SummitPost.org

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/on-the-mountain-of-mourn/2008/12/23/1229998526776.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

I don't know why I took the photo. It was three men just passing time. The picture said nothing of the noise. The wind beat the hut walls with unrestrained ferocity. A blizzard had descended on the slopes of Otago's Mount Aspiring. We waited in Colin Todd hut for our chance at the summit.

Lying on my bunk, I reached for the camera and click, three men's lives were frozen in time. They were a mixed bunch: Anton Wopereis, a renowned New Zealand climbing guide, was studying weather charts. At a table in the middle of the hut, writing his journal, was a West Australian systems analyst, Miles Vinar. Mark his older brother, a Perth doctor, lay on his bunk, his head propped on his arm. He chided his brother for his literary conscientiousness. I had only just met them but could tell they were close. We were four people with different lives, thrown together with little to unite us but a desire to climb the peak that towered above our tiny shelter.

I look at the photo now. It's unremarkable and wouldn't mean much to anyone but the families of the three men. Unremarkable, except that two of the three are now dead. Miles Vinar is the sole survivor.

This incompetent fucker hasn't wasted any time exploiting the tragic death of a stranger to plug his worthless-piece-of-shit book has he?

And without adequately explaining the relative inexperience of the Vinar's (or not? what had they done between Aspiring & Zurbriggens?) he now puts into the minds of hundreds of thousands of the reading general public that climbing in NZ is inexplicably dangerous without a guide.

Such penetrations into the mainstream media unfortunately weigh more than any more reasoned and informed commentary from experienced climbers within their community.

Somewhat ironic, Brad, given my comments on that UKC Jagged Globe thread we both commented in?

D

It took me a minute to add 2 and 2. I should have realised it was you on the UKC, from the excellence of your writing. PLus the shortened name and stance on the issue.

It was crass of him to include the photo but coming from the opposite end of the climbing spectrum than yourself, I dont have the same vehemence of opinion.

I thought like most people new to the mountains, his writing was melodramatic but seemed quite sincere.