On April 16, at about 3 p.m., Yosemite Dispatch received a report of a climber who had taken a lead fall and was bleeding severely at Church Bowl. The climber (male, age 24) had pulled multiple pieces of protection from the Bishop’s Terrace route ...
At 9:30 a.m. on August 11, I (Ranger Forrest Coots) received a call from Siskiyou County Search and Rescue coordinator Mike Burns while patrolling the lower elevations of the south side of Mt. Shasta. Officer Burns stated that a 911 call had come ...
On July 25 at approximately 2:45 p.m., Bryan Bridgefs slipped and fell below Red Banks on the south side of Mt. Shasta. From his location at about 12,000 feet, Bridgefs called 911. Mike Burns from Siskiyou County Search and Rescue called climbing ...
On June 22, shortly after noon, a 44-year-old man fell off the summit pinnacle of Mt. Shasta and sustained multiple injuries. Shasta Mountain Guides owner/operator Chris Carr and local physician Dr. Sean Malee were on the scene and handled patient...
On June 11, a female climber was descending the Avalanche Gulch route. Once below the Red Banks, she attempted to glissade down snow toward Helen Lake. Somewhere near the Heart, her crampons caught in the snow or ice and she twisted or broke her a...
Toward the end of a full day of climbing, a group headed to the Slot Machine, a prominent feature of the Casino Cliffs in Jacks Canyon. One climber, Person 3, attempted Slots O Fun, a 5.10a limestone sport route, approximately 35 feet high, with f...
On March 26, a group from a University of Alaska Fairbanks introductory mountaineering class was out for its final climb. The class consisted of nine students (ages 20–28), one lead instructor, and three volunteer assistant instructors. After 11 w...
Three climbers flew to the Pika Glacier on July 16, spent a few days rock climbing in the Little Switzerland area, and began a traverse out of the mountains on July 19. The team had planned to return to Talkeetna on foot and by packraft. At approx...
On June 13, the six members of expedition “Extreme Travel” completed their orientation at the Talkeetna ranger station and flew to the Kahiltna Glacier to begin a West Buttress climb. The team moved to 17,200-foot camp on the eighth day of their t...
On June 16, a mountain guide radioed NPS mountaineering rangers from the upper West Buttress Route to say that one of his clients was exhibiting signs and symptoms of high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). The guided group was returning from a summ...
The four climbers of expedition “TEAM ECS’16” flew to Kahiltna base camp at 7,200 feet on May 31. Thirteen days later, on June 12, TEAM ECS’16 moved to 17,200-foot camp and then left for a summit attempt the following day. Throughout the day, this...
At 11:17 a.m. on May 25, a 49-year-old male and his 40-year-old male climbing partner contacted the mountaineering rangers at 14,200 feet via family radio service (FRS) to report that both individuals had deep frostbite injuries. The injured climb...
On April 17 the “Gonna Die!” expedition team flew to the Kahiltna Glacier for a planned 21-day ascent of the West Buttress climbing route. Expedition Gonna Die! was the first team of the 2016 season to reach the 14,200-foot camp and the only exped...
A climber departed Talkeetna on January 21 for a planned 65-day winter solo expedition on the west ridge of Mt. Hunter. At 7 a.m. on April 1, the Alaska Region Communication Center (ARCC) received an emergency notification and GPS coordinates from...
On June 16, at approximately 12:30 p.m., Yosemite Dispatch received a 911 call about a climber injury on El Capitan in the vicinity of the Heart Ledges rappels. Pete, Mark, and Vlad had just finished climbing Little John Right, a three- to four-...
On the afternoon of May 22, a female climber (age unknown) was attempting to lead the route Layback, a 5.9+ trad climb at the popular Bridge Buttress area. The climber took a short fall, loading her highest piece, a finger-size cam, which then pul...
Celeste and her partner, both 36 and experienced climbers, were approaching the technical crux of Kamp’s Ridge (5.6) on Mt. Olympus. It was a warm, sunny day around noon. They were in fourth-class terrain when Celeste fell approximately 100 feet. ...
On the afternoon of September 18, a two-person party was near the summit of Bear Creek Spire (13,726 feet) after climbing the east ridge, one of the longest routes in the Sierra (5.8 and more than 20 pitches, if the entire route is belayed). Altho...
On July 17, at 9 a.m., Yosemite Dispatch received a call from a distressed party at the base of Cathedral Peak. The caller’s 38-year-old male climbing partner had fallen while off route on the first pitch of the Southeast Buttress Route (5.6). The...
My wife and I were climbing at Pie Shop, a granite crag in South Lake Tahoe where we had been multiple times. I was leading the first pitch of True Grip, a right-angling 5.10b finger crack. While I am an experienced trad leader and have comfortabl...