On September 18, Ronald Czajkowski (44) fell 120 feet to his death at Thatcher Park, according to police. “He had a harness and rope with him. It appears it was human error as far as attaching it to the anchor point on top of the cliff,” said Captain John Layton from the Albany County Sheriff’s Department.

Layton said Czajkowski, who had very little climbing experience, came to the park around sunrise. He said it appeared the victim did not have the proper knot on the rope as he was trying to rappel off the cliff. “He’s only been climbing a few times. It’s a new thing for him. It’s only been over the last few weeks,” Layton said. (Source: Edited from a report by Tyler Murphy in the Altamont Enterprise.)

(Editor’s note: While Thatcher Park is considering opening some areas for climbing by permit, it has not yet adopted any policy and climbing here remains illegal.)