At 2:30 p.m. on March 9, a party of two ascended Left Gully with the intention of skiing one of the runs in Tuckerman Ravine. The party traveled on foot across the top of the ravine toward an area above the Lip, a feature near the top of the cirqu...
A climber from Group A near the top of Twin Peaks. Right: Skier 1, barely visible in the red rectangle, is ascending, shortly before being caught and carried in a large slide. Photo: Group A On February 11, two parties of backcountry skiers ...
In April 2024, an avalanche was triggered at the top of the Heart feature on Mt. Shasta. It carried a snowboarder 1,000 feet (red arrow) and inflicted a broken femur and other serious injuries. The yellow circle marks the fallen snowboarder. Mt....
A popular ski tour on Mt. Rainier ends at Camp Muir, a high-altitude refuge at the 10,188-foot level, seen here in the yellow rectangle. Sparse snow led to a falling accident in November 2024. Walter Siegmund—Wikimedia I am a 29-year-old fema...
The southwest face of Mt. Temple. The blue rectangle marks the location of the broken cornice. The red dashed line denotes the path of the falling skier as they were carried by an avalanche over cliffs and steep snow slopes for 650 meters. Phot...
A helicopter photo of the Christian Peak crevasse accident site with rescue personnel visible in the blue rectangle. Note that there is no visible evidence of crevasses, but the accident and later probing revealed multiple thinly bridged slots. ...
Italy’s Boot on May 7, 2024. A group of skiers is barely visible in the yellow circle. The avalanche runout is marked in red, and the skiers’ skin tracks can be seen in the blue rectangles. Photo: Peter Wojnar On May 7, a party of five backc...
Pico de Orizaba (18,491 feet), also known as Citlaltépetl, is the third-highest peak in North America. In this view from the northeast, the upper section of the mountain is obscured by storm clouds. These upper reaches saw multiple exposure fata...
On February 2, Matthew Aaron Richard (27) lost his life in a climbing accident at the Wonder Wall, a popular area behind a swimming pool complex near the canyon’s entrance. That evening, a few dozen climbers were barbecuing at the base, and Matt e...
Scene of a leader fall on the route Quadra on Mt. Rundle. The belayer (yellow circle) is in the lower left, and the injured climber (red circle) is above and to the right. A rescuer flown to the scene was able to heli-sling in to the patient, an...
On April 28, a party of two decided to try a new eight-pitch sport route on Tunnel Mountain called The Doe (5.10a). On the fifth or sixth pitch, the leader pulled off a hold and fell. The hold hit the belayer in the head and they momentarily lost ...
Brittle and rotten ice contributed to a 50-to-60-foot lead fall on the second pitch of Bourgeau Right (WI4). Note the ice tool (circled red) at the climber’s high point. The team self-rescued and then drove eight hours back to Washington state. ...
Marble Canyon is deceptively committing. Though close to the road, free of avalanches, and mostly top-roped, it has no walk-out and poor to non-existent cell/satellite communication. These factors contributed to a group of five requiring a haul-...
At the end of 2024, a very experienced climber named Dave Peabody fell to his death while rappelling on the Stanley Headwall. The yellow line traces the route, and the blue X marks the spot where the fall took place. Photo Parks Canada At th...
Early on August 24, Dan Erikson (45) and I, Michael MacLeod (56), started climbing the east ridge of Mt. Temple (1,500 meters, 5.7). We had climbed several times together and are experienced. The weather was cloudy and there was some light precipi...
The approach to C-Train on North Crowfoot Peak, showing the climbers’ route of ascent in blue and the location of the avalanche in red. Photo: Parks Canada On December 15, two climbers set off across Bow Lake to climb C-Train (200 meters, M6)...
The two climbers (yellow circle) hunkered down at the summit of Mt. Athabasca, waiting for a rescue after climbing the north face. Variable weather and the sheer magnitude of alpine climbing in the Canadian Rockies play major roles in annual acc...
Climbers (blue circle) awaiting rescue at the base of the Rick Blak Memorial Route. A climber fell near the top of the pitch and was moved to an open area to be extracted. Photo: Parks, Canada On December 27, three climbers were attempting th...
The upper half of the south face of Mt. Robson, seen from a rescue helicopter. The deceased climber fell from the yellow X and was later found on a ledge 750 meters below (yellow rectangle). Photo: Parks Canada On August 31, two climbers near...
On September 22, a rock climber named Stewart Phillip Porter (21) died from injuries sustained during a fall at Devils Tower National Monument. The accident occurred shortly before 8 p.m. Devils Tower Law Enforcement was informed, and responding s...