USAKeller and TalusMonkey

Threads related to Colorado mountaineering accidents but please keep it civil and respectful. Friends and relatives of fallen climbers will be reading these posts.
Forum rules
Please be respectful when posting - family and friends of fallen climbers might be reading this forum.
Post Reply
User avatar
stevepack
Posts: 58
Joined: 9/5/2006
14ers: 1 
Trip Reports (0)
 
Contact:

Post by stevepack »

.
Last edited by stevepack on Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I prefer hypoxia to humidity.
User avatar
telehead
Posts: 290
Joined: 7/26/2004
14ers: 31 
Trip Reports (0)
 
Contact:

Post by telehead »

I just wanted to take the time to express my condolences for the family and friends of David.

Never personally met him, but I've been on this site for years and could tell he was a kindred spirit.

Peace be with you David.
"Going where the wind don't blow so strange, maybe off on some high cold mountain chain"
stonepile
Posts: 2
Joined: 5/13/2007
14ers: 6 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Post by stonepile »

I have been a visitor of this site for over 2 years. I have enjoyed reading everything that David had to say. Learning of this tragedy has made me finally register and express my sorrow. I never met David, but he was inspiration to me. I wish I could say more, but expressing myself is not something that I do.
User avatar
jdsiro
Posts: 71
Joined: 7/12/2006
14ers: 7 
Trip Reports (1)
 
Contact:

Post by jdsiro »

I am having trouble putting words to thoughts, but here goes:

I haven't been a member of this site very long, and I rarely post anything, but I read almost every new post and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about Talus Monkey's exploits. I've had a few problems with my pc lately, so I'm sorry to say that it was only this morning when I picked up the Denver Post and saw Talus Monkey and USAKeller's picture on the front page that I learned of what had happened. Had I known sooner, I'd have run off to the mountains to help fetch him down. I'd have done it with bare feet, if need be. I might not have known him personally, but since I'm a fellow climber and outdoorsman, that made him my brother. Caroline, I'll be keeping you in my prayers, as well as David's family. Thank you for sharing, and if there's anything I can do to help, please e-mail or call me.

justinsirochman@Hotmail.com
719-359-0209

"Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.' In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." ~ Job 1:20-22(ESV)
"Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." ~Isaiah 40:30-31 (ESV)
User avatar
fabriziotarara
Posts: 3
Joined: 5/13/2007
14ers: 5 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Post by fabriziotarara »

After reading about this story today it is truly touching! The support that is shown in this community is heart warming. I wish all the friends and family of David's my condolences. Caroline...my heart and prayers go out to you in this time of need, thanks for sharing these memories.

Fabrizio
User avatar
Bullwinkle
Posts: 572
Joined: 12/25/2006
14ers: 43 
13ers: 1
Trip Reports (7)
 

Post by Bullwinkle »

My wife and I were planting trees with Humboldt and the Crestones in view as the final sequence of events played out with David. Our prayers went out and continue to go out for the two of you.

Exactly one year ago on our annual tree planting at our little ranch in Custer County I got a call that my father had suddenly and unexpectedly died while on a bike trip with friends. After the funeral, while organizing his affairs as executor, I found this clipping from Joseph Epstein with his belongings.

We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, or the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live: courageously or in cowardice; honorably or dishonorably; with purpose or adrift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, those decisions are ours to make. We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so our lives are formed.

David lived a passionate and courageous life, and he imparted that to others. And so his life was formed.
As a mountain more fully reveals itself to a man, so the true nature of the man will be more fully revealed
User avatar
kshiker
Posts: 2
Joined: 8/9/2006
Trip Reports (0)
 

Post by kshiker »

USA Keller --

Even though I've never had the opportunity to meet either you or Talus Monkey, I always thoroughly enjoyed reading the trip reports you posted on your various climbs.

Since I live in Kansas and I'm not able to make the trip as often as I would like, I have yet to climb my first 14er. The main reason I have become so interested in experiencing the 14ers was the enthusiasm conveyed in your trip reports. I would always watch the Trip Reports section of 14ers.com to check and see when you both would post your next trip report.

Even though I never met him, I think I can speak for everyone on this site, it feels like I already knew him and always hoped I would bump into him one day on the mountain to tell him how much I enjoyed his posts on this website. Very sorry for your loss and please know that his family and you are in my prayers.
DSP
Posts: 18
Joined: 3/1/2006
14ers: 3 
Trip Reports (0)
 

USAKELLER AND TALUS MONKEY

Post by DSP »

It’s taken awhile to collect my thoughts on the loss of David, but here goes...

Growing up in Western PA, I was fortunate to spend a fair amount of time in the Rockies thanks to the fact that my dad was a school teacher, my mom was a traditional 1950s-style stay at home wife/mother and we took lengthy road trips every few years. Although I imagined I would live in Colorado when I grew up, I answered another calling and so have spent the past 25 years involved in the sport of auto racing (and only recently re-connected with my affinity for the mountains). Racing is a sport that has much in common with mountaineering in that it is highly individualistic, carries considerable risk and is widely misunderstood by outsiders.

Over the past 25 years, it’s been my privilege to know and work with some of the most fascinating, fiercely motivated people on the planet. But not without paying a terrible price. The names Scott Brayton, Jeff Krosnoff, Jovy Marcello, Greg Moore and Tony Renna may not resonate with many on this web site but, trust me, they do in my daily life and, at times, my dreams. Whenever a race driver dies, those he or she leaves behind struggle to come to grips -- much as 14ers.com regulars have since David’s accident -- with the loss of such a vital life-force. And to offer words and thoughts of comfort to their loved ones and, ultimately, themselves. Perhaps the most commonly expressed sentiment is “he died doing what he loved.” Noble enough, that misses the mark somewhat, in my opinion. More to the point, David LIVED doing what he loved. Think of how many people go through life on zombie-like cruise control, never finding -- let alone pursuing -- a consuming passion, one that gives meaning, and so value, to their lives.

The object of this exercise, it seems to me, is to live as fully and to do as much good as we can with whatever amount of time God or the fates allot us. Our heroes, after all, are not those who have merely lived long lives but those who have lived full lives, and have done much in whatever time they had whether, like Winston Churchill or Grandma Moses, they lived into their 90s, or like Martin Luther King, Pat Tillman or Greg Moore, they never saw their 40th birthday.

To David’s friends, family and to Caroline I offer my condolences and ask, gently, that they remind themselves David lived more in his 38 years than all too many would in 38 lifetimes.
Gray's Peak, Mt. Elbert, Quandary Peak
User avatar
Brad Snider
Posts: 129
Joined: 5/15/2006
14ers: 58  4 
13ers: 72 4
Trip Reports (14)
 
Contact:

Post by Brad Snider »

Wow, after all this it seems that I could hardly add anything of value. This was truly a heart-wrenching story. My condolences and prayers go out to Caroline and to David's family.

It is hard to be a member of 14ers.com and not have read some of TalusMonkey's antics and stories. He truly is legend and I know he will not soon be forgotten, even by the hoards of us who never met him but "knew him virtually." He will always remain an inspiration! RIP TalusMonkey!
User avatar
gsliva
Posts: 956
Joined: 9/5/2006
Trip Reports (0)
 

Post by gsliva »

I read the trip report. Dam; he slipped healing into the slope. Could happen to anybody.
Live for the Climb and the search for commitment.
User avatar
tragal
Posts: 62
Joined: 11/13/2005
14ers: 26 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Post by tragal »

That was exactly what I thought when I read the newspaper article. I have slipped, quite gracefully, into a glissade on snow, so I know how easily and quickly it can happen.
User avatar
SandstoneSmitty
Posts: 174
Joined: 5/14/2007
14ers: 5 
Trip Reports (1)
 

Post by SandstoneSmitty »

USAKeller,
Thank you for these postings. I climbed my 1st 14er, Humboldt, just after TalusMonkey’s night assent. My friend, RockMother, and I used his trip reports as guides. We followed his adventures like a kid who has a supper hero. I hope to meet you on the trail one day. I will node politely and keep on my way. God bless.
Post Reply