Missing hiker in IPW: fatality & recovery

[BColo]

Very sorry to read this. I heard a helicopter this morning (off of peak-to-peak) and wondered what was happening, it seems it was the recovery.

https://www.9news.com/article/news/loca ... 5f7ddd6853

[qkuech]

Gosh, really sad to hear about another loss. Fatality on Crestone Needle, Williams Peak, and this in one weekend. Really tough summer in the Rockies in general with some of the other rescues / recoveries, is it just me or does it seem like there have been way more incidents this summer? Thoughts going out to all the families and friends.

[Jorts]

is it just me or does it seem like there have been way more incidents this summer?

I don't have statistics at hand but I know there is a lot of seasonal variance. I doubt this season is an outlier. Stay safe everyone.

[Mtnman200]

is it just me or does it seem like there have been way more incidents this summer?

I don't have statistics at hand but I know there is a lot of seasonal variance. I doubt this season is an outlier. Stay safe everyone.

2017 was not a good year. Capitol Peak alone had five fatalities that year.

[jfm3]

is it just me or does it seem like there have been way more incidents this summer?

I don't have statistics at hand but I know there is a lot of seasonal variance. I doubt this season is an outlier. Stay safe everyone.

2017 was not a good year. Capitol Peak alone had five fatalities that year.

5 fatalities in just 3 weeks in August. I climbed Capitol for my finisher last year and that month of deaths was in my mind for almost every step. Capitol is scary.

[seannunn]

Very sorry to hear this. None of my thoughts below have anything to do with this particular incident.

I am not sure about recent years (other than the Capitol deaths in 2017 that I am guessing must have been partially due to a bad cairn or set of cairns that caused people to get off track).
I do know that about a decade ago there was a 5 year study done.
The average for those 5 years was 12 deaths in CO mountains per year.
The biggest takeaway I got in terms of cause of death was that deaths result from falling, oftentimes because people summit too late in the day and are above tree line when an afternoon thunderstorm hits.
This terrifies them and potentially causes them to make a mistake downclimbing that they would otherwise not make.

Not commenting on this particular incident, but in the 2 weeks that I climbed in August I saw what I considered a large number of people climbing extraordinarily late in the day.
We started all of our climbs (Wilson, Sneffels, Capitol, N. Maroon, Pyramid, & Maroon) no later than 4am, and some of those were from high camps. On Maroon we started at 2am. I don't know that we ever saw headlamps above us, but we saw plenty below us.
We were usually the first ones on the summit or very close, so it wasn't that we left early just because we are slow (although at 56, I am slow-ish).
On every single climb we saw people still going up after noon, with 1000' or more of hard climbing to go. The weather was good in every case, but we all know how quickly that can change. Or maybe we don't all know.
I don't know if the 2 trends are related. Also I am not sure how else to educate people about summer storms in CO and the importance of starting early.
I believe that both this website and Roach's 14ers book both emphasize this quite a bit.
If you look up videos on YouTube about climbing particular 14ers, however, you will find a large number of videos that show the YouTuber beginning a LONG, DIFFICULT climb at 6 or 7am. Maybe people think that starting early means 6 or 7am.
That would probably be OK on Handies Peak or Mount Sherman if you're fairly fit & fast. Not a good idea at all on a harder mountain unless you are Anton Krupicka or Andrew Hamilton.

One other thing: since we climbed Capitol we talked to a fair number of people about climbing Capitol. THREE different people told us that Capitol was their first 14.
Obviously they made it, but is there perhaps a trend towards attempting harder 14ers without laying the groundwork by climbing some easier ones first? Just a possibility.

My guess is that there are more in July-September because there are just a lot more people who climb in July-September.
Very sad, in any case.

[martinleroux]

Gosh, really sad to hear about another loss. Fatality on Crestone Needle, Williams Peak, and this in one weekend.

It hasn't been widely reported, but there was another fatality in the Indian Peaks just yesterday (Aug 28). A young climber fell from the ridgeline between Navajo and Arikaree. He and his partner were attempting the LA Freeway traverse (Longs to Arapaho). LA Freeway has been done many times, but almost everyone avoids that section of ridgeline.

[Ryan987]

Wow. So many fatalities this year.....

[climbingyogi]

Gosh, really sad to hear about another loss. Fatality on Crestone Needle, Williams Peak, and this in one weekend.

It hasn't been widely reported, but there was another fatality in the Indian Peaks just yesterday (Aug 28). A young climber fell from the ridgeline between Navajo and Arikaree. He and his partner were attempting the LA Freeway traverse (Longs to Arapaho). LA Freeway has been done many times, but almost everyone avoids that section of ridgeline.

Oh man. I was up at Jasper Lake with my dog yesterday and I thought I heard a helicopter. So sad.

[climbingcue]

Updated article on this accident.

https://coloradosun.com/2024/09/20/arik ... nd-rescue/

[onebyone]

On every single climb we saw people still going up after noon, with 1000' or more of hard climbing to go. The weather was good in every case, but we all know how quickly that can change. Or maybe we don't all know.
I don't know if the 2 trends are related. Also I am not sure how else to educate people about summer storms in CO and the importance of starting early.

I always start very very early for this reason alone. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can bust an ankle on one these climbs. Or take a bad fall. If this happens at 10-11 am versus 3 pm, the chances of rescuers getting to me before nightfall is significantly higher. If you get hurt late in the day, then decent chance you're spending the night up there. Add in cold temperatures, thunderstorms, etc. If you get hurt mid to late morning, there will likely be many more climbers behind you who can assist or can call in help= some even with medical or search and rescue experience and backgrounds.

[Wimyers]

Anyone, and I mean anyone, can bust an ankle on one these climbs

Checkmate