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Damn... RIP.

He must have fallen from the top of Motorcycle Hill. RIP.

I saw several people traveling unroped on the lower part of the mountain while I was there. That's like playing Russian roulette IMO. Those crevasses are too deep to risk a fall like that.

Alpinist wrote:He must have fallen from the top of Motorcycle Hill. RIP.

I saw several people traveling unroped on the lower part of the mountain while I was there. That's like playing Russian roulette IMO. Those crevasses are too deep to risk a fall like that.

A 51-year-old French climber has died after falling more than 1,000 feet down Mount McKinley into a crevasse, park officials said Monday.

my understanding is crevasses don't run that deep - sounds like he fell down a steep hill and into a crevasse at the bottom of it.

That's what I thought also. Perhaps at Squirrel hill off to the left as you head up to the flats before windy point? There certainly is a 1000 foot slide possible there. With the fall line vs the path last year we had a hard time keeping the sleds under control being on a rope of three.

Alpinist wrote:He must have fallen from the top of Motorcycle Hill. RIP.

I saw several people traveling unroped on the lower part of the mountain while I was there. That's like playing Russian roulette IMO. Those crevasses are too deep to risk a fall like that.

Haliku wrote:That's what I thought also. Perhaps at Squirrel hill off to the left as you head up to the flats before windy point? There certainly is a 1000 foot slide possible there. With the fall line vs the path last year we had a hard time keeping the sleds under control being on a rope of three.

Alpinist wrote:He must have fallen from the top of Motorcycle Hill. RIP.

I saw several people traveling unroped on the lower part of the mountain while I was there. That's like playing Russian roulette IMO. Those crevasses are too deep to risk a fall like that.

I don't remember such a long fall as being possible from the climb up to Squirrel Hill but you may right. I do recall hitting some blue ice in that section 2 years ago that was pretty sketchy. The accident must have occurred somewhere below the top of Squirrel Hill though as the report stated the elevation was 12K.

Here is some more detail on the accident.

Haliku wrote:That's what I thought also. Perhaps at Squirrel hill off to the left as you head up to the flats before windy point? There certainly is a 1000 foot slide possible there. With the fall line vs the path last year we had a hard time keeping the sleds under control being on a rope of three.

Alpinist wrote:He must have fallen from the top of Motorcycle Hill. RIP.

I saw several people traveling unroped on the lower part of the mountain while I was there. That's like playing Russian roulette IMO. Those crevasses are too deep to risk a fall like that.

Very sad accident. It sounds like he went over the cliff onto the Peter's glacier to climbers left of the route. I can see how it could happen, if you were unroped.
This is about where our sled tipped over and tent poles went about 2000 feet down a cliff onto the Peter's glacier. Fortunately we were roped to the rest of the sled and only lost the poles.

Ascension du McKinley : décès d'un alpiniste français

Very sad. My wife and I just came out the day before. I can understand a sled that gets away from you going over the edge at Lunch Rocks, what I can't understand is why the climber held on and went with it? Makes no sense.

I'm not doubting your discussion with the park services folks but, rather, trying to understand the situation so we can all learn something from this tragedy. I've been on this route several times and this year I saw far more people travelling unroped through the more dangerous sections (lower Kahiltna) than ever before. My question is if he was roped to the sled how would it have gotten away from him and why would he have needed to jump on it to try and save it? That doesn't make any sense to me.

Brad Marshall wrote:That doesn't make any sense to me.

Accidents rarely do, Brad, that's part of the problem. If everything went right it wouldn't be an accident.

Maybe only his partner can really say what happened, though I can imagine scenarios of how it might have done.

As was discussed in another thread, I personally don't think it's a good idea to use sleds above 11K, sled control being just one reason, and nothing I've read above in this thread causes me to think otherwise. That's not a criticism of this man. It pains me to think that someone died in this way, as I know only too well the effect it will have on his loved ones.

In hindsight I agree. Last year we only used one sled per rope team of three with the sled in the middle position.

Damien Gildea wrote:...I personally don't think it's a good idea to use sleds above 11K...