WARNING! This is a tragic ending for this young man. Nothing too graphic is shown. He was live streaming his final ascent when he lost footing on the ice and essentially slid down the mountainside feet first.

Note however that he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but there's no doubt that this was nothing more than poor decision making leading up to an accident, and not suicide.

 

 

I saw this a few days ago, yea he was doing his bucket list, not really taking any care and not properly equipped. But to be honest it takes years to learn proper mountaineering for which he didn't have, so just ticking off his bucket list without too much care.

As soon as you start sliding you have seconds to dig in and stop, short of that you will become a projectile. I spent many summers skiing Mount Hood and we would turn on our stomach and dig our ski boots in to stop the slide if we ever got into one. With Mountain Climbing you must carry an ice axe and turn on your stomach and dig in, this video shows it:

 

I'm quite familiar with the requisite mountaineering skills. I was a high school student studying at Leysin American School in Leysin-Fedey, Switzerland. In winter our outdoor activities were skiing, ice skating, and so forth.

In Spring and early Fall, rock climbing and mountaineering was our principal activity. Being in the eastern Alps was perfectly suited for such. One of the best alpinist experts was our instructor, John Harlin II. He was really, really a terrific instructor! Unfortunately, he was tragically killed when a rope broke, and he fell to his death on the glacier at the base of the mountain Eiger. He and three others were attempting to climb via a "direct route" since he and they had already made two successful ascents via the North Face, and Les Dru.

John's son, John Harlin III was nine at the time of his father's death. What was especially horrible is how he and his mom and sister learned of this tragedy. In the early sixties, there was no television outside of the major cities, so most of our news was imparted at the cinema, much like the Movietone News in the U.S. back in the early 20th century.

As it happened, nearly all of the students and staff from the school would watch the newsreels and weekly movie feature. We were all sitting together when the newsreel began, and we were all rocked in horror when the reporting of John's fall and subsequent death began as the lead story. His wife, son and daughter were sitting just in front of me and I can still hear their screams of agony at the tragic news. Worse of all though, was there climb was being closely watched, and there was footage of the entire tragic accident.

We were all so shocked that everyone - including the local villagers - immediately got up and left the theater. John was well known and respected in Leysin...

See: John Harlin - Wikipedia

• Quote

  The IMAX film The Alps features John Harlin III's climb up the north face in September 2005. Harlin's father, John Harlin II, set out 40 years earlier to attempt a direct route (the direttissima) up the 6,000-foot (1,800 m) face, the so-called Harlin route. At 1300 m, his rope broke, and he fell to his death. Composer James Swearingen created a piece named Eiger: Journey to the Summit in his memory.

   

Edited August 14, 20241 yr by n4gix
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