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Penticton, BC
Canada
89 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2012 : 8:07 PM
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http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/two-climbers-plunge-to-their-deaths-in-alberta-1.897219
Anyone know much about this? I haven't climbed Heart Creek before, but I have hiked through there a few times and don't recall seeing much more than single pitch stuff. There is some scrambling up the east side of the creek (Heart Mountain), but according to news sources they were climbing on the west side of the creek.
Sad day for climbing, you don't hear about this kind of thing too often. My heart goes out to friends and family... |
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the mountain parks, Alberta
Canada
102 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2012 : 8:17 PM
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Don't jump to conclusions based on that news report. They said they were climbing with full safety gear and then mention the word hiking fall several times.
There are multipitch routes at Heart FYI, as well as some old school run out poorly protected routes which rarely get climbed. There is also the scramble, and hikers can also scramble to the top of some of the cliffs near the end of the hiking trail. It could have been anything of those based on the total lack of info from the news report. The news report is way to vague if you are trying to draw conclusions from this. |
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Penticton, BC
Canada
89 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2012 : 10:40 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by skibum101
Don't jump to conclusions based on that news report. They said they were climbing with full safety gear and then mention the word hiking fall several times.
There are multipitch routes at Heart FYI, as well as some old school run out poorly protected routes which rarely get climbed. There is also the scramble, and hikers can also scramble to the top of some of the cliffs near the end of the hiking trail. It could have been anything of those based on the total lack of info from the news report. The news report is way to vague if you are trying to draw conclusions from this.
I certainly wasn't jumping to conclusions, more so looking to see if anyone had more reliable information. I have read several news stories and they all seem to conflict. Some say there were witnesses, others say there were not. Some say hiking, others say climbing.
Having done the scramble myself, I am well aware of the risks and the potential for things to go wrong. I am more so intrigued because nothing really lines up. I just want to know what actually happened.
That being said, the greater concern here is the human tragedy. I certainly don't intend to undermine the situation with my curiosity. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Andorra
3787 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 06:28 AM
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The conclusion the various reports give me is that they were climbing, as many reports mention they were geared for it, and that someone saw the fall in some way to be able to give an idea as to where they landed, but not enough to have seen what happened or why they fell.
A bunch of reports also seem to mention the hiking because it also happens in the area. I think that first report failed to do any editing and thus switched to saying 'hiking' at the bottom. I wouldn't expect a report on hikers to mention that they were 'hiking with full safety gear'.
I was driving through there around 4ish, and saw the helicopter slinging them out, and the CTV car already there. Looks like they just pushed in a report without much knowledge. |
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2421 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 07:27 AM
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| No names yet, I assume. I just checked in to see if they were part of the Club Tread community. |
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Langley, B.C
Canada
285 Posts |
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the mountain parks, Alberta
Canada
102 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 09:11 AM
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This is straight from the people that did the rescue. From public safety facebook post.
quote:
Kananaskis Country Public Safety staff responded to a climbing accident on Sunday afternoon that resulted in two fatalities in the Heart Creek area. Climbers succummed to their injuries following a 100m fall while rappelling. Thanks to RCMP, Exshaw fire, Alberta Heath Services EMS staff who all assisted on this call.
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1078 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 11:36 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by skibum101
This is straight from the people that did the rescue. From public safety facebook post.
quote:
Kananaskis Country Public Safety staff responded to a climbing accident on Sunday afternoon that resulted in two fatalities in the Heart Creek area. Climbers succummed to their injuries following a 100m fall while rappelling. Thanks to RCMP, Exshaw fire, Alberta Heath Services EMS staff who all assisted on this call.
Obviously nobody can know for sure what happened at this point, but question for you or our other climbers: was this likely some kind of simul or tandem rap??
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
1603 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 11:43 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by DCIPHER
quote:
Originally posted by skibum101
This is straight from the people that did the rescue. From public safety facebook post.
quote:
Kananaskis Country Public Safety staff responded to a climbing accident on Sunday afternoon that resulted in two fatalities in the Heart Creek area. Climbers succummed to their injuries following a 100m fall while rappelling. Thanks to RCMP, Exshaw fire, Alberta Heath Services EMS staff who all assisted on this call.
Obviously nobody can know for sure what happened at this point, but question for you or our other climbers: was this likely some kind of simul or tandem rap??
Or was it an anchor failure with one climber rappelling off the anchor and the second climber waiting up top and connected to the same anchor with a fixed link?
This is a tragic story. |
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13447 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 12:25 PM
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Very sad when anything like this happens.
K |
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the mountain parks, Alberta
Canada
102 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 12:45 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by DCIPHER
quote:
Originally posted by skibum101
This is straight from the people that did the rescue. From public safety facebook post.
quote:
Kananaskis Country Public Safety staff responded to a climbing accident on Sunday afternoon that resulted in two fatalities in the Heart Creek area. Climbers succummed to their injuries following a 100m fall while rappelling. Thanks to RCMP, Exshaw fire, Alberta Heath Services EMS staff who all assisted on this call.
Obviously nobody can know for sure what happened at this point, but question for you or our other climbers: was this likely some kind of simul or tandem rap??
It's possible...along with a few other scenarios. Given that the area is well bolted it's probably not likely an anchor failure in the sense that the fixed hardware failed. There are a couple of old school obscure routes with pins in there though so you never know. No point assuming anything until and if any more info comes out from public safety. |
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Van, BC
Canada
2786 Posts |
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
1603 Posts |
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the mountain parks, Alberta
Canada
102 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 4:36 PM
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| The only thing worse on the comments section than the opinions of the totally uninformed are the comments from the obvious climbing "newbs" with only half a clue. Brutal ignorance. |
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1058 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 4:57 PM
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Tandem rappelling makes me cringe.
It may sound harsh, but I hope the accident was because they did something stupid, and not because they did everything right and something crazy happened anyways like a bolt or gear randomly failing. |
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1078 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 5:57 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Kid Charlemagne
Tandem rappelling makes me cringe.
It may sound harsh, but I hope the accident was because they did something stupid, and not because they did everything right and something crazy happened anyways like a bolt or gear randomly failing.
That's a very candid admission. It's probably human nature to some extent....want to assign blame, and also implicitly defend our optimism that it couldn't happen to us, because we won't do something that "stupid". |
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Penhold, Alberta
Canada
2009 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 6:01 PM
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| I doubt it really matters weather it was a "stupid mistake" or a problem with gear or anchors, in the end two young people will be missed by friends and family and no one had a chance to say goodbye. |
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Penticton, BC
Canada
89 Posts |
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Kootenay Bud
2695 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 7:37 PM
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| We simul-rappel frequently. If you've got 11 or more pitches to rappel it is way faster. Course, you don't want to screw up, but, it feels safe when done with a competent partner and a gri-gri. Way, way faster than each rappeling one at a time. |
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1058 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 7:49 PM
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It's hard to balance the time savings with increasing the risk of arguably the most dangerous aspect of climbing. Unless I was running from a storm, I wouldn't bother, but to each their own. Sounds like the common practice of daisy-chaining to your partner wouldn't have helped here.
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the mountain parks, Alberta
Canada
102 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2012 : 7:50 PM
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| It's a 6 pitch bolted sport route that is equipped to rap on a single rope. Not really some thing you need to make a point of getting down faster. A gri-gri is not going to help you or your partner if you go off the end of the rope, or if one of you didn't rig your device properly, or if one of you didn't buckle your harness properly or...or...or....or. |
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Tragedy near Canmore
