Peregrinator
Hooded On A Hill
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Bump for Phelia.
"Because it's there."
- Thread starter Peregrinator
- Start date
Peregrinator
Hooded On A Hill
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The number of climbers allowed each year on North America's tallest mountain has been capped at 1,500 by the National Park Service. No one has been turned away, yet.
Reads like Grand Central, dunnit?
Jesus, Vern Tejas is a badass. One wonders if there's anything he can't accomplish.
http://classic.mountainzone.com/climbing/tejas/
Phelia
in a submarine
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Oh, this is fantastic! I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner.
I'm making my way through the pages, but I just wanted to say an enthusiastic thank you and ask if you have a favorite climb? Apologies if that's a repeat; I'm halfway certain it's one of those things I'll find the answer to as soon as I hit reply.
Yay!
Peregrinator
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Ahahaha. No problem darlin. I guess you missed it when I bumped it for you months ago.
Favorite climb...hmmm...rock, ice, or mountain?
Phelia
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No kidding; it was all the way last year! I feel silly.
Mountain, I suppose, because I might actually be able to do it someday! Ice sounds incredible, but I'm not really cut out for cold weather. I grab for down blankets when it dips below 70 degrees. Very pathetic of me!
The pictures are gorgeous.
Peregrinator
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Only a little while ago, and I didn't tell you I was bumping it for you. No worries.
My favorite climb of a mountain was in Kyrgizstan, when everyone else had given up on a particular peak and I kept at it until I found a way to the top. I was the first person ever to stand on top of it. I'd tell you the name, but it's my wife's and my last name, so it will have to be off the boards.
Phelia
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Oh, but always better to come when called, you know. I'll work on it.
That's a fabulous story, and must have been so exhilarating for you! What a complete rush. I can only imagine having that feeling of claim for a piece of the world. Though, I did have a similar experience once; have I mentioned that my last name is Kilimanjaro?
Were you traveling specifically to climb? I've only ever managed side-trips if I'm abroad in the first place, so I'm hoping to check out the You Yangs next time I'm down under. Don't know much about them, actually, but how can you go wrong with a name like You Yangs?
Peregrinator
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You're obviously a good girl. We'll have to explore that further.
Hah! Phelia Kilimanjaro. Your parents had a sense of humor, didn't they?
Yeah; it was an expedition to a region with a whole bunch of unclimbed peaks, the Borkoldoy Range.
You Yangs is a wonderful name. I'll have to Google some pictures.
That's a great shot, Thor. Any idea where it was taken? Looks like maybe Joshua Tree.This photo needs to be here:
Peregrinator
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Looks like Mt Hood has claimed a life. A woman fell at around 10,000 feet and PMR is engaged in a body recovery. I'm sure it will be in the news tomorrow, if it's not already on the TV news feeds. Unfortunately, it appears she was climbing with her husband.
thør
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It's from http://www.purebredmutt.net. I have no idea of the location.
No one will have to put themselves on the line for a recovery.
Peregrinator
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Hmm.
Yeah, that's true. We take those slow and easy. Dead guy's in no hurry.
ETA: There's a bunch of Yosemite pics there. Probably from the Valley somewhere.
Peregrinator
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Woman killed in Mount Hood fall
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore — Large chunks of falling ice struck a woman climbing Mount Hood and sent her 400 feet to her death today.
By The Associated Press
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. — Large chunks of falling ice struck a woman climbing Mount Hood and sent her 400 feet to her death today, authorities said.
Brooke Colvin and her husband, Thad Stavn, were at about 10,000 feet on the 11,239-foot mountain when the accident occurred, said Clackamas County sheriff's Detective Jim Strovink.
Strovink said Stavn saw his 31-year-old wife hit by falling ice and thrown down the mountain. Strovink said Stavn was able to get to her, but she died instantly. Rescuers were trying to recover the body.
Stavn was able to get back down to Timberline Lodge from the area of the accident, known as the Pearly Gates.
An Oregon Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter was called to airlift the pair off the mountain, authorities said, but was recalled after one climber was reported dead and the other had climbed down on his own.
Strovink said warm weather has created treacherous climbing conditions on Oregon's highest mountain by making snow unstable and loosening boulder-size chunks of ice.
The fall was at the same spot as an accident Saturday that also required a rescue.
Mount Hood, about an hour's drive east of Portland, is one of the more frequently climbed glacier-covered peaks in the United States.
In 25 years it has claimed at least 36 lives, including three who attempted the more dangerous north face in December 2006.
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore — Large chunks of falling ice struck a woman climbing Mount Hood and sent her 400 feet to her death today.
By The Associated Press
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. — Large chunks of falling ice struck a woman climbing Mount Hood and sent her 400 feet to her death today, authorities said.
Brooke Colvin and her husband, Thad Stavn, were at about 10,000 feet on the 11,239-foot mountain when the accident occurred, said Clackamas County sheriff's Detective Jim Strovink.
Strovink said Stavn saw his 31-year-old wife hit by falling ice and thrown down the mountain. Strovink said Stavn was able to get to her, but she died instantly. Rescuers were trying to recover the body.
Stavn was able to get back down to Timberline Lodge from the area of the accident, known as the Pearly Gates.
An Oregon Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter was called to airlift the pair off the mountain, authorities said, but was recalled after one climber was reported dead and the other had climbed down on his own.
Strovink said warm weather has created treacherous climbing conditions on Oregon's highest mountain by making snow unstable and loosening boulder-size chunks of ice.
The fall was at the same spot as an accident Saturday that also required a rescue.
Mount Hood, about an hour's drive east of Portland, is one of the more frequently climbed glacier-covered peaks in the United States.
In 25 years it has claimed at least 36 lives, including three who attempted the more dangerous north face in December 2006.
thør
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Peregrinator
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Oh, wow. Daryl Miller was an institution. He briefed my party when I went there. Damn, that guy has spent untold hours making climbers safer and ensuring that Denali remains free and wild. What a serious loss!
Last edited:
Peregrinator
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Bump for a certain arachnid.
Spidergrrrl
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Thanks! I won't make it through all the pages tonight, but I'll come back to it.
Peregrinator
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At your leisure, my dear.
Phelia
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Not that my testimony was at all requested, but so worth it. Truly impressive and exemplary thread.
But I can surely sympathize with the seduction of sleep. Have a wonderful night.
Peregrinator
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Not that my testimony was at all requested, but so worth it. Truly impressive and exemplary thread.
But I can surely sympathize with the seduction of sleep. Have a wonderful night.
Expressing a passion is always infectious. This thread has been a lot of fun for me as well.
Phelia
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Agreed! I'm glad you've shared, it's been a treasure to climb.
Peregrinator
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I'm glad so many people have been willing to read and comment. Thank you.
Peregrinator
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I stole it from the American Alpine Club said:
thør
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Kudos for Greg
From the ADN:
With his best friend's life hanging in the balance, 24-year-old Greg Nappi skied through the chill darkness along Eklutna Lake on Thursday night and into the morning Friday as if his own life depended on getting help.
Only hours earlier, Nappi and Joe Butler had been enjoying the start of a spring ice-climb on the west face of The Mitre, a 6,551-foot peak that rises above Eklutna Glacier in Chugach State Park.
For the two men, the climb was to be one of their last together before they headed off to work as guides for the climbing season on Mount McKinley.
Then Butler slipped, a miscue that sent him tumbling and skidding more than 1,000 feet.
How it happened still isn't clear. Details remained sketchy Friday afternoon.
Nappi, when reached by telephone, said he was more interested in sleeping than in talking.
"I managed to save my best friend's life," he said, "(but) I haven't slept in over 30 hours."
What information was available came from Ian Thomas, a Chugach park ranger who was aboard an Alaska State Troopers helicopter that battled 50 mph winds and blowing snow to reach the 28-year-old Butler Friday morning.
Thomas got a call from troopers shortly after Nappi kicked in the door of the vacant Eklutna Campground ranger station at about 5 a.m. to use the telephone. The climber called trooper dispatchers and told them help was needed to save Butler, who had been critically injured in the fall shortly before noon Thursday.
Within hours, a rescue was under way.
By Friday afternoon, Butler was in surgery at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. Among other injuries, he reportedly suffered a broken femur -- the big bone in the leg -- and a broken collarbone.
That he survived, Thomas attributed to a climbing helmet, which protected his head in the fall; luck; and the heroic efforts of a trusted climbing partner.
For the first seven hours immediately after the accident, Thomas said, Nappi engaged in a demanding one-man rescue effort. He climbed down to Butler, assessed his injuries and stabilized his friend as best he could. Then he went several miles back to the park's Serenity Falls hut, got a sled, sleeping bags and a tent, returned to Butler, lowered him in the sled to a place where a helicopter could land just above the Eklutna Glacier, put up the tent, and put his injured friend inside wrapped in two sleeping bags.
Having by that point done all one man could do at the scene, Nappi went for help. It was near 6 p.m., and he'd already been through an exhausting ordeal, Thomas said, but still Nappi pushed on along the 13-mile trail that winds and rolls from the hut to the campground at the north end of Eklutna Lake.
All night he trudged along the trail in his heavy telemark ski gear wishing he could travel faster.
By daylight, his efforts were paying off. The trooper helicopter touched down near Butler's tent around 8 a.m.
Thomas found Butler inside and in pain, but conscious.
"Joe told me that he took a 1,200-foot fall on less than vertical terrain," Thomas said. "I was glad to hear him respond (to me). He's a good friend of mine. I went to school with him at Alaska Pacific University.''
Like so many in Alaska, Thomas, Butler and Nappi were drawn here for the adventure. While Thomas got a job as a state park ranger, Butler and Nappi ended up doing odd jobs and working as climbing guides for Mountain Trip on 20,320-foot McKinley and later for the Talkeetna-based Alaska Mountaineering School.
School founder Colby Coombs Friday described both men as strong, hard-working, fun-loving and safety conscious. Butler was slated to lead a group of soldiers from North Carolina onto McKinley later this month to aid them in preparing for high-altitude assignments in Afghanistan.
"He's a good guy, strong as an ox,'' said Coombs, who was among many wishing Butler a full recovery from his injuries.
"Both these guys are really good guys,'' Coombs said, "and hard climbers."
Butler lives in Anchorage with his wife, Amara Liggett. When he isn't guiding in Alaska or climbing in the Andes or Himalayas, he works as rigger and a safety consultant on Alaska film productions.
When Nappi isn't climbing or skiing in Turnagain Pass, he makes his home in Hope, the tiny community at the end of a dead-end road across Turnagain Arm from Anchorage. Summers, Nappi noted on the Mountain Trip Web site, are "spent in the Alaska Range or pounding nails to help make the dreams happen.''
Butler and Nappi were near the base of a route called Frears Tears below The Mitre when Butler slipped and started sliding down the mountain. Thomas said it appears the two climbers were just at the point where the real climbing starts, and because of that had yet to put in any ice screws for protection.
Troopers reported Butler fell about 100 feet down a near-vertical, frozen waterfall before sliding another 800 feet or more down a hillside.
The Mitre is a popular climbing destination to the west of towering Bashful and Baleful peaks back in the Eklutna Valley, upstream from Eklutna Lake to the east of the Eklutna Glacier. Festooned with ice falls, The Mitre draws climbers looking to tackle a variety of established routes on its west face.
One of the reasons the Serenity Falls hut was built was to provide shelter for climbers in the area.
From the ADN:
With his best friend's life hanging in the balance, 24-year-old Greg Nappi skied through the chill darkness along Eklutna Lake on Thursday night and into the morning Friday as if his own life depended on getting help.
Only hours earlier, Nappi and Joe Butler had been enjoying the start of a spring ice-climb on the west face of The Mitre, a 6,551-foot peak that rises above Eklutna Glacier in Chugach State Park.
For the two men, the climb was to be one of their last together before they headed off to work as guides for the climbing season on Mount McKinley.
Then Butler slipped, a miscue that sent him tumbling and skidding more than 1,000 feet.
How it happened still isn't clear. Details remained sketchy Friday afternoon.
Nappi, when reached by telephone, said he was more interested in sleeping than in talking.
"I managed to save my best friend's life," he said, "(but) I haven't slept in over 30 hours."
What information was available came from Ian Thomas, a Chugach park ranger who was aboard an Alaska State Troopers helicopter that battled 50 mph winds and blowing snow to reach the 28-year-old Butler Friday morning.
Thomas got a call from troopers shortly after Nappi kicked in the door of the vacant Eklutna Campground ranger station at about 5 a.m. to use the telephone. The climber called trooper dispatchers and told them help was needed to save Butler, who had been critically injured in the fall shortly before noon Thursday.
Within hours, a rescue was under way.
By Friday afternoon, Butler was in surgery at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. Among other injuries, he reportedly suffered a broken femur -- the big bone in the leg -- and a broken collarbone.
That he survived, Thomas attributed to a climbing helmet, which protected his head in the fall; luck; and the heroic efforts of a trusted climbing partner.
For the first seven hours immediately after the accident, Thomas said, Nappi engaged in a demanding one-man rescue effort. He climbed down to Butler, assessed his injuries and stabilized his friend as best he could. Then he went several miles back to the park's Serenity Falls hut, got a sled, sleeping bags and a tent, returned to Butler, lowered him in the sled to a place where a helicopter could land just above the Eklutna Glacier, put up the tent, and put his injured friend inside wrapped in two sleeping bags.
Having by that point done all one man could do at the scene, Nappi went for help. It was near 6 p.m., and he'd already been through an exhausting ordeal, Thomas said, but still Nappi pushed on along the 13-mile trail that winds and rolls from the hut to the campground at the north end of Eklutna Lake.
All night he trudged along the trail in his heavy telemark ski gear wishing he could travel faster.
By daylight, his efforts were paying off. The trooper helicopter touched down near Butler's tent around 8 a.m.
Thomas found Butler inside and in pain, but conscious.
"Joe told me that he took a 1,200-foot fall on less than vertical terrain," Thomas said. "I was glad to hear him respond (to me). He's a good friend of mine. I went to school with him at Alaska Pacific University.''
Like so many in Alaska, Thomas, Butler and Nappi were drawn here for the adventure. While Thomas got a job as a state park ranger, Butler and Nappi ended up doing odd jobs and working as climbing guides for Mountain Trip on 20,320-foot McKinley and later for the Talkeetna-based Alaska Mountaineering School.
School founder Colby Coombs Friday described both men as strong, hard-working, fun-loving and safety conscious. Butler was slated to lead a group of soldiers from North Carolina onto McKinley later this month to aid them in preparing for high-altitude assignments in Afghanistan.
"He's a good guy, strong as an ox,'' said Coombs, who was among many wishing Butler a full recovery from his injuries.
"Both these guys are really good guys,'' Coombs said, "and hard climbers."
Butler lives in Anchorage with his wife, Amara Liggett. When he isn't guiding in Alaska or climbing in the Andes or Himalayas, he works as rigger and a safety consultant on Alaska film productions.
When Nappi isn't climbing or skiing in Turnagain Pass, he makes his home in Hope, the tiny community at the end of a dead-end road across Turnagain Arm from Anchorage. Summers, Nappi noted on the Mountain Trip Web site, are "spent in the Alaska Range or pounding nails to help make the dreams happen.''
Butler and Nappi were near the base of a route called Frears Tears below The Mitre when Butler slipped and started sliding down the mountain. Thomas said it appears the two climbers were just at the point where the real climbing starts, and because of that had yet to put in any ice screws for protection.
Troopers reported Butler fell about 100 feet down a near-vertical, frozen waterfall before sliding another 800 feet or more down a hillside.
The Mitre is a popular climbing destination to the west of towering Bashful and Baleful peaks back in the Eklutna Valley, upstream from Eklutna Lake to the east of the Eklutna Glacier. Festooned with ice falls, The Mitre draws climbers looking to tackle a variety of established routes on its west face.
One of the reasons the Serenity Falls hut was built was to provide shelter for climbers in the area.
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