murraysovereign Posted July 8, 2007 Posted July 8, 2007 Heard a brief item on CBC radio news this morning, but not much detail. Anyone know what happened? Quote
thatcher Posted July 8, 2007 Posted July 8, 2007 http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e814042b-0e29-44fa-b043-7c3c186e488d&k=23778 Quote
murraysovereign Posted July 8, 2007 Author Posted July 8, 2007 Yeah, that's what the CBC reported also, pretty much verbatim. Â The description of the two climbers gives just enough information to have me really worried... Quote
Don_Serl Posted July 8, 2007 Posted July 8, 2007 another early news report:  ...................................  RCMP say survival of a missing climber on Chilliwack's Mount Slesse is unlikely Sunday, July 08 - 11:30:00 AM  Ian Kucerak VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The search for a climber missing on Chilliwack's Mount Slesse is likely to turn into a recovery effort after treacherous conditions on the mountain have prevented rescue crews from reaching his location.  The missing Abbotsford man is said to be an experienced mountaineer. He was short-rope climbing with a partner on the mountain's northeast face on Saturday morning when he was hit by a falling block of ice and fell into a crevasse. His partner had to hike 5 hours down the mountain to get help.  Chilliwack Mounties say the area is continues to be unpredictable as rocks and ice tumble down the mountain near where the man was struck. Constable Bert Paquet says rescue crews used a helicopter to asses how to make an attempt to reach the lost climber. The Coroner's Service has been called in as crews continue to try and reach the area where the climber fell.  ......................   no names yet, which of course feeds the worries.  cheers, don  Quote
Choada_Boy Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Some more info HERE. Â ----------------------------------------------- CHILLIWACK - Rescuers have called off the search for an Abbotsford man presumed dead after being hit by falling ice while climbing a mountain east of Chilliwack early Saturday morning. Â The 31-year-old man was climbing the steep northeast face of Mount Slesse with a 32-year-old friend from Vancouver around 6 a.m. when the accident happened. Â The two experienced climbers were tied together, or short-roping, when the victim was hit by an ice block that fell from overhead. Â His friend was unscathed and was cutting the rope linking them when it broke and the victim fell. Â The climber disappeared and his friend hiked five hours to get help. Â Police and Chilliwack Search and Rescue were called, and rescuers spent the day assessing the area where the accident happened. Â As a result, a recovery mission will not be attempted because of the safety risk to rescuers - the area is unstable, with ice and rock debris still shifting and falling down. Â According to Chilliwack RCMP, based on the assessment of search-and-rescue experts the chance of survival is unlikely. Â Police are not releasing the name of the victim or his friend. Â The rescue situation will be reassessed during a meeting planned for Monday. Quote
ivan Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Â Â His friend was unscathed and was cutting the rope linking them when it broke and the victim fell. uh...wtf? Â so sounds like it was a piece of the pocket glacier that uncorked and swept the approach to the ne buttress then? Â does canada really think it can compete w/ oregon in tauntaun cultivation? Quote
sk Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 are all cc.comers accounted for yet? Â this is a tragedy. peace to the family and friends Quote
Weekend_Climberz Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Damn! What a bad story. My condolences also go out to the friends and family. Be carefull out there guys. Quote
archenemy Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Condolences to all involved. Â The quote ivan put up jumped out at me too. Â "His friend was unscathed and was cutting the rope linking them when it broke and the victim fell." Â Â I don't understand the order of what happened. I am not an alpine climber and am ignorant of its practices and demands. Is the above quote logical to alpinists? Â Again, RIP to the climber who was killed. Â Quote
ericb Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Condolences to all involved. Â The quote ivan put up jumped out at me too. Â "His friend was unscathed and was cutting the rope linking them when it broke and the victim fell." Â Â I don't understand the order of what happened. I am not an alpine climber and am ignorant of its practices and demands. Is the above quote logical to alpinists? Â Again, RIP to the climber who was killed. Â I think that given the media's frequent and blatant butchering of the facts when it comes to reporting on climbing accidents, speculating on what happened at this point is like pissin in the wind....of course, sure beats workin Quote
spotly Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Doesn't make any sense to me either. I'm sure they just doinked the story up somehow. Quote
Toast Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007  I think that given the media's frequent and blatant butchering of the facts when it comes to reporting on climbing accidents, speculating on what happened at this point is like pissin in the wind....of course, sure beats workin  Yeah, cuz as it's currently described, things don't jive. Quote
murraysovereign Posted July 9, 2007 Author Posted July 9, 2007 I've had a bad feeling about this one from that first radio report Sunday morning, and the few subsequent pieces of information have only made it worse. I wish they'd release the name so we'd know, rather than waiting, and wondering... Quote
TrogdortheBurninator Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 The news report I just read said the rope was cut by the impact of the ice block. Sincere condolences to the friends and family of the deceased climber. Â "The force of the ice was so great it broke the rope and knocked the Abbotsford man into the crevasse." Â http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=84d41e6f-1d44-498b-b8d1-6bab2eca7248&k=73990 Â Quote
Rad Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Sad news. RIP. I think I'll make sure the pocket glacier is gone before heading up there. Quote
Choada_Boy Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 More detailed article: Â Search called off for climber presumed dead in fall Linda Nguyen, Vancouver Sun Published: Monday, July 09, 2007 Â CHILLIWACK - An experienced alpine climber who was knocked into a crevasse by a slab of ice on Mount Slesse over the weekend is presumed dead. Â Chilliwack Search and Rescue called off the helicopter search of the Fraser Valley mountain Saturday night, believing the 31-year-old Abbotsford man likely died in the glacier. Â The area is too unsafe for a rescue or a recovery mission at this time, RCMP spokesman Bert Paquet said in a telephone interview Sunday. "The chance of survival in this specific case was established as unlikely." Â Â The man had been scaling the steep northeast face of the Chilliwack mountain with a 32-year-old Vancouver man around 6 a.m. Saturday. Neither of the climbers were named. Â The two were tied together until a massive chunk of ice from an overhang fell and hit the Abbotsford man, severing the rope, and knocking him into a crevasse, Paquet said. Â The other climber, who was not injured, could no longer see his friend or get a response when he called out. Â It took him five hours to climb down the mountain to get help. Â Brad Fandrich, the helicopter pilot who took the search and rescue team and the surviving climber to look for the missing man, described the area as very dangerous. "We knew exactly where the victim was, but we were just trying to assess risk and access," he said. "There was definitely a big risk to the rescue team." Â Fandrich, a 13-year veteran with Valley Helicopters in nearby Hope, said the surviving climber is still in shock. Â "He said the chunk of ice that hit his friend was the size of two pickup trucks -- his words," Fandrich said. "The gravity of the situation hadn't affected him yet. He looked tired but he was still holding himself together." Â Fandrich said the helicopter was in the air for two hours, but only able to spend 30 minutes surveying the rescue site. "I couldn't see anything. To me, it was just a glacier where there was newly crumbled ice," he said. Â "The spot where the climber fell was in between a crack of the glacier that was 20 to 30 feet deep." Â He said his company has done search and rescue missions before on Mount Slesse, but this time, the risks of falling ice and rock made it impossible for the helicopter to land. Â "I didn't want to put the helicopter under the cliff because we could see rocks that had fallen from above, embedded into the glacier," he said. Â A ground recovery team will not be sent in to look for the missing climber at this time because conditions are still too dangerous, police said. They will decide today if they will return to the site. Mount Slesse, at almost 2,500 metres, is favoured by hikers and climbers. Quote
TREETOAD Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Here is another link, very sad. Â http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20070709_141755_4988 Quote
RuMR Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 i don't want to think it, but anyone seen/heard from dru??? Quote
canadug Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 He went off on Friday to do the fieldwork (couple of months in the interior of BC) for this thesis...so it is very unlikely to be Dru. Quote
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