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Link Posted: 4/28/2024 11:55:15 PM EDT
[#1]
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Interesting. From the pictures of the route in this thread, it looks like a lot of mixed climbing. Maybe it's because I'm on my phone, but I can't find the route on summitpost or mountainproject. I'm sure the NPS will eventually publish some details of the accident, or maybe it'll be in the AAJ's Accidents next year.
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They were roped up. Unless you're awesome at self arresting, if you go, your partner's going, too.

ETA - it's my assumption they were mountaineering, not rock climbing.  They probably didn't have any more protection than an ice screw or a picket here and there. Running belays are inherently dangerous.



Ice climbing is what I heard via peeps at my former work.  The deceased was employed by the agency I used to work at.


Interesting. From the pictures of the route in this thread, it looks like a lot of mixed climbing. Maybe it's because I'm on my phone, but I can't find the route on summitpost or mountainproject. I'm sure the NPS will eventually publish some details of the accident, or maybe it'll be in the AAJ's Accidents next year.

Escalator is 4,400', III 5.5 AI3
Link Posted: 4/28/2024 11:57:28 PM EDT
[#2]
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My give ‘o fuck just fell off a mountain.
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The fallen climber.

Mecus, 52, from Keene Valley, New York, was an outspoken advocate for expanding the presence of fellow transgender people in alpine climbing. In 2022, she co-founded Queer Ice Fest in the Adirondack Mountains of her adopted hometown, and the event earlier this year was its third annual happening.

My give ‘o fuck just fell off a mountain.

Good find and “Agreed”
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:04:04 AM EDT
[#3]
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Both were female.   Deceased is a NYSDEC Ranger who worked in the High Peaks area

https://www.facebook.com/groups/aspiring46ers/permalink/10160557424089998/
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Looks like one male and one female.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:07:50 AM EDT
[#4]
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Ok, so what were the details that led to the fall?
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I have no idea but that route on a photo does not look easy.  If you do that sort of activity how difficult is it?

"Escalator is 4,400', III 5.5 AI3" may be the answer yet it is just Greek to me at this point.  It is hard to tell from the photo but there may be a span of about 20-50 yards that I might be able to do.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:17:49 AM EDT
[#5]
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I have no idea but that route on a photo does not look easy.  If you do that sort of activity how difficult is it?

"Escalator is 4,400', III 5.5 AI3" may be the answer yet it is just Greek to me at this point.  It is hard to tell from the photo but there may be a span of about 20-50 yards that I might be able to do.
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A route with that grade is physically challenging, but a very aerobically fit individual could "follow" the route after 3-5 days of private 1:1 skills training. However, being the "leader" on a route like that is much more challenging and would generally require many dozens, if not hundreds, of days spent in the mountains honing experience, judgement, and skill.

Mixed terrain (e.g. ice, rock, and snow) in the big mountains is serious business, no matter how you cut it. The best climbers in the world still die in the big mountains - with relative frequency. I have 4 personal friends who have died climbing.

I did not personally know the deceased, but we climbed in same circles and have numerous mutual friends. By all accounts, Robbi was a spectacular climber.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:27:51 AM EDT
[#6]
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Looks like one male and one female.
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50/50
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:32:33 AM EDT
[#7]
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I have no idea but that route on a photo does not look easy.  If you do that sort of activity how difficult is it?

"Escalator is 4,400', III 5.5 AI3" may be the answer yet it is just Greek to me at this point.  It is hard to tell from the photo but there may be a span of about 20-50 yards that I might be able to do.
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Ok, so what were the details that led to the fall?


I have no idea but that route on a photo does not look easy.  If you do that sort of activity how difficult is it?

"Escalator is 4,400', III 5.5 AI3" may be the answer yet it is just Greek to me at this point.  It is hard to tell from the photo but there may be a span of about 20-50 yards that I might be able to do.

At that grade, at face value, the technical difficulties are not hard, but, but 5000 feet is a hell of a day.  In general, it would entail a lot of simulclimbing, which is not a safe practice.  

The internet AI answer is that simulclimbing is an incredibly dangerous practice.

Objectively, yes.  But, when you are there, in the moment, it all seems pretty reasonable, especially at that grade.  Until someone slips up.  Or the slab cuts from under your feet.  Or someone gets slammed with a rock that gets dislodged as the sun hits the upper reaches of the mountain.

Even if all your gear holds the fall, you can still have two very broken climbers after everyone comes to rest, who may be missing any manner of kit.

Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:39:52 AM EDT
[#8]
DEI kills. The next boots on the ground conflict we engage in will be telling.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:41:40 AM EDT
[#9]
I'll edit since I see Hiram post below
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:44:37 AM EDT
[#10]
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My give ‘o fuck just fell off a mountain.
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The fallen climber.

Mecus, 52, from Keene Valley, New York, was an outspoken advocate for expanding the presence of fellow transgender people in alpine climbing. In 2022, she co-founded Queer Ice Fest in the Adirondack Mountains of her adopted hometown, and the event earlier this year was its third annual happening.

My give ‘o fuck just fell off a mountain.


Well I knew Ranger Mecus. Not friends, but I have a professional relationship with a large number of state and local LE. Respect Ranger Mecus’s choices in life or not, that Ranger has saved countless lives over a 25-year career. If you had an accident in the High Peaks and were in danger of dying, I’m sure you wouldn’t give two shits at that point how they lived their life if they saved yours.

I’ll leave it at that Edge Lord.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:46:26 AM EDT
[#11]
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DEI kills. The next boots on the ground conflict we engage in will be telling.
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And your experience on terrain of that grade?
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:01:22 AM EDT
[#12]
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I have no idea but that route on a photo does not look easy.  If you do that sort of activity how difficult is it?

"Escalator is 4,400', III 5.5 AI3" may be the answer yet it is just Greek to me at this point.  It is hard to tell from the photo but there may be a span of about 20-50 yards that I might be able to do.
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Quoted:

Ok, so what were the details that led to the fall?


I have no idea but that route on a photo does not look easy.  If you do that sort of activity how difficult is it?

"Escalator is 4,400', III 5.5 AI3" may be the answer yet it is just Greek to me at this point.  It is hard to tell from the photo but there may be a span of about 20-50 yards that I might be able to do.

Not to mention that this stuff is like Ruby Tuesday.  It can change with every new day.  Snow conditions change.  The underlaying ice conditions change.  What was an easy, post-holing, snow climb/descent the year before can be front-pointing on bullet-hard ice or bare rock the year after, plus or minus a few weeks.  Not even getting into the day-to-day avalanche risks.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:09:49 AM EDT
[#13]
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The fallen climber.

Mecus, 52, from Keene Valley, New York, was an outspoken advocate for expanding the presence of fellow transgender people in alpine climbing. In 2022, she co-founded Queer Ice Fest in the Adirondack Mountains of her adopted hometown, and the event earlier this year was its third annual happening.
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Well this story went downhill fast.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:10:45 AM EDT
[#14]
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And your experience on terrain of that grade?
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DEI kills. The next boots on the ground conflict we engage in will be telling.
And your experience on terrain of that grade?

Alpine mixed climbing in gullies with loose sloughing snow, rock, overhanging ice bulges, rock fall, etc.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:26:45 AM EDT
[#15]
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Alpine mixed climbing in gullies with loose sloughing snow, rock, overhanging ice bulges, rock fall, etc.
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DEI kills. The next boots on the ground conflict we engage in will be telling.
And your experience on terrain of that grade?

Alpine mixed climbing in gullies with loose sloughing snow, rock, overhanging ice bulges, rock fall, etc.
So, you've seen enough to know mountains don't care about slogans.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:50:57 AM EDT
[#16]
Why is everyone being so obtuse about what LBH is saying..

Who does better? A rally team whose driver and navigator/co-driver are peers in terms of experience and skill, or a team where one member has only got a few races under their belt on pavement.

In the above example, if either is inexperienced compared to the other,  the one that has the experience is working harder to keep things on the up and up.  And mistakes by the inexperienced partner, could lead to death for both...mistakes that if both were equals in terms of experience and skill, would be less likely to happen.

We're not talking about riding a tandem bike thru the park, in both climbing and rally car driving, a single mistake can kill you and your partner quick.

It's really not that hard to understand
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 2:27:41 AM EDT
[#17]
There are no details about the accident.

The surviving party might not even know what happened.

Insufficient gear/insufficient anchor/failure to recognize or manage objective hazards ... the same stuff that could well be on anyone else's headstone.

And if there is substantial difference in experience, that stuff is going to fall to the more experienced climber.

Which is why it can be utterly exhausting when you are the one calling the shots.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 5:05:00 AM EDT
[#18]
Mentally ill people keep winning the culture war, one apologist at a time.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 6:41:41 AM EDT
[#19]
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I'm impressed the female has survived so far.
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which female
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 6:45:25 AM EDT
[#20]
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The fallen climber.

Mecus, 52, from Keene Valley, New York, was an outspoken advocate for expanding the presence of fellow transgender people in alpine climbing. In 2022, she co-founded Queer Ice Fest in the Adirondack Mountains of her adopted hometown, and the event earlier this year was its third annual happening.
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Mecus, a transgender woman, died in the fall. Her climbing partner, a 30-year-old woman from California, survived with “serious traumatic injuries.”

She told the outlet in 2021 that she struggled through her teenage years to come to terms with her gender identity. She ultimately waited until she was in her 40s to transition: “I was scared and afraid and I didn’t know how I was going to live my life.”

That hard time is when she discovered her love of rock and ice climbing, and opened her up to a community that didn’t include many queer people, allowing her the opportunity to become a leader.

“There are many reasons I didn’t come out until I was 44, but one of them was because I didn’t see anybody else doing the things that I still wanted to do and I didn’t think I could do them,” said Mecus in 2021. “I didn’t see any queer rangers. I didn’t see any trans climbers.”

Mecus is survived by her daughter and former wife, who live in the Keene Valley community.

Link Posted: 4/29/2024 6:46:26 AM EDT
[#21]
double tap
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 6:49:13 AM EDT
[#22]
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Mecus, a transgender woman, died in the fall. Her climbing partner, a 30-year-old woman from California, survived with “serious traumatic injuries.”

She told the outlet in 2021 that she struggled through her teenage years to come to terms with her gender identity. She ultimately waited until she was in her 40s to transition: “I was scared and afraid and I didn’t know how I was going to live my life.”

That hard time is when she discovered her love of rock and ice climbing, and opened her up to a community that didn’t include many queer people, allowing her the opportunity to become a leader.

“There are many reasons I didn’t come out until I was 44, but one of them was because I didn’t see anybody else doing the things that I still wanted to do and I didn’t think I could do them,” said Mecus in 2021. “I didn’t see any queer rangers. I didn’t see any trans climbers.”

Mecus is survived by her daughter and former wife, who live in the Keene Valley community.

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OK, so the dude died and the chick survived.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 6:50:52 AM EDT
[#23]
Has anybody found any details on the accident?

Did the belayed get ripped off the anchors or were they both moving and roped together?

Where they on ice or rock?
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 6:56:18 AM EDT
[#24]
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There are no details about the accident.

The surviving party might not even know what happened.

Insufficient gear/insufficient anchor/failure to recognize or manage objective hazards ... the same stuff that could well be on anyone else's headstone.

And if there is substantial difference in experience, that stuff is going to fall to the more experienced climber.

Which is why it can be utterly exhausting when you are the one calling the shots.
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With the way climbers prioritize fast and light these days, I would not be surprised if they were both moving roped.

or you know, the ice screws / anchors didnt hold a fall. As you know, significant experience is required to place reliable ice screws and anchors, and even then it is iffy

Link Posted: 4/29/2024 7:48:20 AM EDT
[#25]
A husband and wife that worked for the same state agency as me retired.  Two weeks after they retired they took a trip to Alaska and had a bush plane drop them off.  They were going for a week long hike on their own.  When they didn't turn up the company went looking for them.  They died literally 250' crossing a creek.  It was terrible.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 8:23:21 AM EDT
[#26]
Ranger that died was a customer of the dealership I work at with her ranger truck and actually rented from some other customers of ours. I've talked to her a couple times. Always nice and respectful and from what I knew well liked by other rangers.

Several people that I know from Keene/Keene Valley posted about this and how much they liked her as well.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 8:45:59 AM EDT
[#27]
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The fallen climber.

Mecus, 52, from Keene Valley, New York, was an outspoken advocate for expanding the presence of fellow transgender people in alpine climbing. In 2022, she co-founded Queer Ice Fest in the Adirondack Mountains of her adopted hometown, and the event earlier this year was its third annual happening.
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Found a novel way of killing herself this time...

Link Posted: 4/29/2024 8:49:50 AM EDT
[#28]
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And yet, here you are.
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I’d hate to speculate, yet I can’t help it. If you’re going to climb, find an at least equal partner.

And yet, here you are.


Good.  I was debating @ you or Lothbrok on this.  In for some inside baseball knowledge...

Looks like a tragic accident that, to this layman, seems an infrequent occurrence within the sport.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 8:53:45 AM EDT
[#29]
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Quoted:
The fallen climber.

Mecus, 52, from Keene Valley, New York, was an outspoken advocate for expanding the presence of fellow transgender people in alpine climbing. In 2022, she co-founded Queer Ice Fest in the Adirondack Mountains of her adopted hometown, and the event earlier this year was its third annual happening.
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The media always has to make a big deal about trans sexuality shit

I’m sure if I got spectacularly dead it would be pointed that I really like women.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 8:58:30 AM EDT
[#30]
Gravity does not care about diversity.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 9:36:48 AM EDT
[#31]
In before the family of the deceased "climber" lawsuit against the State of AK Coronor because they dont use that LBQFAGDIKE nomenclature
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 10:06:06 AM EDT
[#32]
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Good.  I was debating @ you or Lothbrok on this.  In for some inside baseball knowledge...

Looks like a tragic accident that, to this layman, seems an infrequent occurrence within the sport.
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I’d hate to speculate, yet I can’t help it. If you’re going to climb, find an at least equal partner.

And yet, here you are.


Good.  I was debating @ you or Lothbrok on this.  In for some inside baseball knowledge...

Looks like a tragic accident that, to this layman, seems an infrequent occurrence within the sport.

Unlike standard rock climbing, death is a very real outcome in mountaineering.  Even on easier routes.  The mountain is still doing mountain stuff on all of it's sides.  You are climbing through a far, far more geologically active region than you would be in the normal course of rock climbing.  Where the number one rule of rock climbing is "don't be in the same place as a geological event," in much of alpine/mountain climbing, you are walking straight into violation of that tenet.

Just recently, I was on terrain where, years ago, a guide and his client were swept off.  The client died.  A slab of ice cut loose while the guide was on lead, took that screw with it, if he had even placed one, and struck with enough force, or a large enough delam, that it flossed the belay and client with it.  I knew the history.  My partner didn't.  I might have been there a month after it happened all those years ago, so it's in my mind.  And we are simulclimbing across this same ground, more heavily loaded than it was at the time of the accident I had in my mind.  Would our gear have held any better than theirs?  I don't know.

It's either a partnership of roughly equal skills of some total breadth, or it's leadership.  With the latter, you can delegate authority, the authority to let the less experienced take lead and make critical decisions related to that rope length or that block.  But, you can't delegate away your responsibilities in letting them do so.  Sending them to do so.  It's a leadership lab where you don't simply run the risk of getting peered out, but removed by God.

Link Posted: 4/29/2024 10:10:30 AM EDT
[#33]
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which female
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There is only one female involved.   The other is a male with "issues" posing as a female.  I am curious why the freak's name is used but we do not know the name of the female.  Is that because she is alive and he is dead?
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 10:15:18 AM EDT
[#34]
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There is only one female involved.   The other is a male with "issues" posing as a female.  I am curious why the freak's name is used but we do not know the name of the female.  Is that because she is alive and he is dead?
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Go talk to the manager, Karen.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 10:40:06 AM EDT
[#35]
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There is only one female involved.   The other is a male with "issues" posing as a female.  I am curious why the freak's name is used but we do not know the name of the female.  Is that because she is alive and he is dead?
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I still have ties to Keene Valley, and freak or not, it sounds like this Forest Ranger was a well respected member of the community , and was involved in hundreds of rescues in the High Peaks area

Link Posted: 4/29/2024 11:19:25 AM EDT
[#36]
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I have no idea but that route on a photo does not look easy.  If you do that sort of activity how difficult is it?

"Escalator is 4,400', III 5.5 AI3" may be the answer yet it is just Greek to me at this point.  It is hard to tell from the photo but there may be a span of about 20-50 yards that I might be able to do.
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Sorry 'bout that.  Nobody seemed to know anything about the route, so I pulled that rating from a 2007 American Alpine Journal reported ascent.

A couple people much more qualified than I to discuss the objective hazards of such routes have done a much better job than I could explaining the reality.  Yeah, I have crampons and ice axe, but am much happier on pure rock on a warm sunny day.

4,400', III 5.5 AI3 decomposes into route length, grade (duration/time), technical climbing difficulty (Yosemite Decimal System), type of ice.  https://mountainmadness.com/resources/climbing-rating-systems.  

Some people are going to go read that and then conclude the route was "easy" and therefore obviously the tragedy was due to this gender thing.  Uh-huh.  Because as we all know, objective hazard (risk out of your control) varies by gender preference.

In due course, details will come out, and people will study the report.  There is always something to learn from reading the annual Accidents in North American Climbing.  Sometimes errors are made, but sometimes ... shit happens.  Mountaineering is risky.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 11:46:01 AM EDT
[#37]
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I still have ties to Keene Valley, and freak or not, it sounds like this Forest Ranger was a well respected member of the community , and was involved in hundreds of rescues in the High Peaks area

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There is only one female involved.   The other is a male with "issues" posing as a female.  I am curious why the freak's name is used but we do not know the name of the female.  Is that because she is alive and he is dead?



I still have ties to Keene Valley, and freak or not, it sounds like this Forest Ranger was a well respected member of the community , and was involved in hundreds of rescues in the High Peaks area



I’m having a very hard time holding my tongue. The Ranger, whether you agreed with Robbi’s choices or not, was a fucking champ at the job and if your ass was dying from hypothermia and you were stranded in the woods with a compound fracture, you’d sure as shit have wanted Robbi looking for you.

I’m sitting at Sloan Kettering right now waiting on my latest scans and hoping I remain cancer free. I know first hand how precarious life can be. A public servant died this weekend, a person who had conducted hundreds of rescues and saved God knows how many lives. I wish people would show a little fucking respect.

And a little girl lost a parent while some here snicker like immature little cunts. True colors being shown.

ETA - not directed at you @ropie
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 11:50:43 AM EDT
[#38]
"Why don't they tell us their name?  Why aren't they telling us what happened?  It's a conspiracy!"

No, it's not a conspiracy at all.  The Park Service is usually pretty light on details, leaving that to private organizations, if these organizations wish.

The Park Service doesn't tell us how to climb.  They don't mandate that we climb with partners.  They don't mandate safety gear of any kind.

They will mandate minimum professional requirements for commercial operations in the park; number of people on a route/mountain/bivi site at any one time and for set maximum stays; they will sometimes set restrictions on permanent hardware used for ascent/belays/descent.

They might warn you about hazards - lightning, avalanche, etc - but your decision to go climb, and how you climb is up to you.

The Park Service will happily not only let people climb in styles that tend to send the general public into an outraged fit of indignation, but accommodate these styles when issuing usage permits (in areas that limit overnight stays, etc)

"Name of partner / helmet color / rope color?"
- none/white/green
or
- none/none/none
and maybe followed up by something like this...
"Hey, if you have the gas, consider the Yellow Wall/Forrest Finish.  It's a more difficult route than what you have planned, but it will keep you out of the worst traffic, which might make your climb a lot easier."


For all of our modern problems of restriction-into-oblivion, safety-at-every-cost, overcrowding - the Park Service is remarkably accommodating of an inherently dangerous activity - an activity that is often difficult to defend against general public outcry.  And for that, I'm thankful.  But, these accommodations don't happen in a vacuum.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:03:38 PM EDT
[#39]
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I’m having a very hard time holding my tongue. The Ranger, whether you agreed with Robbi’s choices or not, was a fucking champ at the job and if your ass was dying from hypothermia and you were stranded in the woods with a compound fracture, you’d sure as shit have wanted Robbi looking for you.

I’m sitting at Sloan Kettering right now waiting on my latest scans and hoping I remain cancer free. I know first hand how precarious life can be. A public servant died this weekend, a person who had conducted hundreds of rescues and saved God knows how many lives. I wish people would show a little fucking respect.

And a little girl lost a parent while some here snicker like immature little cunts. True colors being shown.
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I am genuinely sorry you have to wade through those comments.

We have at least one climbing ranger member, who has not appeared in the thread.  I'm not surprised.  I would be furious, and it's not worth a ban.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:19:36 PM EDT
[#40]
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With the way climbers prioritize fast and light these days, I would not be surprised if they were both moving roped.

or you know, the ice screws / anchors didnt hold a fall. As you know, significant experience is required to place reliable ice screws and anchors, and even then it is iffy

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Quoted:
There are no details about the accident.

The surviving party might not even know what happened.

Insufficient gear/insufficient anchor/failure to recognize or manage objective hazards ... the same stuff that could well be on anyone else's headstone.

And if there is substantial difference in experience, that stuff is going to fall to the more experienced climber.

Which is why it can be utterly exhausting when you are the one calling the shots.


With the way climbers prioritize fast and light these days, I would not be surprised if they were both moving roped.

or you know, the ice screws / anchors didnt hold a fall. As you know, significant experience is required to place reliable ice screws and anchors, and even then it is iffy

Yeah, there's no shortage of ways for things to go wrong.  

I'm looking at the rack for an upcoming trip: 8 screws, 2 pickets, and a handful of cams and chocks.  8 screws.  That's 40 feet between screws - in the sections that are being pitched out with rigged belays.  And there will be probably be a thousand feet or more that will need to be simul'd to complete the route without the complications of nightfall.

Bivi on the summit ridge before descent?  That's more stuff.  Fuel for water, heavier insulation, food - all of it more weight - harder movement - slower movement - which begets ... more stuff.

There's an interesting and vexing nonlinearity to it.

A gamut spanning the simple beauty of the solo climbers, to approaches that rival the Black Buck operation of the Falklands.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:35:52 PM EDT
[#41]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


I’m having a very hard time holding my tongue. The Ranger, whether you agreed with Robbi’s choices or not, was a fucking champ at the job and if your ass was dying from hypothermia and you were stranded in the woods with a compound fracture, you’d sure as shit have wanted Robbi looking for you.

I’m sitting at Sloan Kettering right now waiting on my latest scans and hoping I remain cancer free. I know first hand how precarious life can be. A public servant died this weekend, a person who had conducted hundreds of rescues and saved God knows how many lives. I wish people would show a little fucking respect.

And a little girl lost a parent while some here snicker like immature little cunts. True colors being shown.

ETA - not directed at you @ropie
View Quote


Here, here. GD sometimes makes me laugh, but mostly today has just made me sad.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:40:47 PM EDT
[#42]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Has anybody found any details on the accident?

Did the belayed get ripped off the anchors or were they both moving and roped together?

Where they on ice or rock?
View Quote



There are quite a few stories out there and they were together and one slipped. It was watched by other climbers.

The problem is all the other sources are all about the tranny and how being a NY park ranger was rough and they accepted the tranny transition and so on. How there needs to be more trannies in climbing and this tranny's organization and so on.

I am surprised the OP found an article that wasn't highlighting everything else/
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:42:57 PM EDT
[#43]
They have my respect for trying.
"There are only three sports, bull fighting, motor racing and mountaineering.
The rest are just games."
Ernest Hemingway.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:46:42 PM EDT
[#44]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
"Why don't they tell us their name?  Why aren't they telling us what happened?  It's a conspiracy!"

No, it's not a conspiracy at all.  The Park Service is usually pretty light on details, leaving that to private organizations, if these organizations wish.

The Park Service doesn't tell us how to climb.  They don't mandate that we climb with partners.  They don't mandate safety gear of any kind.

They will mandate minimum professional requirements for commercial operations in the park; number of people on a route/mountain/bivi site at any one time and for set maximum stays; they will sometimes set restrictions on permanent hardware used for ascent/belays/descent.

They might warn you about hazards - lightning, avalanche, etc - but your decision to go climb, and how you climb is up to you.

The Park Service will happily not only let people climb in styles that tend to send the general public into an outraged fit of indignation, but accommodate these styles when issuing usage permits (in areas that limit overnight stays, etc)

"Name of partner / helmet color / rope color?"
- none/white/green
or
- none/none/none
and maybe followed up by something like this...
"Hey, if you have the gas, consider the Yellow Wall/Forrest Finish.  It's a more difficult route than what you have planned, but it will keep you out of the worst traffic, which might make your climb a lot easier."


For all of our modern problems of restriction-into-oblivion, safety-at-every-cost, overcrowding - the Park Service is remarkably accommodating of an inherently dangerous activity - an activity that is often difficult to defend against general public outcry.  And for that, I'm thankful.  But, these accommodations don't happen in a vacuum.
View Quote



Additional details and other climber’s name for those who care
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 12:54:24 PM EDT
[#45]
Oh well… play stupid games, win something something?
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:00:42 PM EDT
[#46]
The older I get the more I can appreciate people pushing their limits and being O.K. With the consequences.

Don’t really give a shit about their gender identity in this context. They were getting after it. Doing something hard they know could take them out. Tougher than most here.

As far as the partner and their experience…You can do a lot in 30 years. We don’t know anything else about her. Maybe she was a climbing prodigy since childhood. Don’t know.

Sometime nature is a bitch.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:23:34 PM EDT
[#47]
Edit: It probably isn't the place or time to say it
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:24:38 PM EDT
[#48]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:



There are quite a few stories out there and they were together and one slipped. It was watched by other climbers.

The problem is all the other sources are all about the tranny and how being a NY park ranger was rough and they accepted the tranny transition and so on. How there needs to be more trannies in climbing and this tranny's organization and so on.

I am surprised the OP found an article that wasn't highlighting everything else/
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
Has anybody found any details on the accident?

Did the belayed get ripped off the anchors or were they both moving and roped together?

Where they on ice or rock?



There are quite a few stories out there and they were together and one slipped. It was watched by other climbers.

The problem is all the other sources are all about the tranny and how being a NY park ranger was rough and they accepted the tranny transition and so on. How there needs to be more trannies in climbing and this tranny's organization and so on.

I am surprised the OP found an article that wasn't highlighting everything else/


I know you meant no slight so I’ll just offer a gentle correction. Park Rangers are tour guides essentially in state parks. Park Police are sworn LEO’s that graduate from an academy that mirrors the State Police Academy with additional Swiftwater rescue and high angle rope rescue training. Forest Rangers like Robbi are a hybrid of LEO and firefighter. They are accredited police officers not peace officers. They are trained in mountaineering, Swiftwater rescue, high angle rope rescue, helicopter extractions and advanced medical training. They deploy across the nation and to Canada to lead wildfire missions. And they’ve lost three Rangers in under two years. Two to suicide and now Robbi’s accident. They’ve been through hell and back.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:28:41 PM EDT
[#49]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


I’m having a very hard time holding my tongue. The Ranger, whether you agreed with Robbi’s choices or not, was a fucking champ at the job and if your ass was dying from hypothermia and you were stranded in the woods with a compound fracture, you’d sure as shit have wanted Robbi looking for you.

I’m sitting at Sloan Kettering right now waiting on my latest scans and hoping I remain cancer free. I know first hand how precarious life can be. A public servant died this weekend, a person who had conducted hundreds of rescues and saved God knows how many lives. I wish people would show a little fucking respect.

And a little girl lost a parent while some here snicker like immature little cunts. True colors being shown.

ETA - not directed at you @ropie
View Quote


+1...I'll add it takes a certain amount of insecurity to make some of the comments that have been made.
Link Posted: 4/29/2024 1:34:57 PM EDT
[#50]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


I know you meant no slight so I’ll just offer a gentle correction. Park Rangers are tour guides essentially in state parks. Park Police are sworn LEO’s that graduate from an academy that mirrors the State Police Academy with additional Swiftwater rescue and high angle rope rescue training. Forest Rangers like Robbi are a hybrid of LEO and firefighter. They are accredited police officers not peace officers. They are trained in mountaineering, Swiftwater rescue, high angle rope rescue, helicopter extractions and advanced medical training. They deploy across the nation and to Canada to lead wildfire missions. And they’ve lost three Rangers in under two years. Two to suicide and now Robbi’s accident. They’ve been through hell and back.
View Quote


Mad respect for guys that do it, I never had the nerve for those kind of exposures.
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