[MtnClimber]

I have climbed Capitol Peak and several other peaks recently posted as dangerous such as Popocatepetl in Mexico. I am guessing she fell on the Knife-Edge Ridge. When I was there, I saw many unsafe practices, so it does not surprise me. I am a former mountaineering instructor for the Colorado Mountain Club, and they focus on safety. On climbing portions of their Basic Mountaineering Course it was common to point out things others were doing as “things not to do, ever”.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I was in the Colorado Mountain Club. There are certain routes, regardless of how careful climbers are, that have inherent dangers.

Rockfall, lightning strikes, decomposing granites, etc. are all waiting to pounce on even the most experienced climbers.

[A strike]

“things not to do, ever”.

apparently she did

[luv2ski]

She did, indeed fall from the knife-edge ridge that connects to the summit. She apparently was holding a rock that gave way, sending her down about 1000' into the Pierre Lakes Basin. It feels like a weekly story that someone has been killed trying to climb a 14r. Maybe it's just all the new people in CO that think climbing them all sounds like a good idea.

My son and a group of his friends used to camp out together and hike some of the lesser peaks- like Holy Cross but one year they were hiking near Crestone Peak (not trying to climb it) when they came across a guy who had fallen several hundred feet when his feet slipped on a patch of ice. My son said he had never seen a person so broken. They gave him CPR for hours until the helicopter arrived to take him out. He was dead before they got him in the helicopter.

Now my son and his friends just go out to dinner together or something. It was a gut punch to all of them (especially thinking of their wives and children at home)