"Because it's there."

I wondered about that; did they save the plane too?

The two guys in the plane crawled out through a side window. They recovered the aircraft with a private Huey. Rigging the plane for recovery was the dicey part.


Hey, there's a new 'excursion' on the adn website you might like. Pretty much at sea level, but there's a couple of sound bites of the glacier making noise. Portage
 

A shame:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A well-known and well-liked mountaineer and rescue guide in Alaska is dead after a tragic accident in the United Kingdom.

John Evans, 54, spent years guiding on Denali -- summiting the mountain 14 times -- and was also a para-rescueman with the U.S. Air Force in Alaska.

Evans, a member of the Ogwan Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation in North Wales since 1973, was killed in Lanberis Pass on Tuesday while descending after completing a climb with his partner Lynne.

The group reports he fell 100 feet and suffered serious head injuries. Rescuers and his team made extensive efforts to save his life Tuesday night.

As a retired para-rescueman with the Air Force, it was the PJs who introduced Evans to the big mountains of Alaska.

From the British Broadcasting Corporation to Internet sites around the world, word of Evans' death hit the international climbing community hard.

His friends remember a man who was as careful as anyone.

"(He was) very accomplished, and he used to climb all over the place and all over the world," said Gary Bocard, who had been friends with Evans for nearly 20 years.

Bocard met Evans climbing Denali.

"You're always shocked when a friend and an accomplished climber gets killed in a climbing accident, especially when it's not anything -- at least I don't think it was anything extreme -- that he was doing," Bocard said.

Evans lived in Talkeetna while in Alaska. He spent years guiding and rescuing on Denali, most recently with Alaska Mountaineering School, which was expecting him Friday for his first teaching course of the season.

"He was always involved with rescues," Rob Gowler, a guide with AMS. "Whenever there were rescues going on up on Denali, he was an incident commander, something like that. Everything to him was about safety, safety to the rescuers safety, I mean he always thought about safety."

It was Evans who answered the call for help in 2004 when a climber was killed by a rock slide on Denali's Windy Corner, Gowler said.

But Gowler also remembers the lighter moments.

"I remember being with him a 14,000 feet one year. Me and my crew, we were stuck there forever that year," Gowler said. "We spent eight or 10 days at 14 (thousand feet) and we had a big game ultimate Frisbee -- goggles versus sunglasses -- at 14,000 feet."

Evans is originally from North Wales in the United Kingdom. He leaves behind his partner Lynne and his two children, 22-year-old David and 18-year-old Rhiannon.
 
The two guys in the plane crawled out through a side window. They recovered the aircraft with a private Huey. Rigging the plane for recovery was the dicey part.


Hey, there's a new 'excursion' on the adn website you might like. Pretty much at sea level, but there's a couple of sound bites of the glacier making noise. Portage

Yeah, no doubt. I can't even imagine crawling around on it attaching ropes and slings and stuff.

Very cool slideshow! Have you done the trip?
 
Yeah, no doubt. I can't even imagine crawling around on it attaching ropes and slings and stuff.

Very cool slideshow! Have you done the trip?

Yup, 50 miles south of town. It's barely a 10-12 minute ski from the parking lot in good conditions. I've never been over there on such a nice day.
 
Yup, 50 miles south of town. It's barely a 10-12 minute ski from the parking lot in good conditions. I've never been over there on such a nice day.

Looks like a great spot. Nice paddle in the summer, too.
 
Looks like a great spot. Nice paddle in the summer, too.

The forest service tries to keep people off the lake in the summer. Something about interference with their vendor's tour boat. And they worry about icebergs overturning and capsizing kayaks. *shrugs*

Otherwise, the creek coming off the lake is a nice training run for moving water canoeists.
 
The forest service tries to keep people off the lake in the summer. Something about interference with their vendor's tour boat. And they worry about icebergs overturning and capsizing kayaks. *shrugs*

Otherwise, the creek coming off the lake is a nice training run for moving water canoeists.

I guess if something has to overturn a boat full of tourists is a good choice.
 
Sucks to hear this kind of thing. I wonder if they tested the slope, or if they got caught unaware. Note that "Local officials said fresh snowfall Saturday had aggravated the risk of avalanches and no one should have been attempting a high-altitude climb." It pays to pay attention to these things.

Thanks for the link, Pannie.


Six climbers killed in Austrian Alps avalanche
Reuters

Sun May 3, 2:21 pm ET

VIENNA (Reuters) – Six mountain climbers were killed in an avalanche near the ski resort of Soelden in the Austrian Alps at the weekend, regional police said Sunday.

Witnesses spotted the snowslide in glacier-dotted highlands Saturday and alerted alpine rescuers but they could not reach the scene by helicopter until Sunday due to poor weather, police in the Tirol provincial capital Innsbruck said.

A police official said rescuers retrieved the bodies of six climbers at 3,000 meters (9,850 feet) altitude near the top of Schalfkogel mountain south of Innsbruck between Soelden and Obergurgl ski resorts close to the border of Italy.

Police identified the dead as five Czechs and one Slovak with the help of a surviving member of the group who had opted out of the ascent and remained behind in a mountain hut.

Local officials said fresh snowfall Saturday had aggravated the risk of avalanches and no one should have been attempting a high-altitude climb.

It was the deadliest avalanche in the Alpine republic since March 2000, when 12 people were buried in a snowslide above the alpine town of Niedernsnill.

The Austrian Alps received unusually heavy snowfall this winter and avalanches have been frequent and sometimes fatal, killing mainly individual skiers who had ventured off patrolled slopes to tackle deep powder drop-offs.

(Reporting by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
 
First climbers reach Denali summit (this season)

From the ADN.com:

" Solo German climber Moren Meyer, 33, on Thursday became the first to stand atop North America's tallest peak this season.

Meyer, of Baden-Wurttemberg, was the first of eight climbers in three different groups to reach the 20,350-foot summit of Mount McKinley that day.

National Park Service officials learned of the ascents on Monday.

Climbers from the U.S., New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom were in the three groups.

A stretch of clear weather has helped the 88 climbers on McKinley move up the mountain.

"Today is the first day with clouds in a while," Maureen McLaughlin of the Park Service said today.

Also today, a seven-climber patrol headed from 11,000 to 14,000 feet, where they will establish a camp to assist climbers. Park Service rangers Joe Reichert and Chris Erickson are part of that group, which also includes two paramedics.

Four year ago, Reichert and Trapper Creek climber Johnny Soderstrom attempted the first-ever winter ascent of 12,240-foot Mount Huntington, and Soderstom perished, apparently in an avalanche.

Some 946 climbers have registered to attempt McKinley this season."
 
From the ADN.com:

" Solo German climber Moren Meyer, 33, on Thursday became the first to stand atop North America's tallest peak this season.

Meyer, of Baden-Wurttemberg, was the first of eight climbers in three different groups to reach the 20,350-foot summit of Mount McKinley that day.

National Park Service officials learned of the ascents on Monday.

Climbers from the U.S., New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom were in the three groups.

A stretch of clear weather has helped the 88 climbers on McKinley move up the mountain.

"Today is the first day with clouds in a while," Maureen McLaughlin of the Park Service said today.

Also today, a seven-climber patrol headed from 11,000 to 14,000 feet, where they will establish a camp to assist climbers. Park Service rangers Joe Reichert and Chris Erickson are part of that group, which also includes two paramedics.

Four year ago, Reichert and Trapper Creek climber Johnny Soderstrom attempted the first-ever winter ascent of 12,240-foot Mount Huntington, and Soderstom perished, apparently in an avalanche.

Some 946 climbers have registered to attempt McKinley this season."

About time you had some good news!

A good friend of mine was a paramedic at the 14 camp. He was the first person to start an IV there, and one of the first two to ski down from 16. He died a few years ago...RIP, Misha Kirk. I haven't ever forgotten you.
 
Sometimes, it's just your time.

"The National Park Service reported Friday that 61-year-old William Hearne died on the approach climb along the Kahiltna Glacier to the 14,000-foot camp on the mountain."

He was just ferrying gear when he ran out of time. story
 
"The National Park Service reported Friday that 61-year-old William Hearne died on the approach climb along the Kahiltna Glacier to the 14,000-foot camp on the mountain."

He was just ferrying gear when he ran out of time. story

What a spectacular place to die in, though, if you were going to die at that moment anyway. Good for him. I mean, sad that he died at 61, but it's obvious it was time.
 
Hey perg, I was watching the news this morning and thought of a question for you - wasn't worth starting a new thread though.

You know the red stuff they throw on wild fires from airplanes? What are the environmental impacts of that? Back where I'm from they are having a big political fight over using salt on the roads in the winter because one side says it damages the environment, while the other says it saves lives.

Does that red stuff cause environmental damage?
 
Hey perg, I was watching the news this morning and thought of a question for you - wasn't worth starting a new thread though.

You know the red stuff they throw on wild fires from airplanes? What are the environmental impacts of that? Back where I'm from they are having a big political fight over using salt on the roads in the winter because one side says it damages the environment, while the other says it saves lives.

Does that red stuff cause environmental damage?

That's a good question. I have no idea what that stuff is. I'm guessing it's justified by cost-benefit analysis or it gets burned off by the fire or something. Good google project, though; now I'm curious.
 
Hey perg, I was watching the news this morning and thought of a question for you - wasn't worth starting a new thread though.

You know the red stuff they throw on wild fires from airplanes? What are the environmental impacts of that? Back where I'm from they are having a big political fight over using salt on the roads in the winter because one side says it damages the environment, while the other says it saves lives.

Does that red stuff cause environmental damage?

Wiki says:

"Borate salts were used in the past to fight wildfires but were found to sterilize the soil, were toxic to animals, and are now prohibited.[7] Newer retardants use ammonium sulfate or ammonium polyphosphate with attapulgite clay thickener or diammonium phosphate with a guar gum derivative thickener. These are not only less toxic but act as fertilizers to help the regrowth of plants after the fire. Fire retardants often contain wetting agents, preservatives and rust inhibitors and are colored red with ferric oxide or fugitive color to mark where they have been dropped. Brand names of fire retardants for aerial application include Fire-Trol and Phos-Chek.

Some water-dropping aircraft carry tanks of a guar gum derivative to thicken the water and reduce runoff."
 
It wasn't a mountain, but rather a river. Or a canyon; depends on your perspective. Perhaps both?

The Bruneau Canyon of Idaho is accessible only by the Bruneau River. This canyon, or gorge, is about 1000ft deep; over millions of years the Bruneau river has carved its way through rhyolite and basalt to create a canyon that is both breathtaking and pristine. In the middle of the southern Idaho desert this gem remains hidden to all but a few.

The Bruneau is a free-flowing river, meaning the water flow is not controlled by a dam or other man-made device; this, coupled with the fact that the river is in a desert, means the best time to run this river is in the spring: mid-April to June 1.

I had the chance to run this river, and it was spectacular. There is no accessibility to the river itself during some 35-40 miles; the sheer rock walls prevent anyone from hiking into the canyon, which makes the river the only point of accesibility. The trip was amazing. For the first time I ran Class IV rapids; a bit challenging, but the adrenaline rush got me through a stretch of Class IV known as Five-Mile-Rapids.

All in all, an amazing trip, one I hope to repeat next year. What a gem this canyon is!

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/KennaMc/BruneauRiverTrip2009-003DesktopReso.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/KennaMc/BruneauRiverTrip2009-027DesktopReso.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/KennaMc/BruneauRiverTrip2009-032DesktopReso.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/KennaMc/BruneauRiver.jpg
 
Back
Top