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Another Mt Hood accident


billcoe

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Rescue happening now according to the radio. Anyone have any info? Hope it's along the lines of a twisted ankle and not something life threatening serious.

 

 

Inadequate written version.

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Rescue-crews-headed-to-Mount-Hood-after-climber-fall-159030815.html

 

At least it's great weather for a rescue operation today. They can get up there fast and safe.

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Heard the news at 6:30 this morning on Koin. The anchor was chatting with a PMR member on the way to the scene, asking dumb questions given what was already known. Was he wearing an MLU? Excuse me, people saw him fall on the South Side on a clear day. They know precisely where he is. Steve told her it was irrelevant.

 

I still hope for a good outcome. There is a lot of exposed rock up there in Devil's Kitchen adn Hot Rocks. I have fallen over 600 feet and walked away with a free facial dermabrasion. This person was not that fortunate. Until there is news to the contrary, I am going to hope for the best.

 

Why would the sheriff ask people to cancel their climbs for the remainder of the day? That makes no sense unless it would interfere with the extraction of an injured climber. So maybe that is good news, in a way. It sounds like the person is in Devil's Kitchen, so the Old Chute wouldn't interfere.

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I just watched on tv a old climbing friend died on Hood this morning . I rember meeting Mark c at the Bluff , my friend Joe Parsley and I were standing on the column looking at 2ND pitch for Loose Block Over Hang thinking whos takeing the crux pitch. Then dam we hear a voice then Mark pops up and ask us , ha guys mind me passing bye. No rope soleing he makes one sweet move and hes gone, finishing the route. Later he dropes bye and ask us did you like it. We both smile and tell yap!!Many times I watched Mark climb and only wished Dam how easy it looked. Later on in my days I was competeing in the Bud lite tri series in the nw , and theres Mark always a smile as he passed me bye. He never stoped smileing and always shook my hand at the finish line. God bless Mark and his family, its a VERY SAD dAY

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Beacon_Rock_opening_day_048.JPG

 

Mark Cartier talks with Jeff Thomas on the season opener at Beacon Rock last year. Mark's positive attitude and rope gun leads were legend at Beacon. Mark was on numerous first free ascents at Beacon Rock including Little Wing, Ground Zero, Steppenwolf, Summer Daze, the list goes on.

Rest in peace Mark, you will be missed.

 

 

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Oh my gosh! I cannot believe this. Mark Cartier falls/dies on the S Side of Mt Hood?

 

I worked with Mark, and climbed with him in the 80's. I belayed him at the Beacon, we bouldered at Horsethief Butte and trained together at Rocky Butte... He was helping me step up my game and I was glad to belay him on his 5.12's that I was not ready for yet. He was really good on rock and as an alpine climber.

 

Mark was a great guy.

 

d

 

 

 

 

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Man, that really sucks.

 

I met Mark in 1977 at Smith and climbed with him more times than I can remember. He was attending OSU back then, going to Smith a lot with Mike Smelsar. The two of them became good friends with those of us going to U of O at the time (Chris Jones, Bill Ramsey, Alan Lester, and myself). Sometimes they'd drive into Eugene and the six of us would slink around campus after dark, taking turns on Jones' buildering problems.

 

The two of us drove together to Yosemite right after school ended in 1979. He drove halfway there, and I took over for the rest of the trip. I hadn't told him I'd never driven a stick shift until I was on the entrance ramp onto I-5 in Redding, grinding the gears of his slick new Volkswagen Rabbit. He did all the shifting from the passenger seat as I drove the rest of the way, telling me when to push in the clutch.

 

We spent three days climbing the NW Face of Half Dome together on that trip. I think at least half that time was spent getting the haul bag unstuck. We climbed a bunch at Smith for the next couple years. Probably the last time I shared a rope with him was in the mid-80s at Broughton's Bluff. He had put up a short route called Face Not Friction. I tried it a couple weeks before and got shut down on the final jams. I wasn't used to failing on cracks back then, so I went back with Mark to finish it off, only to have my ego knocked down to size once again. Never did make it up that thing.

 

Seems hard to believe that it was more than 25 years ago that we last climbed together,and even harder to believe that he's gone. I've run into him a few times over the years - as I grew older and fatter he seemed to defy the years only getting fitter and faster.

 

A big loss for Oregon climbing. My condolences to his family.

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his beacon routes are some of my favorites, and my hazy recollections of meeting him are nothing but positive

 

"wise king, do not grieve.

it is always better to avenge dear ones, than to indulge in mourning

for everyone of us, living in this world means waiting for our end.

let he who can achieve glory before death.

when a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark."

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No!! No!! No!! I absolutely cannot believe I am reading this! It seems utterly inconceivable to me to the point of not being able to really process it.

 

These past couple of years Mark has been super busy transitioning companies in the apparel industry, working on their home, and spending time with his family so it was pretty hard to sync up schedules to get out to Beacon together. But despite the fact we didn't know each other super-well, a couple of times each season I'd get THE call out of the blue and know he was itching to get on Borderline, BS&S or something similar. It also always meant I needed to dig out my A-game and get it on damn quick just to keep up with him. He was always super, super solid, totally calm, and relentlessly methodical on rock just this side of being a machine no matter how long it had been since getting out last.

 

I met he and Darryl one day around '89 or '90 after rope-soloing up to them at the lower anchor on Iron Maiden. I was just getting back in shape for what ended up being a short season for me and couldn't give it a whirl myself, yet they were totally inviting and watching them swap goes on it is still seared in my mind as some of the more inspired climbing I have ever witnessed. And Mark was the very first person to jump on Flying Circus the instant he heard it had been all cleaned up. He told me of having forgotten a big cam for the offwidth at the top because it had been so many years since doing it last, but rather than back off he simply sank a small cam at the base of it and ran it out to the anchor - typical Mark - smart, sure and the very essence of what bold free climbing is all about.

 

I had very much hoped there would still be many more pitches to come with him in the months and years ahead - my deepest condolences and sympathy to the family he loved so much, all his close friends and partners, co-workers, and to all NW climbers. A true light has been lost this day and I cannot stop weeping at the very thought of it - he will be profoundly missed.

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Sounds like he tumbled down to Hot Rocks from up on the crater rim, or close... Icy, that could be a gnarly ride.

 

Though he probably went a lot sooner than he would have wished, he did likely go in the way he would have prefered... doing the thing he loved most. I hope I get many, many, many more years here on Earth with my wife and family, but I can't think of a way I'd rather go, meself.

 

God speed.

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