northofthewall

The memorial was an emotional and powerful event. His family and friends have organized a party-celebration, held Saturday night, Nov 15, 2014: Join us Saturday November 15th for an epic gathering and FUNdraiser for the late and great John H. Cooper. Bring your Cooper school pride to Youngstown Cultural Arts Center for the School Dance and Social we've all been waiting for -- expect a full body takeover by the varsity all-stars DJ RIZ, DJ STACK, & DJ PAULY D. GET TICKETS HERE: http://cooperschool.brownpapertickets.com/ Donations: http://thinkingofjohn.weebly.com/'>http://thinkingofjohn.weebly.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/936837613011889 There will be snacks! There will be beer! There will be a bar! There will be NO regrets (unless you're absent)! Bring your cash dollars, there will not be a plastic accepting device and this is a FUNdraiser for the next generation of school-bound Coopers - Lila & Dylan. GET TICKETS! Please get tickets at whatever amount feels appropriate, as we will likely sell out. There will be tix at the door IF capacity allows, ticket holders guaranteed entry. Youngstown’s address is 4408 Delridge Way SW, Seattle If you would like to support and can only be there in spirit please feel free to donate directly on John's Memorial Site so we can bypass BPT fees. http://thinkingofjohn.weebly.com/ p.s. YOU ROCK!

Did you know John Cooper IV? Do you like good parties? Did you realize that wherever Coop was there was also a good party? If so please come to Coop School at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center this Saturday night, Nov 15. John Cooper IV perished on the North Face of Mt. Shuksan last May (http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1124144/1). Please come celebrate his life, and support his family. ------------ Join us Saturday November 15th for an epic gathering and FUNdraiser for the late and great John H. Cooper. Bring your Cooper school pride to Youngstown Cultural Arts Center for the School Dance and Social we've all been waiting for -- expect a full body takeover by the varsity all-stars DJ RIZ, DJ STACK, & DJ PAULY D. GET TICKETS HERE: http://cooperschool.brownpapertickets.com/ Donations: http://thinkingofjohn.weebly.com/'>http://thinkingofjohn.weebly.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/936837613011889 There will be snacks! There will be beer! There will be a bar! There will be NO regrets (unless you're absent)! Bring your cash dollars, there will not be a plastic accepting device and this is a FUNdraiser for the next generation of school-bound Coopers - Lila & Dylan. GET TICKETS! Please get tickets at whatever amount feels appropriate, as we will likely sell out. There will be tix at the door IF capacity allows, ticket holders guaranteed entry. Youngstown’s address is 4408 Delridge Way SW, Seattle If you would like to support and can only be there in spirit please feel free to donate directly on John's Memorial Site so we can bypass BPT fees. http://thinkingofjohn.weebly.com/ p.s. YOU ROCK!

A public memorial will be held for John Cooper IV tomorrow (Sunday, May 18th) from 3-6pm at the Sunset Community Center. 3003 NW 66th Street, Seattle WA 98117 https://goo.gl/maps/dx6As

Long time looker, first time poster. Unfortunately, my first post is a miserable one-- I was climbing next to John Cooper yesterday when he was taken away. Not sure if a TR is appropriate, but thought I'd provide details in this forum seeing as many of the folks that John highly respected have chimed in. John was one of my closest friends off the mountains, and the person I most trusted as a partner in the mountains. We had climbed and skied together in the Cascades regularly in all seasons for the past 15 years. I miss him terribly already. Our plan had been to climb the north face of Shuksan and ski down the best available depending on conditions. We had attempted the trip 10 days earlier with another friend, but very wet conditions held us to an approach recon mission that included a high point of 4400' on the east side of the White Salmon valley, prospecting a creek bed on the way out, and schawking up the "clear cut" below the starting point. The clear skies brought John and I hope for a second try. Yesterday we left the car at 5AM and were at the saddle above Price Lake at 820. We snacked and enjoyed the incredible setting, and I took this last picture of John. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/john_cooper_shuksan_2014.JPG[/img] We looked at the north face and decided to get on it and see how it felt in crampons. Climbable and not too soft, but it was early and we figured we'd ski down the White Salmon. At that time, 9ish, there was no slide activity on the route. We started climbing, unroped for speed and to avoid dragging both of us down in a slide. At around 1015 we were at ~6700 ft, just above the edge of the rock band that dominates the start of the route, about to head right--off the slope directly beneath the cliffs of the North Shoulder. We were next to each other when we saw a smallish/medium slough release above us. I jumped over about 20 feet and hit the deck. From my position, on the edge of slough, I could see that John was well dug in and the snow flying past him. Its a blur to me now, but if the slough lasted 30 seconds I saw John in position after 20 seconds. There was a last re-invigoration of the slough and I burrowed my head down. When it was over I looked to my left, and John was gone. As fast as I could in my crampons, and skis on my pack, I ran down the slope we were on hoping to see him. After struggling down the hill freaked, I quickly switched to skis and skied to the start of the route with my beacon in search mode. Not seeing him on my way down was a horrible sign. I got my phone out--3 bars!--and called 911. I gave the operator the basics and told her I was going to keep looking for him and that I'd call back. I skied down ~1300 ft to the cliffs above Price Lake, but staying well away from the two main runout gullys. Things looked bleak. At the top of the cliffs I didn't have cell phone reception, and couldn't get down to the lake, so I bootpacked back to the saddle and cell phone reception. I remade contact with the National Park Service at 1215, they scrambled a helicopter, and told me to wait on the saddle with my phone in airplane mode, checking in every hour to save battery. At about 3pm the helicopter showed up. They buzzed me, went down to the lake where I had told them to expect to see him, and were out of sight for less than 10min. The helicopter then landed on the ridge above Price Lake on the side opposite from me and communicated with headquarters. The helicopter team had quickly found his body at the base of the mountain, just above the lake, and conclusively determined that he had not survived the 2500 foot fall. I declined the helicopter ride out (they said the wouldn't be able to take my skis) and got off the mountain as fast as I could. Three nice gentlemen from Bellingham SAR intercepted me at the creek crossing closest to the road, and we skied back to the parking lot together. Many thanks to the NPS for coordinating the recon and eventual recovery operations, and to the Bellingham SAR and TJ for softening my landing. So that is how it happened. We knew the risks and the hazards, but I don't think we properly appreciated how thin the knife's edge actually was. We thought we had the timing down, and hadn't seen any similar sized sloughs on the route prior to the one that caught John. Its hard not to play hindsight games. John will be missed by all he met, and for those who knew him well his abscence leaves an irreplaceable hole as a friend, brother, father and husband.