Climber falls on Challenger Point

[pcrotty41]

Was this near the spot he fell? I can't remember but this sign is just before KC Avenue starts?

[denvermikey]

He fell from near the top of the standard route up Challenger descending from the notch. Lost his balance and ended up falling into the snow gulley, tumbling quite a ways down. My wife, son and I were ascending Monday morning and witnessed the carrying down of the doctor to the landing point for the helicopter.
While hiking up to camp Sunday evening, we crossed paths with a couple who were right there with him when he fell. They were obviously still quite shaken up. R.I.P. Doctor Rupp.

[jdorje]

That sign is right at the saddle, at the top of Kirk.

[pcrotty41]

Kirk? Not sure what that means, and please clarify? Where is kirk?

[merrion13]

The Kirk Couloir route, described on this site and elsewhere.

[JDG7]

Kirk? Not sure what that means, and please clarify? Where is kirk?

Kirk Couloir leads up to the saddle between the two peaks. The area under discussion is far left of where that picture was taken. Over Challenger Point peak to the left, then down the ridge further left, to the notch. As said before, look at the trip routes. It will become clear.

[highpilgrim]

The snow gully just [right* edit] of center is the location. Standard route is indicated in blue. Kirk is further to the left at the low point in the ridge.

2nd route.jpg (340.97 KiB) Viewed 3489 times

[pfiore1]

The snow gully just left of center is the location.

Correct. Edit...I quoted highpilgrim before he made the correction, sorry, I wasn't paying attention when I quoted that sentence, the rest of it was right though. There is less snow now than there was in that photo. The route the recovery took down is out of sight in that photo and is behind (east of) the horizon of the grassy slope and standard route labeled by the blue line.

Here is a photo I took from point 13,541' four days prior to the incident. The Kirk Couloir is just on the left edge of the photo partially out of sight, the narrow snow line center right is the accident location. The fall started near the ridge above the snow and ended 100-125' below the snow, the direct line of the lower went straight down from the bottom of the snow and ended beyond the bottom of the photo.

Again, I cannot emphasize enough my deepest sincerest condolences to Dr. Rupp, his family, his friends, his patients and the many others he has positively impacted, and all those who witnessed not just the fall, but also those who met him up there and conversed with him, helped him however they could and quickly learned how wonderful and kind of a person he truly was.

[rpdawes]

I witnessed a fall of about the same length down that snow/ice couloir. The person did not have an ice axe and crossed the "snow" field which turned out to be ice covered in a very small layer of snow. He picked up speed sliding and then started tumbling and was yelling the whole way. He hit the rocks several times on the way down and I actually think that slowed him down so that when he finally hit the last rocks at the runout he wasn't going as fast. We couldn't believe he stood up after coming to rest and walked over to a good spot to sit. His hands were tore up, we helped him bandage, gave him water and a sweatshirt, but he was in shock. He was actually able to walk down on his own slowly, but I read later he had a smashed hip (maybe some fractures?) and his hands had to be bandaged for weeks. He was very lucky, very scary to watch.

I took a valuable lesson from that, snow fields are ice fields and very dangerous late in summer, and should probably not be crossed even with an ice axe. If you have crampons, or micro-spikes then maybe. But I'm very cautious now on them and normally try and go around. If that first kick step is at all slick, don't do it!

When and where did you witness that fall?

[pcrotty41]

Thanks Merrion, understood on location of Kirk couloir and photos now make it clear. Most of the danger on the standard route I feel is in the section heading up into the notch and it is a dangerous maze of gullies and scree slides both on the way up and down. Condolences to the family of Dr. Rupp and am so sorry for your loss.

[14erFred]

Prayers for comfort and strength for Jamie's family and friends. May he rest in peace forever, and may his memory always be a blessing.

[yosemite98]

I witnessed a fall of about the same length down that snow/ice couloir. The person did not have an ice axe and crossed the "snow" field which turned out to be ice covered in a very small layer of snow. He picked up speed sliding and then started tumbling and was yelling the whole way. He hit the rocks several times on the way down and I actually think that slowed him down so that when he finally hit the last rocks at the runout he wasn't going as fast. We couldn't believe he stood up after coming to rest and walked over to a good spot to sit. His hands were tore up, we helped him bandage, gave him water and a sweatshirt, but he was in shock. He was actually able to walk down on his own slowly, but I read later he had a smashed hip (maybe some fractures?) and his hands had to be bandaged for weeks. He was very lucky, very scary to watch.

I took a valuable lesson from that, snow fields are ice fields and very dangerous late in summer, and should probably not be crossed even with an ice axe. If you have crampons, or micro-spikes then maybe. But I'm very cautious now on them and normally try and go around. If that first kick step is at all slick, don't do it!

When and where did you witness that fall?

8/22/2009 - We had done Kit Carson North ridge, and came up and over Challenger on normal route. We were just past the very bottom of that thin snow gully on the right (picture above) when we heard screaming and saw the guy sliding and then flipping over and over down the snow. He came to a stop 100 feet up from where we were, and walked to the trail and sat down. We went back up to help.