More on Horsethief Butte Fatalities

[Dan_Miller]

From this morning's (04/07/09) Seattle Times:

 

Story of fatal climb at Columbia Hills State Park still emerging

By Craig Welch

 

Seattle Times staff reporter

 

Authorities are still trying to piece together events that led to the rock-climbing deaths of a police detective and his sister-in-law in a Washington state park this weekend.

 

Tony Silva, a detective in the Gresham, Ore., Police Department, and Laura Dyal-Silva died after falling about 35 feet from the top of the basalt columns at Horsethief Butte in Klickitat County's Columbia Hills State Park just before 1 p.m. Sunday. Silva died at the scene; his sister-in-law was airlifted to an area hospital.

 

A Washington State Parks spokeswoman said the two died while rappelling, though witnesses said neither climber was attached to a rope at the time of the fall.

 

Climbers nearby, who saw the two and another man at the top of the park's popular climbing cliffs, recalled hearing one quiz the others on climbing safety shortly before the fall.

 

State park rangers and the Washington State Patrol are investigating.

 

Members of the Mazamas, a popular 105-year-old Oregon mountaineering-education organization, happened to be teaching a beginning rock-climbing class Sunday at Horsethief Butte. One member immediately called 911, and several students and instructors offered first aid. None of them saw the fall.

 

"Many people heard a scream, and we saw the climbers on the ground," said Mazamas Executive Director Peggie Schwarz, who also was there.

 

The Mazamas did everything they could, said climber John Frieh, who is not affiliated with the group but was climbing nearby.

 

"It was the next best thing to having actual rescue personnel on site," he said. "You had like five first-aid kits instantly produced."

 

Columbia Hills, a 3,338-acre park just across the Columbia River from The Dalles, Ore., is a popular beginner-climbing spot, with about 50 climbing routes, but very few fixed anchors.

 

 

[neswstar]

Weird, the rope was still in the rope bag.

[scm007]

WTF happened? I am really curious to hear the accident report for this.

[JosephH]

We'll have to wait for either an official WSP analysis or a statement from the survivor. It's don't believe it's even clear at this point whether they were climbing or sport rappelling. Everyone should remain patient at this point relative to the details. What is abundantly clear is that everyone should probably review how they think and operate when around edges and tops of climbs.

[rob]

I thought there were no survivors.

[mkporwit]

I believe Joseph is referring to the third individual that the two victims were conversing with at the top of the cliff...

[JosephH]

As I understand it, the accident happened to a party which included two brothers, the wife of one of the brothers, and the children of one of the brothers. One of the brothers and the wife were the only ones involved in the accident itself.

[Off_White]

everyone should probably review how they think and operate when around edges and tops of climbs.

 

Edges include descent trails too, its easy to lose site of the fact that catastrophe is a simple slip away, and gravity never sleeps.

[AlpineK]

It doesn't take a large fall at all to really mess you up, or worse.

[ivan]

It doesn't take a large fall at all to really mess you up, or worse.

says the man who had a big chunk of his skull sitting in a glass jar for months on end!

 

[hemp22]

Article in Columbian

 

sounds like the two were building a TR anchor and had put in 1 piece of anchor pro & were both connected to it, and a slip or something occurred before getting the 2nd & 3rd pieces in & attached.

[scm007]

I have never climbed there before, but is it common to setup TR's from 3 nuts there? Seems a bit odd.

 

Also if the area is such that a slip can occur, how did they even get the first piece in? They must have descended unroped to the anchor?

 

This whole thing seems very wrong, but I can't say without knowing a bit more about the climb they were trying to TR.

 

Any more info from someone who knows?

[EM Scinsicauda]

I have never climbed there before, but is it common to setup TR's from 3 nuts there? Seems a bit odd...

 

I've climbed there a bit. There are (almost) no hangers/bolts there. Most people set TRs, with anchors built of 3+ pieces of gear. You ascend by, usually, scrambling up a backside, set your gear in cracks along the top, and hang a power-point over the edge to TR from.

 

It's generally pretty safe. The Columbian article (quoting the WSP) said the 2 climbers were both attached to a single nut and/or each other (?!), and the nut failed when they put their weight on it.

 

Which makes no sense to me. I'm trying to get more details, and will post if I do. - EMS

[godskid5]

Only one bolt that i've seen there, and it sits about 10ft from the edge. I believe it was used as an anchor for climb schools, not to climb from but to protect those hanging around the top.

 

All anchors are built with nuts, cams, or slings around rocks. Not sure how, or why, they would be connected to only one anchor? It says they may have thought they were tied in to another, but still. It sounds like a lot of guessing to me. With no one around to witness it and all, we may never know exactly what happened up there.

 

Fairly small cliffs, about 20-30 ft on average on the inside of the butte. Seen people act pretty stupid there before. Guess people don't think they can get hurt on short cliffs like that. ??