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guide killed on Mt Cook 12-Jan-2008 At 5:57:27 PM cragrat

Message

On 6/01/2008 Epic Steve wrote:
>U
>They were above the Linda Shelf and the Summit Rocks, both of which are
>considered the cruxes of the route.
No - they were on the summit rocks

>The final snow slopes to the summit (NE Ridge) are technically easy, although a tad exposed, but >usually pose no real danger unless high winds are involved..which would lead to either
>pitched climbing, or better yet, a safe retreat!
>We would have to assume
>that the guide was not belayed by his client and that he was simply running the rope
>out. He seems to have been tied to the lower anchor/ice screw(s) with the
>other (client's) end.

Client was anchored to a wire cable put in by AGL a while ago
Guides spend many years training for their occupation
>and shouldn't simply fall off a mountain So to blame this accident as a freak of circumstance,
>or plain bad luck, rather than pilot error, of which it appears to be,
>is wrong. This blames the mountain for a human (avoidable) mistake.
>
>Supposedly DOC and Mount Cook SAR (Search And Rescue) choppered off all
>remaining climbers and guides from other climbing parties, lest they were
>too distressed and emotional to safely descend the mountain...what the....%@$#???

Not strictly true - they were all in close proximity and there was chance of them kicking stuff down onto Anton and those assisting him.