This report may be coming a little late, as I only learned of this sad news today, but on August 31, SummitPoster Edward Woo (http://www.summitpost.org/user_page.php?user_id=54013) died while on a climb of Gerlach, the highest point in Slovakia. Here is the report (in Slovak) from the rescue team: http://www.hzs.sk/?lang=sk&site=archivsprav&id=1528, with a rough translation I grabbed from Edward's facebook:

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31.8.3010. Záchranná akcia na Gerlachovskom štíte
Rescue action on the Gerlach peak

Monday evening about 9 PM the operating centre of the Mountain Rescue got an
emergency call from one of two English tourists. They had started their trip at
8:00 in the morning from Popradské pleso athough this departure time is very
late for such a climb and the weather forecast was very unfavourable. Both of
these important factors were ignored and they lost their way during the descent
of Gerlach peak and found themselves on the 600 m high south face of the mountain.
Based on the informations they got, a group of rescuers went to the terrain and yet before
midnight they got a light contact, which was lost in a while. Work of the rescuers
was hardened by the very inappropriate weather, because it was snowing during the night
and the wind was blowing 10m/s, the temperature was -4°C, feeling like -10°C. Rescuers
searched through the south face of Gerlach peak and they managed to find the tourists in the
moring hours. They were in critical condition due to strong hypothermia. Rescuers warmed them and
gave the necessary aid. A second group of rescuers went to the terrain to join the action and
change the night group in which some were already freezing and very exhausted. The rescuing
action took all night and all day, complicated by the weather and on some main places more
than 1 m fresh snow, which can be avalanchous. Further forecast of the weather is still very
unfavourable, a strong artic wind is blowing added to the many snow, which makes the whole
action worse and worse. Unfortunately, despite the maximal efforts, due to the bad weather
conditions the rescuers did not manage to save the tourists. Transportation of them is to be
continued as the weather and snow condiditions improve.

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I climbed with Edward in Europe for a few days this past summer and he was a great guy. Sad to see him go like this. RIP.

It was very bad weather in Tatras last weekend. Sad news.
RIP.

Thanks for telling us. My thoughts are with Edward.

kramarty wrote:Gerlach is off limits to hikers or mountaineers and this is the reason why...
Either hire a guide or one must be climber and present such proof to park rangers.
Still, it is very easy to get lost on the mountain even in good weather.

Gierlach is off limts because they don't want dumb tourists fucking up the Tatry ecosystem by trampling all over the tundra. Anyone who is a UIAA member can go up there and enjoy themselves, otherwise one needs to hire a guide. The Slovakians are quite anal about this. North of the border however, one can go anywhere as long as they stay on the paths.

I'm quite sure Edward was knowing what he was doing, and quite probably he was allowed to be on that mountain. He just underestimated the weather, with disastrous outcome. I would not make the same mistake, but that's only because I know quite a bit about meteorology. I might fuck up somewhere else. So playing the blame game doesn't seem like a grand idea to me.

Besides that, Gierlach is a scrambling mountain. Saying it's off limits to mountaineers is quite stupid, IMO.

Kramarty, tak jsem myslel ze jses Slovak kdy jsem videl tou peknu fotku Gerlacha...

Guys, no need to get so heated... you both have your points.

To get some things straight, as far as I know according to the TANAP regulations to climb Gierlach and other off-trail peaks sans guide you not only have to be a UIAA member but also carry a rope and climbing gear and use a route of III UIAA or above, only using the 'normal' route for descent. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The safety questions aside, IMO this is established as a nice little money maker for the guides and also for TANAP as fines imposed by rangers are also a good revenue source. And there is some inconsistency - is free solo climbing totally banned then?
The above is my personal opinion - feel free to slag me off for it...

Anyway, I think Edward and his partner should not have attempted Gierlach that day, they obviously overestimated their skills and underestimated the dangers.

Kramarty, Proterra is a good guy, just very upfront in expressing his opinions. Believe me, he's a good friend of mine. And for the record, he's not a Polish national...

I understand the quoted Slovak report is not the final one, as it says that at the time of its publishing the rescuers could not get Edward and his partner safely down and further action was put off until the wind and snow conditions improve. So that report didn't actually confirm their death yet. I PM'd McCannster to get it clear but sadly he confirmed that people were actually expressing condolences on Edward's facebook page.

kramarty wrote:Proterra...you claim to be educated, but your language says it all. I did not find much respect nor wisdom in your post. I am sure, that there are some other SP members, who reject your egocentric attitude. It seems as though your hobby is to attack people and insult them for joy! What a way to show the world- who you are!
I am an American-Slovak or as you call it "anal Slovakian" and in my younger years,
I have worked at Horska Sluzba in the High Tatras...I have personally experienced accidents like Edward's in dozens during those years. As I remember my last rescue and such tragedy... it was a beautifull 18 years old girl from city of Gdansk from your country, who died in "Galeria Ganku" in the upper part of Stanislawsky route. She roped up straight to the rope, quite common practice in that era of those who desired to climb so much, but lacked the money to buy a harness. (I started myself like that, too) She suffocated due to her chest tie-up.
We were all reduced to tears as we have carried her off to the border at Lysa Polana.
I think we all wished, to have her returned to her parents alive... it was so difficult to bear her down... dead.
I politely disagree with you Proterra, that Edward knew what he was doing and I dispute your opinion he was "probably" allowed on the mountain. Who told you that? HZS has marked them as tourists and that is the end of the story.There are several other red flags, which I have deciphered from reading HZS report. Please read it again Proterra, you should be able to find it.
Of course mountaineers also need credentials as climbers. Gerlach may be a scrambling mountain to you and I do not argue your opinion or ability as some climbers may scramble at 5.10 level, but what comes to my mind is crossing the mountain in west-east direction or the opposite direction and this is the direction in which Ed and his friend got lost..
I don't care what you think Proterra, this is what has caused the tragedy! As I stated before, it is easy to get lost there even in a good weather and the rest is up to God.
May God Bless both!

What do you mean "Proterra is a good guy?"I know, I would never rope up with him or trust his weather forecast, either...I would run for an umbrella , if he would say:"SUNNY!

I'm sorry, but you have totally misread Proterra's post. And how can you say you "politely" disagree when you do nothing but attack him?

kramarty wrote:Yeah, Tatras are beautifull, but one can hardly find such small piece of "landscape" to be as dangerous as that. Imagine it is only 10X15 miles area!

That's right. And I know the strict regulations are not only for safety but also for environmental protection. Maybe I expressed myself partly wrong in my previous post, I'm not in favour of opening the Tatras completely to hiking on and off trail. That would mean trampling the beautiful litle mountain range to death, as both you and Proterra agree...

I went to the Gierlach summit together with a guided party when I was a teenager with little experience, and that was wonderful. As I said I wouldn't find opening the scrambling routes from Velicka and Batizovska valley to all hikers a good thing. But there are experienced mountaineers who are not technical climbers who are perfectly competent to scramble the off-trail peaks without a guide.

Or let's take my personal point of view. I'm a climber and mountaineer, also a UIAA member via my club (I would have to renew my membership now, I admit, as I lived abroad many years and only now returned to Poland) but let's say one day I don't feel like hauling my gear up a mountain and want to have a scramble instead, on a I, II or III-graded route (that's about 3rd, 4th or low 5th class YDS). This is is well within my skills, let's say the conditions and forecast are good, but doing this I'm breaking the TANAP rules unless I hire a guide.

Thus I think the guides have made a monopoly of all off-trail non-technical or semi-technical routes. While this is right for perhaps over 95% of the Tatras visitors, the system mostly hits the category to which I belong.

kramarty wrote:Kamil,
I understand your points and agree, that the adopted system is not right for everybody, but if you agree, that it is good for 95%, then it is a good system. You hardly find anything in life to make everybody happy as it is impossible. Remaining 5% must pay the price and comply. It should not be difficult for you or others. If you take some text books or guide lines on what should be in a backpack of a mountaineer- an accessory rope is a must and I do have it on my trips. Sometimes you don't need it, but when you do- you're ok!
Look Kamil, I do not make a dime to share such an opinion and it is my experience that has formed it...Tatras got to the point of being overrun, something had to happen.
In reference to Bob Shiler's quote, you are right Bob... I should have attach a smiling face afterwords, that's what I meant. It does not mean though, I appreciate Proterra's coments,
which I found to be offensive and not very intelectual.

What I find very offensive, is that one uses a forum post about someone's demise to point out how stupid that person has been. Write a article about Tatry dangers for Christ's sake, but don't do it here. People make mistakes, and in our field, certain mistakes might have a disastrous outcome. Everybody with a wee bit of common sense knows this, and there is no need to point this out another time, and certainly not here...
About my weather forecasts, I noticed you've seen my Tatry forecast on the Europe subforum, and I'm thinking about doing this regularly. You might trust it, you might not, I don't think I really have to give a shit. I guess as long as the people using them are happy, I guess I'm doing a decent job. Compare it to Mountainweather forecast for Rysy or the Wetteronline forecast for Kasprowy Wierch, and mine is (IMO) much better.
Anyway, if you feel so strongly about sharing your knowledge and not earing a dime for it, I guess the right place to do so is on a mountain/route/area page. Have a wee look into those and that will make your SP experience much more enjoyable!
Cheers,
Clint.

Anyways, I'm off climbing shit. See you on monday.

I'm taking the further discussion about TANAP regulations to this topic cos I don't think here is a right place for it...

Sad to see that some people are able to use such offensive language on a post related to a dead person. This is a shocking lack of respect. Especially from such a potentially interesting member (if from Horska Sluzba as claimed) ... disappointing.

As a friend of Edward Woo's friend who also passed, I'm disappointed and offended that people are making comments about their stupidity.

Mistakes can happen, and it is clear this is what happened here, with very sad results.

Please show respect for those who have passed.

I moved the further discussion to another topic cos this was not the right place for it, but sorry if there was any offence from my part. I'm very sorry about the passing of your friends

I think that it would be appropriate for someone from SP to correct his profile page. It states that he died on Monday the 30th. The actual date would be better. Thanks.

Jerry L wrote:I think that it would be appropriate for someone from SP to correct his profile page. It states that he died on Monday the 30th. The actual date would be better. Thanks.

And which would be the actual date? I had calculated Aug 30th but you are right that this is when they started. But was it Aug 31st or Sept1st?