Fall, Equipment Failure, Load Too Heavy For Pack, Alberta, Rocky Mountains, Lyell Group

Publication Year: 1986.

FALL, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, LOAD TOO HEAVY FOR PACK

Alberta, Rocky Mountains, Lyell Group

About noon on July 13, 1985, a party of 13 was hiking at 2000 meters on a mountaineering approach. From time to time they would stop and wait for stragglers. At one point they waited about two hours without great concern for a missing climber, since he might have been delayed by difficult sections of the trail. When finally someone went back along the trail to look, he found the missing climber, who had been injured by his pack. He had been carrying a very heavy load, and a shoulder stabilizer strap tore out. The pack pitched sideways, and he fell to the ground in a twisting motion under the heavy load, incurring a severe sprain of the left ankle and lower leg. He required and obtained helicopter evacuation. (Source: Orvel Miskiw, Calgary)