Kevin Hayne Accident

[PKelley]

Many will probably frown about this post. I am sorry if you find it offensive. I feel it is important to learn from accidents, so that future similar ones can be avoided. I lost a dear friend and climbing partner, Cameron Tague, on the Diamond nearly a decade ago. I was not with him at the time, but you can bet that I evaluated what happened to learn as much as possible from his death.

I believe that this community gently went through a similar process with the TalusMonkey. While he had quickly knocked out the 14ers, he had relatively little experience on snow. He attempted to glissade without an ice axe, and suffered the horrible consequences. There were a few big lessons there: 1) Having done all the 14ers doesn't necessarily make you an experienced "all-arounder" in the mountains, and 2) it is very risky to glissade without an ice axe when there are rocks, etc. beneath the runout or end of snow beneath you.

There seems to be very little in the way of details surrounding Kevin's death, and I hope that Travis takes the time to share the details of what he knows. It seems that this was not the first time that Kevin found himself in terrain that warranted an ice axe, crampons, and possibly a rope given his level of experience, but he was (apparently) again without all three.

Travis: Please consider sharing more details so that we as a community can learn from this horrible event. Hopefully you will do so, so that a similar accident does not happen again in the future.

Respectfully submitted,

Patrick

[d_baker]

see Travis' TR on Blanca & Ellingwood, Kevin had at least an ice axe.
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... ki=Include" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They deserve at least the credit of realizing the conditions were not safe on the snow/ice when they went to the rocks.
I don't think I want to speculate any further though.

[BillMiddlebrook]

I don't find this offensive and agree that's important to talk about these incidents.

I'm not aware of what gear Kevin had on Little Bear but I also agree that it's vital to carry the necessary gear for the route, route conditions and your experience level. Just based on Kevin's 14er peak list alone, it appears he was just starting to get into the harder 14er climbs. His experience level may or may not have had much to do with the accident. As we know, accidents happen to both new and very experienced climbers.

[its_not_a_tuba]

It is important to discuss accidents when there is a failure or misuse of gear or when the climbing party made gross miscalculations in judgment. I don't see any of the aforementioned as an issue in this tragedy.

[BIO_KNEE]

When Mother Nature gives you perfect conditions and pumped group, you have all if not more then enough gear, supplies, and energy, all she is really saying is “good luck”.


Please, please never get blinded by the quest to gain the summit! When the mountain says no, and they all will, listen!

[Jon Frohlich]

It is important to discuss accidents when there is a failure or misuse of gear or when the climbing party made gross miscalculations in judgment. I don't see any of the aforementioned as an issue in this tragedy.

I generally agree but I still think it's important to discuss the circumstances behind an accident. Sometimes we have true accidents and in those cases analysis doesn't do a lot of good. In this case I don't think we necessarily have enough details here one way or the other. The important thing is to try and learn what we can if anything. Everyone no matter how experienced (and that word is another can of worms) should try and learn from something like this.

[tmathews]

I generally agree but I still think it's important to discuss the circumstances behind an accident. Sometimes we have true accidents and in those cases analysis doesn't do a lot of good. In this case I don't think we necessarily have enough details here one way or the other. The important thing is to try and learn what we can if anything. Everyone no matter how experienced (and that word is another can of worms) should try and learn from something like this.

My thoughts exactly, Jon. I do hope we get more details about the accident, eventually. If there is a lesson to be learned, it would be even more tragic if no knowledge is gained from it.

[bj]

Respectfully, I'd like to know how (if) both Spot's malfunctioned at the same time? Was this really a malfunction or just impatience waiting for SAR to arrive?

both of our spot trackers malfunctioned at a terrible time. I waited 30 minutes by chance that the distress signal did go out, tried to comfort Kevin, and after no response from either Kevin or SaR. I made the hardest decision of my life and had to hike out, leaving my partner behind.

If this is true I think there will be a line at the REI return desk. This has bugged me from the moment I first saw the tread.

[tmathews]

Respectfully, I'd like to know how (if) both Spot's malfunctioned at the same time? Was this really a malfunction or just impatience waiting for SAR to arrive?

If this is true I think there will be a line at the REI return desk. This has bugged me from the moment I first saw the tread.

Travis' dad posted this later on in the thread: http://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... an#p300562

[d_baker]

From Travis' first post....
"Today me and Kevin8020 were hiking the hourglass just shy of the summit of Little Bear Peak. The hourglass was completely iced over and was unpassible, we decided to take a ledge on the left side of the hourglass and decided to wait and see if the sun would help melt anything out. 30 seconds after this decision was made, Kevin's hand/foothold (i could not see all of him) broke lose and he fell several hundred yards down the mountain.."

Like I said, they at least made the decision to get off terrain they couldn't climb safely. But I would like to think their next decision would have been to turn around.
As a side note, the ice axe that Kevin appeared to have (seen in the TR) is no match for water ice. That is tool terrain, and likely a rope for a descent, if one can't down-climb WI safely.

Bad things happen fast, which obviously they did.
Luckily Travis was able to down-climb safely and try to get help.
I think given the circumstances, some good decisions were made.

From all of this, I hope Travis will be the one that learns the most. And I hope he will seek out his "quest for Kevin" list with caution. Returning to the mountains from a horrific event such as this won't be easy (in particular to mountains with terrain similar to LB).

[tenpins]

what has been posted here so far seems to be one hell of an accident. The broader "judgement" issue can be applied loosley at best, and I mean loosley (shouldnt climb where there is loose rock). But that is specifically a danger all of us face, manage and mitigate frequently.

Accident analysis and investigation is a crucial part of what we do. I also cant imagine - knowing this kid only from threads related to his death - that he would begrudge someone asking the how, when where and why of it.

[TeamDino5280]

I don't find this offensive and agree that's important to talk about these incidents.

I'm not aware of what gear Kevin had on Little Bear but I also agree that it's vital to carry the necessary gear for the route, route conditions and your experience level. Just based on Kevin's 14er peak list alone, it appears he was just starting to get into the harder 14er climbs. His experience level may or may not have had much to do with the accident. As we know, accidents happen to both new and very experienced climbers.

I completely agree on using the right gear for the climbers ability. So often on this site I have seen responses such as "if you need to rope up than you don’t belong on this route". So what if the climber ropes up and others don’t, they are climbing to their comfort level and will be able to progress their climbing ability with confidence and hedge their risk at the same time.