FALL ON ROCK, DESCENDING UNROPED, OFF ROUTE

British Columbia, Selkirk Mountains, Mount Sir Donald

At 0500 on August 24,1985, a party of two (31 and 27) set out from the Illecillewaet Campground (1220 meters) to attempt a light, rapid ascent of Mt. Sir Donald. They short-cut to the northwest arete via a prominent corner south of the Uto Col. They then climbed the arete unroped to the summit, reaching it around 1420. The descent was begun at 1500, with a solo climber who had joined the party on the ascent.

At a prominent band at 2900 meters, the party left the normal Northeast Arete route and followed a ledge system across the West Face. The reason for this was that they were catching up to another descending party, and did not want to be held up. After some discussion of the appropriateness of the improvised route, the third member left the group and went back to the arete.

The ledge system ran out at the south end of the West Face, offering no reasonable line to the South Face descent route. The party continued down-climbing unroped through a series of short rock bands above an area of smooth and downsloping slabs. Near the top of the slabs, one of the climbers (27) appeared to be losing his footing, and froze in a “spidered- out” position (arms and legs extended, facing out). His partner offered his leg as a hold. The lower climber was unable to reach up, and most likely lost friction as he leaned back into the wall. The result was a rapid fall over a series of slightly stepping slabs sloping about 60 degrees into a gully of about 25 degrees, and a final vertical plunge into the moat between the wall and the Vaux Glacier. The total vertical distance was about 3000 meters.

The remaining climber rappelled off the face onto the Vaux Glacier. Unable to locate his friend, he completed the descent and reported the accident to the Warden Service in Rogers Pass at 2100. The next morning, the body was raised with a Z-pulley and flown out. (Source: E. Dafoe, Mount Revelstoke/Glacier National Park)

Analysis

These men had climbed together regularly for four years, and had climbed numerous routes more difficult than this one. However, on this occasion they were attempting a descent route without knowing where it would lead, and though the climber who fell was wearing a harness, he was not using the proper rope or wearing a hard hat. (Source: E. Dafoe, Mount Ravelstoke/Glacier National Park)