Gary Falk, Exum guide, dies in fall

[painless4u2]

http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/envi ... 839ff.html

RIP

Does anyone know of him from the 14ers community?

[polar]

Cross posted to Mountain Project. While rappelling is technically easier than climbing, it is quite unthinkable how many climbers get hurt while rappelling. RIP Gary Falk.

[Mason Griffin]

I had the privilege of climbing with Gary in 2012. Some friends and I did Exum's two day climb of the Grand, and Gary was our lead guide. He was the essence of the professional guide - highly skilled, patient, courteous, thoughtful, and a great teacher. Every word and every action screamed competence. In addition, Gary was just a great guy. He made everyone on our trip feel important, and we all enjoyed the chance we had to get to know him. We summited early on day 2, returned to the saddle, loaded up and headed down to the trailhead. We offered to buy drinks at Dornan's (a bar/restaurant inside the park about a 10 min drive from the trailhead), and Gary was kind enough to take us up on it. We had some drinks, swapped stories and watched the afternoon clouds move in over the Grand. Gary had to head out after about an hour, and that's the last time I saw him. I didn't know Gary well or for long but he left a permanent impression on me and countless others. Rest in peace, friend.
Mason

[SnowAlien]

Darn, RIP Gary. Some serious credentials, IFMGA guide.

http://exumguides.com/gary-falk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://mtnguide.net/about-us/guides/gary-falk-bio/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[14erFred]

Prayers of comfort and strength for Gary's family and friends. May he rest in peace forever, and may his memory always be a blessing.

[polar]

A bit more detail on the accident.

http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/cops ... 12d2c.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[JChitwood]

I have not climbed the Grand but have seen it many times and know it is steep, but can you really fall 2,400 feet?

[atalarico]

RIP. What a sad loss for the climbing community. I hope is family will be well supported.

I have not climbed the Grand but have seen it many times and know it is steep, but can you really fall 2,400 feet?

Yes...to say the routes on the Grand have "exposure" is a slight understatement. The area where he fell from the rappel is above the gradually sloping ledge start of the Owen-Spalding route. If you fell on to that, and then kept going, you'd go right down the Black Ice Couloir, which is every bit as mean and nasty as it sounds.

The Grand is certainly no ordinary 13'er, and it shut down me and my climbing partner's car-to-car attempt last August around the Belly Crawl on O/S (weather). We're both very competent climbers with a decent enough alpine climbing resume (e.g. the Diamond, Sharsktooth, Snave/Evans, etc.) and the exposure was enough for both of us to get our palms sweaty.

[LetsGoMets]

Myself and 4 others summited on Tuesday, and were pitching our tents on the lower saddle when the helicopters were in the area. When we got some cell service later in the day, and finally found out who the guide was, it turned out he had guided one of my party members up Rainier a few years back. He had nothing but spectacular things to say about him.

Anyone would fall 2400+ feet from the rap station where he unclipped from if they started sliding down the slope. We took the Upper Exum Ridge up, but the entire upper mountain harbors extreme exposure on all on sides.

RIP Gary.

[workmanflock]

I have not climbed the Grand but have seen it many times and know it is steep, but can you really fall 2,400 feet?

I think the elevation gain is on the order of 7500 feet, you are looking down several thousand feet at airplanes touring the valley from the top.

[polar]

http://www.wyofile.com/mountain-guide-d ... exum-fine/

This was posted over on Mountain Project, but I just remembered it was posted here as well. Initially, it was believed that Gary Falk unclipped himself from the anchor in an attempt to unstuck the rope and belay device. But accident investigation revealed that his tether to the anchor, which was a section of webbing tied with a water knot, failed. The water knot came untied as Gary leaned out from the anchor to unstuck the rope. It goes to show that speculations right after an accident, even by eye witnesses, may not be entirely accurate.

[FireOnTheMountain]

I've never seen a self tied tether as in why wouldnt he have used a closed loop piece of webbing girth hitched. Just curious. Super sad.