Sammamish climber dies in a mind shaft

[Otto]

This is the saddest thing I've read in a while.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003105173_rock05m.html

Did anyone know of him?

[catbirdseat]

Sad. Mine shafts are extremely dangerous places. To enter one alone is not a good idea.

[chelle]

That sounds terrible. I can't image being so close to getting out and not able to grab the rope.

[tivoli_mike]

 

 

A Sammamish climber missing for 12 days was found dead Sunday in a mine shaft near Blewett Pass.

 

Photos found on the camera of Ronald Calder, 46, suggest he'd explored caves and mines in the area before attempting to descend into an abandoned gold mine, said Detective Mitch Matheson of the Chelan County's Sheriff's Office.

 

Calder set out June 20. His car was found at a monument on the Old Blewett Highway about 8 miles north of the summit and 1.5 miles from the mine shaft.

 

Calder appears to have tied a rope around a tree and descended about 100 feet into the shaft, which was about 4 feet by 4 feet wide, Matheson said. The detective believes that Calder then unhitched himself on a ledge to explore some horizontal shafts in the mine and was later unable to grab back onto his rope.

 

Matheson said the temperature was about 55 degrees in the shaft and that Calder, an inexperienced climber, was wearing only light clothing, having left his pack at the top. A coroner's report indicates Calder died of hypothermia, Matheson said.