Fatal Alpine Accidents

"..Indian Creek Trail to the Eye of the Needle, a rock formation in the Ponca Wilderness, while popular and well-documented, isn’t an official trail, features drops of up to 50 feet, and can be extremely rugged, in one spot ascending a cliff with the aid of a fixed rope. I.  Brad Lee Thomas, decided to turn back because the section of trail ahead seemed too difficult. Thomas fell 20 feet from the informal path, landing in a shallow pool of water. The National Park Service said in a press release that emergency crews had attempted lifesaving efforts, but they were ultimately unsuccessful, and Thomas died..." Unlicensed Guide Convicted Over Hiker’s Death on Buffalo National River

  On December 30th, 2021, three experienced canyoneers entered the Sierra Canyon in the Superstition Wilderness of Arizona. They attempted to avoid a pool by setting an anchor in a rock arch but the arch broke when the last member, Brandon Levander, passed over it causing him to fall head first 25 ft to the canyon floor. He sustained a skull fracture and died from his injuries despite undergoing brain surgery. Sierra Canyon

  An experienced rock climber had not placed any protection on a climb before he fell 10 metres to his death on Christchurch’s Port Hills, a coroner has found. Paul Corridon​, 71, had climbed for about 25 years and was a volunteer mentor at the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC), climbing two or three times a week. Corridon was climbing Face Variation, a 16-metre “trad” route on Rapaki Rock on the morning of November 10, 2019. A trad route is one in which climbers carry their own protective gear and place equipment into cracks in the rock before clipping a rope in to protect against a fall. In findings recently released by the coroner, climbing companion Sam Leary​ said the plan was that Corridon would climb first and place anchors before belaying from the top. Leary estimated that at one point Corridon was at least 5.5 metres off the ground and had not placed any anchors. Leary said he alerted Corridon to his lack of protection, and he appeared to be looking for a crack in the rock fa...

"..The rope attached to two Australian climbers may have swung like a pendulum against sharp rock when they fell, causing it to sever and the men to plummet 300m to their deaths, a coroner says.  James Harry Spaile, ​44, of New South Wales, and Brett Alexander Lentfer,​ 62, of Canberra, fell 300m from the Remarkables mountain range on November 6, 2019.  They were climbing the Grand Traverse with a guide of 30 years' experience who worked for Wānaka-based Aspiring Guides at the time, a report by Coroner Marcus Elliott says.  The Grand Traverse is a challenging route along the steep and exposed ridge line between Single and Double Cones with views to the valley 2000m below. ..the guide was anchored about 12m away when the men fell, round the corner of a wide ledge.  The guide could not see them but could communicate with them.  Spaile and Lentfer were at the previous anchor point on a ledge and needed to move about 12m to get to the new anchor point.  The rop...

Two hikers Rica Morita, 32, from Japan, and Chaocui Wang from China, died last month while attempting to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. While not related, or even traveling together, they shared the call of the wild and the ambitious goal of completing the 2,650-mile hike from the U.S.-Mexico border to Canada. They died attempting solo crossings of treacherous High Sierra streams, swollen to dangerous levels from extremely deep winter snowpacks that are now melting. Morita’s body was recovered from the King’s River in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park after she had not been seen in nearly two weeks. Wang was found in Rancheria Creek in Yosemite after being missing for 12 days. Their deaths bring attention to the dangers of this year's hike, due to a winter that left behind unprecedented amounts of snow, ice, and rushing water. Many hikers have died this year on the trail, because of snow-melt-swollen creeks, rivers, and streams. Pacific Crest Trail forms tight network

New Zealand Alpine Team members Conor Smith (22) and Sarwan Chand (27) died in a fall in the Darran Mountains in Fiordland National Park. Their bodies were found on Monday evening. The duo were believed to be attempting a challenging route on the south face of Marian Peak in the Darran Mountains, a popular area for advanced climbers. A search was launched when they were reported 24 hours overdue. Their bodies were seen from a helicopter at the base of a climbing face on Monday evening and recovered the next day. A post on the team's website said it appeared to be a ''factor two lead fall''. That means the lead climber fell a whole length of rope down to the belayer and then continued to fall the same distance below, at which point both men were pulled off the wall. Climbing fraternity devastated by double loss

Chun Sek Lam, 64, and Roy Tin Hou Lee, 43, went on Christmas Day, when they set off on a snowshoe hike from the Cypress Mountain Resort parking lot. It remains unclear exactly what happened to Lam and Lee. All that is known is that some time between noon and 10pm on Christmas Day, Lam and Lee vanished. They have not been seen since. The following spring, boots, snowshoes, and Lam's jacket and mobile phone were found in Capilano Lake.