Oregon climber killed rapping at beacon rock.

Shitty.

seattletimes.nwsource.com/h…

Damn. That's tragic.

I know it says that they're withholding the name, but does anyone have any more details? As a 30 year-old Portland climber myself, I wonder if it's someone I know...

Yes very shitty. My girlfriend and I watched him fall. We were at the bolted belay for the slab pitch of the SE Corner. We had come up cruzin and were going to traverse over to snag ledge and rap. I noticed a party of two were at the top of Jill's Thrill and prepareing to rap to snag ledge. I decided to wait for them to go down before us. We were sitting talking enjoying the views and being up out of the bugs. We heard a scream and looked over to see him falling about 15 feet below the anchors. He bounced off of snag ledge and fell out of our veiw. We screamed for anyone within earshot to call 911. His stranded partner was freaking out yelling too. We told him just so sit tight and stay tied in. I traversed over to snag ledge and brought her over. We set up a rappel to get to the ground and him. I was not looking forward to this. Someone on the ground had heard our yells and called 911 and the park EMT's were there in in 10 minutes or less. They told us to stay put up on snag ledge. From there we were able to relay info up to his stranded partner and vice versa. At first they said he was alert and conscious. After some time had passed the urgency of the activity below us slowed way down. After they had taken his body away they let us come down. Jim Opdyke was coming down the standard rap route and was able to rescue his partner Mike and they came to the base after we did. At that point they told us Nate( a firefighter from Beaverton) did not make it. I am 90% sure he only clipped only one strand of his rappel line. There was a knot in the end that was tangled on snag ledge. The EMT's cut the part of the rope he was attached to. The lesson here is check, double and triple check your partner and yourself. Mike had the incredibly brutal job of going through Nate's phone and notifying his dad, sister and and girlfriend. If you know Mike or Nates family they could use your support in a big way now.

Note: Both cascadeclimbers links above are locked unless you are a member and can login.

Woodchuck ATC wrote:Note: Both cascadeclimbers links above are locked unless you are a member and can login.

Lame!

Bang wrote: Lame!

Hah, I think that's actually the legacy of the Columbia Gorge forum rather than anything related to this particular thread. The climbers down there can act like a passel of rabid weasels locked inside a cement mixer and will savage each other any any bystander over the least little issue.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll move that thread to the main Climbers Board where it will be accessible to all.

Here's a link to the relocated thread on cascadeclimbers.com, it should be accessible to all:

Beacon Rock Tragedy