My involvement in this sport is limited to one, maybe two, big trips per year, with the exception of 2005/2006, when I left my job at Clorox and traveled for a year. Since I began pursuing high altitude treks and climbs in 1999, I have never known anyone who has gotten hurt, let alone killed on any mountain... until recently.
In the past few months, three climbers whom I have come across over the years were killed on the mountains. I only knew each of them for a brief time, which is the way it goes on expeditions and climbs far away from home. We spend a good deal of time together in a short period and then go our separate ways, hoping to meet again but knowing we probably won't.
On February 15, 2010, Joe Bohlig, 52, fell from the crater wall on the top of Mount St. Helens. When he and his friend got to the top, Joe stepped back to pose for his 69th summit photo. Suddenly the cornice broke beneath him and he plunged 1,500 feet into the crater.Joe's accident brings to mind a similar fatal misstep. Babu Chiri Sherpa climbed to the summit of Everest ten times and in 1999 became the first person to spend the night on the summit without using supplemental oxygen. Then on April 29, 2001, while on Camp 2 on Everest, he stepped out, apparently to take a photograph, when the ground beneath him broke and he fell to his death in a crevasse.
Mount St. Helens is not known as a difficult mountain to hike and deaths are rare. Camp 2 on the south side of Everest is so large and expansive that it almost resembles base camp. That these places seem safe makes them much more dangerous. These tragic accidents remind us to be on alert and keep up our guard always.
When I met Joe on Aconcagua in 2006, he talked incessantly about his love of climbing Mount St. Helens. Mountaineering was clearly a sport he enjoyed and Aconcagua was the start of higher and more international climbs for him. On and off the mountain, his eyes literally sparkled and I don't think he ever stopped smiling.
In an Oregon Live article, I read this about Joe:
Bohlig's sister, Catherine Munden of Lewiston, Idaho, said Tuesday evening that her brother, who worked for Weyerhaeuser, "was my best friend."
"He was just a great guy," she said.
She said Bohlig was an avid and experienced mountain climber who had just returned from scaling three mountains in Ecuador earlier this month. He also has climbed Argentina's Cerro Aconcagua, one of the tallest mountains in the Americas, without oxygen.
Bohlig had lost a son, Michael, who was 18 at the time, in an auto accident in Germany 14 years ago, but Munden said her brother "was always very positive. ..." "If he had to go, I mean, he went doing what he loved," she said. "He always knew that was a possibility. I think that we're all just grateful that it happened near home, not somewhere in a foreign country."
Click here to read more about Joe's passion for climbing and the accident that took his life.
On March 30, 2010, Heidi Kloos, 41, was killed close to her home in Colorado when an avalanche struck as she was skiing in to take a look at a new ice climbing route on Mt. Blady. Heidi was one of a handful of American women to become an American Alpine Guide Association (AMGA) certified alpine guide. If you don't know what that is, consider it the Harvard PHD of alpine guiding in the US.
In 2008, Heidi was my ice climbing instructor in Ouray, Colorado, where we spent just two days together. From what I could tell in that short time, she was an incredibly strong woman, in both sport and spirit. When she told me she would only attempt Everest in Nepal, not China, and without supplemental oxygen, I told her I admired her convictions but joked that I apparently didn't have any. She spent the next two days pointing out my convictions.
Heidi climbed for a living and loved it. The understatement of the year is that she was strong. I admired her immensely. She only seemed to care that I learned what I came there to learn and enjoyed doing it. I did.
When I told her I was done climbing and that she should have a turn on the ice, she seemed somewhat surprised but elated. I took photos of her scaling a wall in minutes that would have taken me hours if I had even dared to attempt it. She intentionally chose a circuitous and difficult route to show me techniques.
Then I told her she should find another color for her jacket because black does not photograph well. I got the expected look and chuckle.
What I love about most mountain guides, Heidi especially, is that they climb year round and have been everywhere multiple times, and yet they still are excited for those of us who finally reach the summit of Aconcagua or get a chance on Everest. Even though Heidi's climbing objectives were far more ambitious than mine and she could probably carry me up the Lhotse Face on her back, she still wanted me to reach my goal of climbing Everest with supplemental oxygen on whatever route I tried.
Here are some excerpts from an article in Rock and Ice Magazine:
“She was not so much about summitting,” said close friend Sherri Silvera. “She was completely about being in the mountains. It didn’t matter if you were a great climber; she had just as much fun with anyone who was pushing their physical limits."
Most recently, Kloos had been inspired by her work guiding disabled veterans on the slopes of Denali. The program is run by the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program in conjunction with Mountain Trip, for whom Kloos was a regular guide; she had been looking forward to returning to Denali with TASP this summer.
In addition to her love of mountains, Kloos was known as a strong horsewoman and lover of animals. “There wasn’t an animal that she couldn’t befriend, I think,” said Irene Kloos. “She just loved animals.”
Kloos’ brother Eddie passed away in a kayaking accident in 1996, and her fiancé, climber Dave Bridges, was killed in an avalanche in Tibet with Alex Lowe in 1999. Kloos’ father, longtime ski patroller at Snowmass Mountain, died in January 2010. Kloos leaves behind her mother, Irene Kloos of Arizona; her brother Andy Kloos and his wife, of Colorado Springs; her niece and nephew, Stephanie and Adam; and a cadre of friends, climbing partners, clients and pets.
A memorial scholarship fund is being established through Mountain Trip for the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program. Donations in memory of Heidi Kloos may be made to TASP (contact Mountain Trip, 866-886-8747 or 970-369-1153), as well as to Ouray Mountain Rescue (970-318-8872).
It was shocking and sad to hear that this seemingly invincible woman was struck down so quickly.
Read the whole article about Heidi here.
On April 26, 2010, László Várkonyi, Konyi for short, was climbing with his partner, Dávid Klein, on the north side of Everest. Their goal was to be the first Hungarians to summit Everest without using o's and this was Konyi's eighth trip to Everest. As they were ascending to the North Col during one of their acclimatization and carry climbs, a massive serac burst from above and tumbled on top of them and other climbers, dragging Konyi into a crevasse where his body was never recovered.
We shared Base Camp and Advanced Base Camp services with Konyi and David on the north side of Everest in 2007. Although Konyi and I spoke different languages, I could tell he had a keen sense of humor and was someone I would like to get to know better, if only we could communicate. When I gestured to him that I wanted to take an up-close photo of his eyes, I briefly looked down at my camera and when I looked back up, in an instant, this is what he looked like:
Once I got over the shock of his Greg Raymer glasses that until that moment he'd kept hidden, I implored Konyi to be serious. Well, then he looked like this:
I read the following in an article in Summit Post about Konyi:
He had climbed many 7000-metre and 8000-metre peaks; a humble man, he would gently reject the word “conquered”. He had visited Everest, the tallest peak on Earth, eight times. Now, following his eighth attempt, he remains there forever.
Konyi was the only Hungarian to have climbed to 8750 metres without using supplementary oxygen. He did not want to use the cylinders because he felt it was contrary to his view of what clean climbing should be.
In many ways Konyi was a lucky man, possessing some very rare genetic abilities: most notably he could survive several days in a row at 8600 metres, the so-called death zone. For instance two years ago, when his climbing partner, Dávid Klein turned back, he stayed alone at 8600 metres for two days, as he was certain he had a chance of summiting. He had exceptionally sensitive intuition when it came to judging changes in the weather, snow conditions, and the terrain, and eventually concluded that a safe return could not be guaranteed if he was to reach the peak.
Konyi is survived by his wife and two children. I encourage you to read this article - it also has some fantastic photos of Konyi.
These people were acquaintances of mine, climbers I'd met for a short period and then hadn't seen since. There's no way I could adequately describe who they really were and the effect they had on those close to them. I could only introduce you to them, encourage you to read more about them, and share with you my brief but memorable encounters with them.
Joe, Heidi and Konyi were extraordinary people who shared a passion for adventure that did not go unnoticed even by those of us who only knew them in passing.
My thoughts are with the families and friends of these climbers. I offer my sincere condolences.
Links:
Joe Bohlig - Oregon Live, TDN
Heidi Kloos - Rock and Ice
László Várkonyi (Konyi) - Summit Post
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