Michael Reardon RIP

[EWolfe]

Very Sad News

 

From what I have gathered from folks off the Taco, there was a rescue training operation going on at the top of the cliff from where he fell. Reports were that rescue operations went into effect almost immediately, helicopters, search and rescue, and fishing boats searched for him to no avail.

[layton]

Aw man, that's just terrible! Not too surprising, but terrible nonetheless.

[ZimZam]

[ashw_justin]

They are making it sound like he wasn't actually climbing at the time, just got surprised by a wave.(?)

[Rad]

Swallowed by the sea.

Tragic and poetic.

RIP

[olyclimber]

well, whatever you have to say about that guy he was definitely in his own league.

 

"Its just a jackass stunt that sets a bar"

 

RIP

[Jens]

RIP

Any cc posters climb with Michael?

Solid head for sure.

-------------------------

Soloing rock near your limit is every human emotion in one tidy package for sure.

[Mike OR]

He actually was at the bottom of the cliff on a ledge having finished the climb. I know the area well and there is a big swell there. Once you fall into the sea it is very difficult to get back onto the rocks and this appears to be what happened him. Unfortunately when you let your guard down you are most vulnerable.... Terrible for wife and daughter. RIP

[catbirdseat]

When I was a kid in Laguna Beach we used to train to self-rescue on rocky shores with big swells. It wasn't easy, even with Swim fins, and the water was warmer too. All it takes is a mistimed gulp and you inhale seawater and it's over. Sounds like a very difficult, if not impossible situation to recover from. Tragic.

[glassgowkiss]

holly shit. i thought he was indestracto!

[SandPounder]

http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/reardonmissing/

[plexus]

New York Times just ran a story today about the incident.

[EWolfe]

Thanks for the update, Sandpounder. Sad news indeed.

 

I have a friend who almost died from a rogue wave in Hawaii. He still bears the scars from the lacerations of the lava as he was pummelled and hanging on for his life while the water tried to pull him out to sea.

 

Be careful out there!

[billcoe]

Thanks for the update, Sandpounder. Sad news indeed.

 

I have a friend who almost died from a rogue wave in Hawaii. He still bears the scars from the lacerations of the lava as he was pummelled and hanging on for his life while the water tried to pull him out to sea.

 

Be careful out there!

 

Real sad about Reardon.

 

My hawaii story has me being slammed then sucked out and as the sucking occured, dropped straight down 10 feet onto my head while simutaniously being drug out to sea. Very different experience.

 

Plummelled is exactly how it felt, as the start of it was the wave slamming me face first into the cliff, then pushing my body up and across the sharp rocks to the first 6 foot drop while hanging onto my prized dive knife and trying to to not slit my throat or veins as this was occuring. The Opeehi (Limpets) I was prying off for dinner were in a dew rag as high as I could reach, and I was approx 4-5 feet above the highest of the waves till that point in time. ie the highest breker was not even getting close to me.

 

The wave that flushed me took the opeehi and my white ass right out of there. So it was maybe 13 feet higher than anything before.

 

After finally surfacing and getting my bearings, getting back onto the cliff while timing the breaks was an interesting mental sport, made more interesting (while treading water, bruised, battered and shocked) in I knew that my very life, literally depended on my timing, and that I might only have one, just one, chance....I had to observe where the waves were slamming the least, and at that point of elevation where were the 3-4 best holds at that height to get my tired butt out of there.

 

The thoughts included the fact that I was in an area at least 2 miles away from the nearest human being as I had sought seclusion, as is my normal way, which was also reflected on as I tread water thinking about my timing and the spot I had to try for.....

 

Got lucky, timed it right, got the spot. With the grip that comes of the desparete, I grabbed the Pahoi hoi and pulled my life up and out with me.

 

When I got finally dryed off, hiked back, drove home: wife says, "what happened to you?"

 

"Got rolled on a rock".

 

It was close.

 

I've been to Hawaii, maybe 10 times: usually for a week or 2 at a pop, and I've swum in the ocean all my life, since I was a kid in grade school, and certainly ever day I've been in Hawaii, but in the Pac NW too.

 

Never experienced anything quite like this. Not even being dumped out of a raft.