dinomyte Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) I saw on the news tonight that Dave Reinhart and Eric Norse were lost on Aconcagua. Greg Norse survived. I worked with Dave for 5 years and call him friend even though we only spoke every year or two. I climbed with him and Greg a couple times and wanted to share a couple of stories: On one of my early hikes, Dave, Greg and I went with a large group of folks up Mt. Adams. We had some beers and steaks the night before and got up at 5am or so to head out. Dave had me pick up his pack. It was a good 50 lbs. Greg did the same. His was at least 75lbs. Mine was about 30 for the overnighter. Greg was with what I called a "foofie" girl - cute but not real strong looking. We made it up to lunch counter with greg and his gal way behind. When they finally showed up, she looked pretty cheerful and we expressed surprise to Greg that she made it. He confided that she made it about a hundred yards out of camp before tossing her 20lb daypack on his. She conveniently got it back about a hundred yards before lunch counter. At that point Dave brought out the half gallon of tequila from his pack and Greg the two half gallons of margarita mix from his. We enjoyed margaritas at 9200 ft. Another time Dave brought a pony of a nice brown ale that he brewed to my Super Bowl party. A couple of the gals were topless before the night was through! It must have been good beer! Dave was a great guy and Greg is one of the strongest guys I've ever seen in the hills! My family's best to the Norse and Reinhart families. I know that Dave had only been married a brief time and Char seems like a great gal. These things suck every time I hear about them. I know Dave was on hear from time to time. He and eric will be missed. Climb on. Jon Edited January 1, 2013 by dinomyte Quote
Koda Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 Dinomyte Can you PM me Daves user name on here. I am not having any luck with the search tool. If you PM me, I can prove I am a friend of Dave. I also was on the Adams trip you described. 2004 I think. here is an article describing pretty accurately the events last weekend on Aconcagua: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22293596/colorado-man-among-two-mountaineers-killed-argentina-climb Quote
billcoe Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 What a story. Sorry to hear of it, so sad. They sound like some remarkable guys, the kind any of us would gladly tie in with any day. My condolences to friends and family who will no doubt be hurting at the loss of some good folks taken all too soon. I believe David posted here as Reinhart. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/userposts/id/10480 Quote
dinomyte Posted January 3, 2013 Author Posted January 3, 2013 Billcoe is correct on Dave's name on here. Hard to believe that our Adams trip was so long ago, but that's probably about right. There were so many of us I don't remember everyone. Still, good times! Any loss is tough but it always seems worse when it's someone we know doing something we all love. Quote
wfinley Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 My condolences to the friends and family of Dave Reinhart and Eric Norse. I climbed the Polish Direct in 2010 and we also encountered bad conditions which lead to a summit bivouac; we escaped with minor frostbite but it was a long night. I cannot imagine the pain that Greg Nourse is going through right now. Quote
ScaredSilly Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 Indeed sad news, I read the news article above and have been pondering it. I am very curious to know of the conditions that made it difficult for them to find the descent route. It sounds as though Eric went up and over in the dark but not to the summit so I can see him missing the Canaleta but I wonder what caused Greg's difficulties as it sounds as though he waited on the summit? I can see not going far enough towards the south summit before heading down into the Canaleta and running into issues but I am a bit baffled. Sad indeed. Quote
wfinley Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 I am very curious to know of the conditions that made it difficult for them to find the descent route. It sounds as though Eric went up and over in the dark but not to the summit so I can see him missing the Canaleta but I wonder what caused Greg's difficulties as it sounds as though he waited on the summit? I can see not going far enough towards the south summit before heading down into the Canaleta and running into issues but I am a bit baffled. Sad indeed. When you're on the summit the normal route tops out via a short mellow chimney that is completely nondescript. In the daytime it's easy routefinding because you can see the trail leading to the Canaleta just below final rocky chimney - but at night all you can see is a steep chimney surrounded by steep rocky chimneys. We reached the summit around midnight and I hunted around for a good hour before deciding to wait till daylight. Three times I started down only to discover I was downclimbing something much steeper than it should have been. Go too far to the north and you're on the rocky buttress seen in the below pic (right side). Walk 50 feet to the south and this is what you'll fall down. As for waiting for a climber to point the way... Given that 2 of 3 succumbed to either HAPE or HACE I'd guess that Greg was also suffering from high altitude sickness which inhibited his route-finding come daylight.. Quote
ScaredSilly Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 I should have noted that I am familiar with the summit terrain but was there in the day light. I really do not recall the chimneys you are describing, I just remember a wandering through the rock "buttress." Perhaps in my own haze as I had been recovering from a bronchial infection. However, given your experience of down climbing chimneys and running into steeper terrain does make me recall why the last bit wanders around. To avoid those steep sections as I do recall wandering to the north of the summit. That could well be what caused Greg's difficulties and why he waited. Thanks for jogging my memory. As for the south face - I saw that scenario play out on the Polish Glacier. When a climber, oddly enough from Poland did exactly that from along the top of the glacier to the summit. One minute he was there and the next he was gone. He was never found. Quote
Koda Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 All, thank you so much for the replies and the link to Dave's contributions here on Cascade Climbers. I will be able to go through them and preserve his memories to share with his friends. Dave was my close friend, and he and Greg led me to ski the summits of Rainier and just this year Baker, and countless other ski mountaineering adventures in between. Greg and Dave were life long best friends, I only briefly met Eric once at a party but know that Greg and his brother are extremely close. This tragedy has hit my circle hard. thank you again for the information on Dave's contributions here. [img:center]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nEsSmS7VkVc/T_uQiueHtuI/AAAAAAAAShQ/cL3Y3CzEKXw/s720/IMG_8792.JPG[/img] Dave, Greg and myself on the summit of Baker July 2012 Quote
ivan Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 "wise sir do not grieve it is always better to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning for every one 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" Quote
Chriznitch Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 Dave contacted me through this site back in November 2012, asking about my experience with the Polish Direct route. Sorry to hear the bad news... Quote
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