RIP and Respect

[AxeMan]

RIP and Respect.
It looks like Howse Peak in our Rockies has claimed 3 of the best climbers in the world this week. Avalanche.
These guys are climbing legends.
Some of the stuff they have done is almost unbelievable.

Hansjörg Auer, David Lama and Jess Roskelley
Austrian, Austria/Nepalese, and America.

Sad week in the climbing world.  They know their risks and accept it, that's all.  No one should speculate any further on that.  Only climbers can understand that.
I think it might have been best said by a climber one time.  To rely on fate is delusional and dangerous, you must rely on faith.  Something like that.

To me, guys like this are the best athletes in the world and they do it to push the limits of what humans can do, and that is unbelievable as proven by their accomplishments.
When you look at some of these climbs and peaks, you would say absolutely impossible, yet they do it.  All 3 of these guys have huge accomplishments including Everest and even a solo climb on a Himalayan remote giant 7157m Lupghar Sar West in the winter.

Let us on AS, say a prayer and lift our glasses in respect to these guys, as they currently lay under the snow northwest of Banff.  Rescue and recovery are being hampered by bad conditions and lots of new snow.  May they stay safe as possible as well.  The 3 climbers are presumed gone now by what the aerial reconnaissance has shown.  Hopefully they can be recovered for their families.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/avalanche-howse-peak-auer-lama-roskelley-1.5103919

Watch this video about David Lama's climb on Cerro Torre in Patagonia.

[greylynx]

God bless their souls.  It does not take much for these things to happen.  Honest to god it does not.

[LeverAction]

Lots of respect for guys like this. In my younger days I did a fair bit of skydiving, rodeoing and took horses to the tops of mountains on trails not fit for goats. I always said I would rather live my life then sit and watch someone on tv live theirs. These guys did just that. May they take on one more challenge and climb Gods mountain and rest their souls.

[Walleyes]

Well I guess one could say with respect of course they died doing what they loved.

Rest In Peace gentlemen.

[sonny]

It's always sad when someone dies but..

They knew the risks and atleast they died doing what they loved.

[AxeMan]

I have a bit of a soft spot for mountaineers I guess.  Used to be into it a bit in my younger days.  We fooled around on Robson quite a bit, and did a few climbs in Kananaskis and back on the divide. Mount Joffre was our high point at 11,300 feet. Met some of the top local guys in the sport in those days like Laurie Skreslet and Barry Blanchard, who were legends then and still are.

Finally one day, up fairly high on Mt Robson, I came to my senses and gave it up.  We were on Robson once when a couple of German climbers lost their lives back in the late eighties when they got caught in some crazy bad weather up high on the mountain.  I think I just realized that I didn't have the guts for it anymore and wanted to live a longer life.  The objective hazards like avalanche and rockfall were always there and somewhat out of a climbers control.  The subjective hazards were controllable with skill and trust in ones self and some of the pros like Barry Blanchard are master mountain guides that really minimize that aspect of it, but they dedicated their lives to it.  I knew I was in the danger zone with big ambitions with an early 20's attitude and ego with not enough training and skill.  Another time I remember vividly was on a descent of the Petain glacier when we got caught in a bad late afternoon thunderstorm which caused some major problems for us.  I had some major fears that day as well.

A lot of people don't express too much sympathy for climbers who put themselves in these situations of risk, nor should they.  That is something that the climber assumes on their own.
This is just such a crappy tragedy, that a bloody avalanche took these guys out.  No doubt they would have assessed that hazard the morning they set out and are pros at determining that risk.
I have a feeling that the weather turned that morning on them and they got some heavy snow up high that triggered things.  Early morning you can usually get away with a bit more but not that day. That icefields area makes its own weather rendering forecasts useless at times.

Just such a shock to the climbing world that an Alberta mountain took out 3 of the top guys in the world when they have cheated death on some of the worst routes on big mountains in the world.  Mind you that M16 route on Howse Peak is no joke by any stretch and has only been climbed once in 1999 by Barry B with a couple of other local climbers.

[Walleyes]

Cool strories Axe.

But i have to wonder, these men were at the top of their field without a doubt why would they try this climb this time of year. Why not wait until summer when the snow packs are more stable. I don’t go out and on the rig floor when we are drilling with Invert and circulating out a gas kick and light a cigarette and smoke it on the floor,, know why, cause I’ll die that’s why.

Sometimes I think guys like this like to play with death and tempt it,, they got caught this time and well it shows.

[AxeMan]

Walleyes, I can't disagree.
I guess the best answer is that they can read and control the risk with their experience most of the time.
Works 99% of the time as they climb all year round.
This was one of those times when it didn't work out though.  The odds caught up with them.

[greylynx]

Axe:

Would you do those same things in the mountains today as in your twenties?

If my body would let me, I would.  Why, I don't know.  My worst experience was on Mt. Andromeda. I almost went down a crevasse. All I lost was a ski pole. I stopped for a minute and asked myself what the hell am I doing? Then kept going up the icefield.

I have been skiing in June and July on Parker's Ridge and Bow Summit when people have been swept away and killed. A friend's brother spent two days half way down Robson before being plucked off by a helicopter.  Did that stop us twenty somethings? No.

And look at Ben Gadd out of Jasper. He climbed Robson with his son while in his late fifties. bengadd.com/BenGaddBooks.htm

[AxeMan]

Haha Grey,  I can't look at a mountain without finding a route up it.  In my mind. 
Still love good hikes though.

[greylynx]

I will wait for the incident assessment report(s) out of the Canadian Alpine Journal.

I have a gut feeling these now deceased gentlemen figured the Canadian Rockies are nothing more than a kid's climb.

[artie]

This video  gives you an idea of the type of climbing David Lama is capable of.
Must take awhile to get used to climbing rock with crampons on.

[AxeMan]

I came across this video from a guy who made it to summit of Mount Robson last summer in mid July on a solo mission.
Very interesting because he took the Patterson Spur route from the south (Kinney Lake) up to the Resplendent-Robson Col and then traversed the ridge to the Dome.  Then onto the traditional Kain Face and summit ridge route.  I always wondered what that ridge traverse was like.

The more traditional south face route which I have been on goes up to the Ralph Forster hut and then across those bloody dangerous Schwartz ledges below the terrible unstable seracs that puke ice like mad; very direct but bloody dangerous.  The other far way around which I have also been to is the northeast route up the Robson glacier and up and around to the Dome.  That way is bloody dangerous too with so much crevasse and serac danger in the Mousetrap on the Robson upper glacier.  Robson really doesn't have an easy approach to the upper ridges which makes it a bit elusive.

Anyway, this guy had a great climb and really did his homework. Perhaps risky being unroped on the glacier to the Dome and up to the Kain face. That route is now quite well documented here:
http://theoutsideout.blogspot.com/2013/08/beta-on-kain-south-face-variation.html

[AxeMan]

I have a couple of old scans from some pics I took back in the late eighties of northeast Robson.
Just looking back on them compared to the pics and videos I see now of the Dome and the Kain face, what a difference in glaciation.
Some old pics of mine.  Northeast view of Robson from Snowbird pass, the very start of Mousetrap on the Robson glacier, and the Reef Icefield looking east.

[greylynx]

Axe:

Thanks for the mountain porn show.  That was excellent.  As for your pictures. Amazing how things have changed. And how they have changed.

I loved the different geological strata the gentleman photographed. And the different snow crystal formations were out of this world.

That is a quality production.

Thanks again Axe:

[AxeMan]

Well, they got the bodies today. 

One more tribute video from David's Youtube channel.
David & Hansjörg on Annapurna III in the Himalaya.  Very extreme stuff.  8:50 yikes, don't look down.

[greylynx]

That was very nice Axe.

[artie]

another Kain  face for axeman.  He says they go to the Resplendent/ Robson Col but it looks like they climb  a rock climb on the front of the dome. 
They started early so had nice hard snow to crampon up on.

[OL_JR]

           Thanks for sharing, just puts it into perspective what some people are capable of.  Tonnes of respect for those dudes.  I spend a bit of time in the mountains and would never even think of attempting some of the stuff they do.  A steep enough shale slide and I am turning around, don't care what kind of sheep is at the end of it and I've had to say no to some really nice sheep not thinking it was worth the risk.  Looking at these guys maybe it wasn't so bad.