another way down, they're not thinking clearly. I'd like to think a physical sign would bring them to their senses just enough to decide they better not try it. On the other hand, if someone decides to do the gully just to show what a hotshot they are... good luck. Then there's climbers like the one who started down, quickly realized their mistake and stopped, hit SOS, and hung on for dear life until SAR arrived. Maybe a sign would have been all that was needed? There's a truth in saying we won't read about those who were deterred by a sign; also true that we'll never know for sure if lives were saved. When incidents keep stacking up in one specific place, however... death gully probably tops the list of candidates. Then the question becomes: do we as a community care about people getting injured or killed, regardless of their preparedness, or do we shrug it off and say yeah, well, mountains are dangerous. Every time there's an incident, enough people post concern and condolences on this site to make me believe the former.