About Over four years ago, I read “Touching the Void” and I was always intrigued by situation hikers find themselves in and the incredible things they do to stay alive.
This blog is about learning from other people’s mistakes, so you don’t make the same ones.
“Better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat”
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Who: Two men
Where: East Buttress route (5.7), Mt. Whitney, California
Their mistake: Bad luck
What happened: Two climbers were on their final push to the summit of Mt. Whitney on the East Buttress route, a 5.7 scramble/climb to the peak of the mountain. While the men were on a ledge at 13,500 feet, a large rock fell [...]
Who: Mangesh Despande and an unknown mountaineer, both from Mumbai
Where: Mt. Thingchinkhang, India
Their mistake: Bad luck. Not sure if there were any signs in the snow
What happened: A team of four mountaineers and two Sherpas tackled Mt. Thingchinkhang. The team successfully made it to the summit of the mountain and began to descend back to [...]
Who: Seven Russian Hikers, 5 men and 2 women
Where: Kunlun Mountain Range, China
Their mistake: They were hiking illegally, but there are a lot of holes in the story still
What happened: A group of seven hikers from Russia planned on hiking through the Kunlun Mountain Range for about one month. When the Russians applied for their [...]
Who: 32-year-old Roby Piantoni
Where: Shisha Pangma, Tibet, China
His mistake: He was climbing in crystal-ice conditions which contributed to a slip
What happened: World-renowned mountaineer, Roby Piantoni, was with a group attempting a new route up the south face of Shisha Pangma, the world’s 14th tallest mountain and the last 8,000-meter peak to be climbed.
The team attempted [...]
Who: Andrei Timovic and Jaroslaw Lindenberg, ambassador of Poland
Where: A local mountain above Kolasin, Montenegro
Their mistake: Not sure if they checked the weather, but it could just be bad luck
What happened: A group of 11 climbers were attempting to summit a local peak when a lightning storm developed above them. Lightning struck the group – [...]
Who: Two climbers
Where: Dream Weaver alpine climb, Mt. Meeker, Rocky Mountain National Park
Their mistake: Unclear. Not sure if they checked avy conditions or not
What happened: Two climbers were climbing the Dream Weaver alpine climb route. They were on the first or one of the lower pitches of the climb when a small slab avalanche broke [...]
Who: 71-year-old Clifton Maloney, husband of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), and millionaire investment banker
Where: Cho Oyu, the 6th tallest peak in the world
His mistake: It’s unknown.
What happened: A 71-year-old man was on an expedition to Cho Oyu with a professional climbing partner and guide. They both successfully climbed to the summit of the mountain [...]
Who: A 68-year-old man
Where: Otscher, Lower Austria
His mistake: He lost his balance
What happened: A man climbing in the Otscher area with his 35-year-old son lost his footing and fell into a crevasse. He fell 250 meters into the crevasse. It is unclear if rescuers were able to recover the body, but I doubt it. Unfortunately [...]
Who: Yoshito Usui of Japan, creator of “Crayon Shinchan”
Where: Mount Arafune, Japan
His mistake: He took a fall off a cliff. It’s unclear how it happened.
What happened: A cartoonist was reported missing on September 11 after he told friends that he was going on a solo hike on a mountain. Eight days later, another climber found [...]
Who: A 26-year-old man from Portland
Where: Mt. Hood, Oregon
His mistake: Wrong place, wrong time
What happened: A man was taking an ice and rock class with a non-profit mountaineering group when a large boulder started tumbling down above him. The boulder hit the climber and sent him on a 10-foot fall down the hill to an [...]
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