Washington, Cliff Above Yale Dam—On March 1, late in the afternoon of a sunny day, Charles Haas (17) and Darrell Jones (18) decided to climb the cliff above the Pacific Power and Light Company’s powerhouse at the Yale Dam, Washington. Having no previous climbing experience, they used very poor judgement in starting as late as 5:00 p.m. They carried no climbing equipment. About half way up the cliff, the boys found themselves on extremely loose rock. After several handholds came out, they became too frightened either to continue the ascent or to return the way they had come. They yelled to the PP & L employees at the power house below that they needed help. An attempt to rescue the boys was made by the employees. They tried to throw a 150 foot rope down to the boys from the top of the cliff. This rope became tangled a few feet below the top, and they were afraid to shake it loose for fear of dropping rocks down on the boys. The Clark County Sheriff, upon arrival, ordered this attempt stopped and called for the Oregon Mountain Rescue and Safety Council of Portland. One of the PP & L employees, Kermit Stephens, stayed on top of the cliff and shouted encouragement to the boys. A rescue group of seven climbers arrived shortly after 10:00 p.m. and set up operations at the top of the cliff. One of the climbers, Ray Conkling, tied into a rope and was lowered by the other members, using a carabiner brake set-up. Conkling, picked up the tangled 150 foot rope, and continued down to the first boy, where he tied him into this rope. Conkhng was then lowered to the second boy, where he unroped and tied the boy into his climbing rope. The lower boy was then hoisted to the top, and the climbing rope was lowered again so that the other boy could be brought up in the same manner. Conkling then climbed up with a belay from above. On reaching the top, both the boys expressed their belief that they could not have lasted the night on the face. The boys were extremely cold, but otherwise in good physical condition. The entire rescue operation by the MORESCO group took approximately one

Source: David Hitchcock.

Analysis: Contrary to the newspaper stories, Mr. Stephens was not lowered down the cliff, but stayed on top. He was, however, of material assistance to the rescue, by keeping the boys encouraged for three hours until the MORESCO group arrived.