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Edward Hudziak a team member of a 15 unguided Polish party fell to his death last Friday (Jan.28.2011) on the northern side of Illiniza Norte. The fall accurred when Hudziak unroped himself from the rest of the team during the descent and fell down 200 m to the northern flanks.

His body was retrieved yesterday By "ASEGUIM" members. Asociacion de Guias de Montana del Ecuador.

Very sad news. RIP.

Here, a link from Diario "El Hoy" de Ecuador. (Spanish Version).

http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/ ... 55805.html

Too sad...

Rest in Peace. And as we were talking at PMs Boris, Illiniza Norte (if i recall well, RGG also said that shouldn't on his TR) is far away from been considered an "easy and safe" mountain.

Abrazos Hermano!

Yes, it's sad Paulo. The second death in 2011 in an Ecuadorian mountain, so far.
The first one ocurred in Volcan Quilotoa, Philip O Shaughnessy from Canada fell to his death on Jan.15th.

PAROFES wrote:Illiniza Norte (if i recall well, RGG also said that shouldn't on his TR) is far away from been considered an "easy and safe" mountain.

Illiniza Norte, along with other mountains have changed a lot in the last months due to the variable weather conditions featured in the Ecuadorian Andean region. Mountains rated as "easy" have become more technical because of these new features (unstable rock, ice and snow). Therefore objective dangers have increassed a lot as well.

We need to be careful up there.

The sad news confirmed in Polish - the guy was an experienced guide, rescuer and hut owner. RIP

yatsek wrote: the guy was an experienced guide, rescuer and hut owner. RIP

Yes, it is sad!

These sad events could happen to the most experienced climbers, sometimes in places where we wouldn´t think they could happen.

Unfortunately, a couple of experienced Ecuadorian Mountain Guides have been criticized in the climber´s log about placing protection in the very same spot where Edward fell down. (Nothing personal). Placing protection in these gullies could help climbers to avoid this kind of fatal accidents.

Illiniza Norte Climber´s log

Sad news. My condolences to his family and friends.