Three climbers fell 400 feet to their death. One climber survived and drove to a pay phone
A rock climber who fell hundreds of feet descending a steep gully in Washington’s North Cascades mountains survived the fall that killed his three companions, hiked to his car in the dark and then drove to a pay phone to call for help, authorities said Tuesday.
The surviving climber, Anton Tselykh, 38, extricated himself from a tangle of ropes, helmets and other equipment after the fall Saturday evening. Despite suffering internal bleeding and head trauma, Tselykh eventually, over at least a dozen hours, made the trek to the pay phone, Okanogan County Undersheriff Dave Yarnell said.
The climbers who were killed were Vishnu Irigireddy, 48, Tim Nguyen, 63, Oleksander Martynenko, 36, Okanogan County Coroner Dave Rodriguez said.
https://apnews.com/article/climbing-deaths-north-cascades-national-park-washington-d547355a0dabfccb2175e14246536c31Open linkView original on sh.itjust.works333
Comments79
The craziest part of this headline is that there was a payphone still in service.
I thought the same thing, must have found the last one in existence.
It's right outside the Blockbuster.
In the neighborhood with affordable houses ...
Explains the 12 hour trip
Little did he know his lifetime of reading 2600 Magazine would be the key to saving his life. /s
...and that he had quarters with him
911 doesn't require a quarter
I didn't think of that! 🤣
My exact thought reading the headline.
They often have them in places where there's little to no cell coverage.
Wtf... There are still places that have payphones? 😮
I mean, even the ones in airports weren't working last I tried.
My understanding is that phone companies in the US mostly just let them fail --- they left them working as long as they were still functioning, but didn't maintain them.
Maybe this was some special case, if it was out of cell service and a popular place or something.
If not, that guy has ludicrously good luck. He walked away from a hundreds-of-feet fall, and then when his life probably depended on it, managed to find a payphone and the payphone was functional.
EDIT:
https://potsandpansbyccg.com/2022/12/30/bringing-back-payphones/?amp
EDIT2: I bet that that's not actually complete, though.
https://www.uslegacies.com/posts/the-decline-of-pay-phones-in-every-state
This has data from 2016, which is apparently the last time the US government actually tracked them. At that point, the state with the greatest decline from 2000 was Mississippi, with 188 functional phones remaining.
The one with the least decline was Hawaii, with 3,615 remaining.
EDIT3: The guy fell in Washington state, which as of 2016, had 1,730 remaining.
Every pay phone in Disney World is still working, yet not a single one is listed on that map.
Surprised they didn’t have a cellphone or cell-capable watch on them.
Parts of that region require sat phone.
The most recent models of cell phones can now send texts and SOS by satellite. I assume the SOS is like 911 and doesn't need the special subscription.
But if you're doing high-risk activities in a remote area, you should really have a spotter, a Garmin inreach, or both.
I know. But it's a big question here in Washington whether or not we want to add cell towers on / near Mount Rainier because they do not have service.
Most people don't keep up with the most recent model.
Only a minority of phones and providers by marketshare and only if it survived falling off a building essentially and had battery power
Haha my first thought.
Oh my god people. If you're going that remote, get yourself a Garmin InReach. It has an SOS button and satellite service.
There is a chance they had one but it was damaged in the fall. I mean 4 guys in full climbing gear falling hundreds of feet = not much survived intact.
Things like that are built to sustain much higher damage
After 400ft of falling, there's not much guarantee that any gear is near you when you stop moving.
And yeah, they built most of the PLBs tough, but there aren't exactly black box material either
Being inside a pocket or secured to your person
I'm guessing you haven't seen a lot of people who feel hundreds of get down a mountain. I've seen about a dozen (I used to be a search and rescue mountaineer/EMT). I stand by my statement.
I feel like they make pockets with zippers for just this reason
That would probably increase the probability of it staying with you, but clothes can easily get shredded by a big fall, and something causing a protrusion in the clothes would be a likely place for a rock to catch and tear...
You could probbaly hit some stones once or twice, but generally, dead or alive, you would "arrive" more or less in one piece, you are not falling from a plane. That Garmin thing would probably be on a belt or backpack strap
I used to be one of the people that came to rescue, or recover, people who fell down cliffs. (I was a search and rescue mountaineer/EMT for a decade)
I was speaking from experience.
Your conjecture is not accurate.
Packs break, clothes rip, some stuff stops falling on a ledge that other stuff bounces off of and keeps falling, etc. rarely, but not unheard of, a body part will get caught up on something while the body is falling fast enough to rip that part off and keep falling...
Oh, ok, I just wrongly assumed.
I was a search and rescue mountaineer EMT for a decade in a very busy county.
This is good advice, but most people don't do things risky enough to need one. The most important thing people who are less extreme can do is tell someone you trust where you're going (including your planned route) and when they should worry that you haven't returned (when to call for rescue). Do it for every hike. Stories like this one make headlines, but most rescues are for things like busted ankles.
The thing that still doesn't add up is how four climbers fell all at once. If a piton breaks, and multiple pitons/nuts/etc are pulled out in a big fall, then one or two people might fall, but that's only if ALL of your protection rips out, which would be pretty rare, especially on granite.
But somehow, all four fell simultaneously, and with only one piton connected to their rope over an estimated 200 ft pitch.
That's really odd, particularly with climbers who are a range of ages, 30-60. They probably aren't inexperienced.
They were rappelling in a snowy couloir on a winter scramble route. A piton pulled and the shock load ripped what meager protection they had for an anchor. Its possible they didn't have rock pro at all.
Had they summited NEWS theres a bolted rappel. The old descent route went the way they were going down. Its possible they tried to rap off ancient webbing and pitons from before the bolts were installed.
Sounds like a really bad decision - forced error due to some other reason to back out rapidly. What an awful tragedy.
About 120 meter for anybody wondering.
Holy shit, that really underlines it. So like a full city block. Down.
I think a "small skyscraper" would be an easier to understand height.
Americans will use anything before they use metric smh smh
For the Americans, 120 metres is roughly
370444 Subway "Footlongs".....Edit: stupid fucking math
And this is why we all use metres. (/s)
Roughly 40 floors.
My floor is only a few centimeters in height. That makes no sense.
These days you never know, but I’m hopeful you’re tongue is in your cheek.
Ok, so his surname, "Tselykh", can be translated as [one of] "complete", or "undamaged", so it checks out
The only thing that surprises me is, he found a pay phone.. and it works.
Sounds like the lead climber sucked at anchoring.
They were descending because of an incoming storm, and the rescuers found an old piton attached to their rope.
It's in the article.
I have zero compassion for people, who voluntarily put themselves at mortal risk as a hobby.
You mean like walking down the street or driving to the supermarket for gaming snacks?
I was a search and rescue mountaineer/EMT for a decade. I'm an engineer/analyst for my day job. I am good at math and interpreting data, interested in the mountains, and fascinated by risk/perceptions of risk.
The most dangerous part of most mountain trips is the drive to the trailhead. Driving is so much more dangerous than just about anything else in our society, but everyone does it all the time so most people never think about it.
Your attitude is only warranted for really high risk level activities, like wing suit base jumps. Rock climbing and mountaineering are generally quite safe compared to risks that most of Western society fully embraces.
Are you counting the drive as more dangerous because many people do it and thus more die of it or are you actually arguing it is more dangerous per hour to be on the road than on a rock face?
I have serious doubts about the second when deaths per billion vehicle miles are easily 2.5ish given safe newer model.
I ran the numbers per hour on mountaineering (related to rock climbing, but not exactly the same) and driving is more dangerous as of about 6 years ago (when I ran the numbers).
I believe the fatality rates on rock climbing are similar, but don't quote me on it.
The bottom line truth is, mountain recreation isn't nearly as dangerous as people think it is.
You ran the numbers but you didn't post them.
Do you have the numbers you ran 6 years ago? I'm not that organized.
I'm just going to assume you are making it up then
Suit yourself
How is climbing so safe, when you can slip, equipment can fail, weather could bring additional risk, a rock can fail under you and so on?
Any of that can happen just by stepping outside of your house.
With the same level of probability?
I have no idea how to begin measuring that.
If they can measure force in Newtons I see no reason we couldn't measure danger in Napoleons. Let's say Napoleon was responsible for 4 million deaths in Europe, that would mean the annual US traffic fatalities of around 40,000 would be 1 Centinapoleon.
Hope that clears things up.
Training, decent modern equipment, understanding and managing risk, gear redundancy, and wear a frickin' helmet (esp. when belaying).
Yeah, there are some yahoos, but there're also people who drop dead playing table-tennis.
Life is dangerous. Seriously, you can easily slip, fall, and die in your bathroom.
Statistics are how we determine how risky an activity is. Mountaineering and rock climbing are statistically safer than driving. Yes, driving is dangerous, but nobody says shit about not having compassion for those who die because they take a road trip.
All of those risks you mention associated with climbing exist, but you're dramatically overestimating how common they are
You’re not wrong but we need to ban travel to mountains based solely on tire pollution alone. It’s not our right to destroy all these areas the way we do
What is "mortal risk"? You can die due to driving to the Yarn Barn. Do you have zero compassion for knitters and crochet-ists?
Your feeling resonates with me, but I'm not sure it's a defensible moral stance.
You stepped outside today; a de-orbitted space station toilet seat could have hit you in the head and killed you!
Literally everything has some level of "mortal risk".
"Dead Like Me" deserved better.
Is the level of risk comparable between mine and your example?
Both are "mortal risks", or risks that can result in death. Just like you specified.
If you mean "likely", well then, your risk of getting hit by a car is MUCH higher than your risk of falling off a mountain. https://www.injurylawyers.com/blog/the-odds-of-dying-in-a-car-crash/
A car is more toward the "necessity" category.
Except for races. Then I consider it a hobby and thus it falls into my first sentiment.
Equipment failure doesn’t make an activity dangerous.
Are you serious?
Do you consider going on a plane a dangerous activity?
I can assure you, no one cares about your compassion.
Enjoy your safe, boring life!
Edit: Poor guy thinks downvotes = cares
More than 42 people care, apparently.
It's safe in the basement, so I never leave unless I'm forced to.
Reread my original statement 😀