There is a quaint saying in climbing circles…
‘Come back alive, come back as friends, make the summit; in that order’
“Nake nula wauŋ welo!”. This phrase means, “I am ready for whatever comes.” It was meant to show the warriors were not afraid of the battle or dying in it.
Come back alive… what a concept. Alleged sayings from good old Low Dog notwithstanding, not many of us go out into the sunrise thinking that we might not see the sunset. Maybe we should have that worldview, but that is for another story. Mostly we go climbing either solo or with our mates, fully expecting to get back to share the tale over a few pints in the pub. And you know what? Most of us do just that. But not all. It should be incumbent upon all of us to climb in such a manner that maximizes our potential to make it down successfully. Climbing can be a dreadfully selfish endeavor. You may not care if you take the big dirt nap, but I’ll bet you have loved ones that do.
The number of ways to come to harm in the mountains are legion. Sometimes what gets you is a mostly random event like a hold breaking. But more often than not it’s a matter of pilot error; and this comes in many, many forms, some obvious, some maybe not so obvious. The American Alpine Club lists the following in their yearly ‘Accidents in North American Climbing’: Fall on Rock / Fall on Snow / Fall on Ice / Falling Object / Illness / Stranded or Lost / Avalanche / Rappel Error / Lowering Error / Fall from Anchor / Anchor Failure / Exposure / Glissade Error / Protection Pulled Out / Failure to follow route / Fall in Crevasse / Faulty use of crampons / Ascending too fast / Skiing / Lightning / Equipment Failure / and the ubiquitous ’other’
My lovely wife used to climb a bit. One summer early on in our lives together I was up doing some alpine climb or another in the interior ranges, and she was rock climbing with friends in Leavenworth. They were a couple of pitches up a multi pitch climb when something very bad happened on an adjacent climb. The details are sketchy and somewhat time befuddled but the story goes something like… Two climbers were together on a ledge a pitch or two off of the ground. One of the guys apparently slips off the ledge. They were tied together with the rope, but for some reason neither one were tied-off to the rock. You can imagine the rest…. Sad thing was that their girlfriends were waiting for them at the base of the climb.
Some of you readers knew my buddy Scott, and some of you may have read about him here, or over at The Desert Mountaineer. Scott was a great guy. Young, strong, all full of piss and vinegar. He fell to his death descending a route that he had just climbed. He could have descended the standard route which was longer and easier, but he didn’t. He left a new bride behind.
Others of you will have read my piece a few years back about us witnessing a body extraction on Mt. Tupper. Another case of a climber on relatively easy ground, falling unroped. We talked to some of the guys that were on the scene. They were pretty shaken up. But not near as much as the guys partners one of which I believe was his wife.
A few years back I was climbing with a young fellow in one of the local climbing gyms. He was pretty new to the game, and asked me what my one piece of advice would be to offer him as he started his journey in climbing. To which I replied… “don’t fuck up and die”
So I guess the overall gist of this story is… all it takes is a moments inattention be safe when you climb, don’t get in over your head, don’t take anything for granted, and come back alive.
Climbing and soloing aren’t worth dying for, but they’re worth risking to die for.
– Todd Skinner