Jess Roskelly presumed dead in BC avalanche

Posted by: clearwater

Jess Roskelly presumed dead in BC avalanche - 04/18/19 09:03 PM

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/apr/18/climbers-jess-roskelley-david-lama-hansjorg-auer-f/
Posted by: dougwalkabout

Re: Jess Roskelly presumed dead in BC avalanche - 04/21/19 03:39 AM

This happened on the Alberta side, if the news reports are accurate.

I am not a climber, let alone an elite climber like these gentlemen clearly were. So, my calculus of risk/reward is probably amateurish in the extreme.

But I do watch mountain conditions. There have been heavy thaws and freezes this winter in the Canadian Rockies, interspersed with heavy dumps of snow. I believe the avalanche forecasts have been very high on the scale. Spring makes these increasingly variable -- a morning slope will hold, an afternoon slope will slip.

I bear them no ill will; given the tributes, they have contributed much.


But from my chair here, I have to wonder why they were out.

My 2c.
Posted by: hikermor

Re: Jess Roskelly presumed dead in BC avalanche - 04/21/19 02:12 PM

"We took chances, we knew we took them. Things have come out against us, therefore we have no cause for regret."

Robert Falcon Scott - last page of his diary
Posted by: dougwalkabout

Re: Jess Roskelly presumed dead in BC avalanche - 04/21/19 04:15 PM

Wise words. Fair enough.