Bogley

[jumar]

Not sure who knows him here, but he's one of the legends in climbing. Sad to see him go.

CNN Reports:

Rock climbing legend falls to his death
POSTED: 8:31 p.m. EDT, October 24, 2006

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California (AP) -- A renowned rock climber was killed when he fell 500 feet while attempting a first ascent, a park spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Todd Skinner had completed a new route up a rock face known as Leaning Tower and was rappelling when he fell to his death Monday, Adrienne Freeman said.

It was not immediately clear why Skinner, an author who claimed to have set climbing records in 26 countries, fell.

He and his party were climbing near Bridalveil Fall, one of the park's best-known waterfalls, Freeman said.

The Mariposa County coroner's office was investigating the death.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Brian in SLC]

jumar wrote: Not sure who knows him here, but he's one of the legends in climbing. Sad to see him go.

I'd run into him several times over the years. Heckuva nice guy. So much positive energy. Wyoming boy.

There's a really large thread on Supertopo's website (forum) regarding this. Great read.

-Brian in SLC

[Alex]

So he died rappelling or climbing?

[Brian in SLC]

Kazak wrote: So he died rappelling or climbing?

From the above:

"...and was rappelling when he fell to his death..."

I've heard rumor somewhere that some type of harness failure may be involved, but, details are super sketchy right now.

Much more info on this on Supertopo forum. The thread on Todd reads like a who's who of famous American climbers.

edit to include this from Supertopo:

"This is all that I know. He was rappelling when he fell, leaving the rappell device on the rope. When he was found there was no rapppel loop on the harness. There was discussion during the climb about the shape that his harness was in. It is still being investigated. "

-Brian in SLC

[Iceaxe]

Climbing Icon Todd Skinner Killed in Yosemite
By Megan Gambino

October 25, 2006 Highly accomplished free-climber Todd Skinner died Monday while descending the Leaning Tower in Western Yosemite Valley. Skinner was reportedly attempting a free route with climbing partner Jim Hewitt at the time, but information on the cause of the accident is still very limited.

“The investigation is still in its early stages. A lot of the details are yet to be confirmed,” said Scott Gediman, Yosemite National Park spokesman. Gediman, however, was able to report that Skinner was not on an established climbing route but between routes when he fell an estimated 500 to 700 feet.

“Skinner was at the forefront of every advance in climbing in the United States,” notes fellow climber, Steve Bechtel, who had climbed with Skinner since 1987. “He’s one of the pioneers.”

According to an announcement of Skinner’s death, written by Bechtel, of Skinner’s nearly 300 ascents in 26 countries, the first free climb of El Cap by way of the Salathe Wall, which he did with partner Paul Piana in 1988, and first free climb of Half Dome’s Direct Northwest Face are his most celebrated feats.

Skinner made his mark on the climbing world by stretching the boundaries of free climbing to include big walls and by ushering in a generation of sport climbers.

“When routes started to be bolted, he was there bolting, and he got a lot of flack for it,” says Bechtel, acknowledging the controversial sport and siege techniques employed by Skinner in his ascent of El Cap. “But what wasn’t controversial was the fact that he was a nice guy.”

Skinner was a positive, motivating, and friendly person who always had a smile on his face and never had a bad thing to say about anyone, said Bechtel. His positive attitude quelled most of his critics, and he was well respected in the climbing world, as can be seen by the almost 200 messages of condolence posted by fellow climbers on the climber’s forum at www.supertopo.com.

“It’s still very surreal,” said Bechtel, emphasizing the fact that Skinner’s death leaves a big gap in the climbing world. “He was always looking for the next big climbing objective.”

As a result of the accident, Bechtel believes that climbers will inevitably question their own safety.

“Todd, to a lot of people, was bulletproof…a longtime hero…and I think that’s going to rattle a lot of people,” notes Bechtel. “He was always careful, calculating and taking the extra precautions—sometimes that’s not enough.”

Yosemite Search and Rescue recovered the body Monday night and spent Tuesday gathering equipment and assessing the area.

“It’s going to be a couple of weeks still,” reports Gediman. “We have to look at gear and environmental conditions and conduct more interviews. Also, any time an accidental death occurs in the park, an autopsy is conducted.”

Skinner, of Lander, Wyoming, is survived by his wife Amy, son Jake, and daughters Hannah and Sarah.

[Iceaxe]

Looks like the belay Loop failed. Dang.... a harness would have to be totally trashed for a belay loop to fail while rappeling. You just don't get huge loads in rappel mode. Guess I'm happy he was not belaying me while climbing.....

Yosemite fall kills noted climber
Source: AP

SAN FRANCISCO -- A friend who's scaled peaks with renowned rock climber Todd Skinner said Skinner sometimes used gear beyond its life span, something that may have led to his death.

Skinner plunged to his death Monday in Yosemite National Park while climbing an imposing rock face near Bridalveil Fall.

It will take authorities days and possibly weeks to officially determine why Skinner fell 500 feet to his death.

A witness said as Skinner lowered himself down the rock wall, a nylon loop attaching his harness to the rope broke, and he fell, hitting the side of the mountain.

[Iceaxe]

Friends shocked at loss of free-climbing pioneer
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Todd Skinner's hands were cut up and he was tired after a hard day of climbing, but he was a happy man standing high above Yosemite Valley on what is known as Leaning Tower.

He and his partner, Jim Hewett of Fairfax, had spent two weeks practicing what would be the first free climb up this route, one of the hardest they had ever attempted.

"We'd probably been up and down it 100 times," Hewett said Wednesday. "We were working out the route, figuring out moves. He was the same super happy person he had always been."

They talked about their plans for the next day, then Skinner began rappelling down from a ledge part way up the 2,000-foot face. Five minutes later, he was dead.

Skinner, a 47-year-old former rodeo cowboy and world-renowned rock climber, fell more than 500 feet to his death Monday after the nylon loop used to attach the climbing rope to his harness broke. The accident has sent shock waves through the climbing community, where Skinner's outgoing nature was almost as legendary as his courage and skill on some of the world's most dangerous rock faces.

"There is just general disbelief that this could happen to him, because he was such a safe climber," said Ann Krcik, a longtime friend who also employed him as a motivational speaker. "He was the pioneer of big wall free-climbing, but he also affected every climber he ever met because he was so personable."

Skinner, who lived with his wife and three children in Lander, Wyo., was a specialist in free climbing, a style in which ropes and other equipment are used only as backup in case of a fall. He is credited with more than 300 first ascents in 26 countries, and his adventures have been documented on film and in magazines in 12 languages.

Among the highlights was the first free ascent of the Salathe Wall on Yosemite's El Capitan in 1988. The route, which is considered by many climbers as the best and most intimidating rock climb in the world, is steeper even than the famous Nose route, also on El Cap.

Skinner's other first ascents include the north face of Mount Hooker in Wyoming's Wind River Range, the Great Canadian Knife in the Cirque of the Unclimbables in Yukon Territory, the Northwest Direct Route on Yosemite's Half Dome and the East Face of Trango Tower in Pakistan's Karakoram Range.

He also led mountain and jungle expeditions to Pakistan, Vietnam, Mali, Greenland and Kenya.

Through it all, he gained a reputation as one of the world's great storytellers. With a mirthful cowboy twang, Skinner would describe in colorful detail his bull-riding experiences on the professional rodeo circuit or his jungle adventures with National Geographic, often with an emphasis on shocking detail.

"He was a character," said speed climbing record holder Hans Florine, who often ran into Skinner climbing the big walls. "He told me once that during an expedition in South America, their food drop didn't happen, so he had to eat monkeys. He said the meat smelled like burned hair because the monkeys weren't skinned before they were barbequed."

Skinner, whose stories were generally regarded as 85 percent true, parlayed his gift for gab into a money-making venture as a motivational speaker, inspiring audiences at 30 events a year.

Steve Schneider, 46, of Oakland, said he met Skinner on the rock climbing competition circuit 20 years ago and was captivated immediately.

"One of the things I remember him telling me was that his heroes were the Japanese left on the islands after World War II," Schneider said. "He said they found some of those guys 15 to 20 years later in the jungles still fighting the war. He emulated those guys in that nothing was going to deter him, and it didn't matter how long it was going to take. He had that dig-in-and-never-say-die attitude."

It was as much his attitude as his skill that made his death shocking to climbers, many of whom regarded Skinner as virtually invincible.

"It's really affecting the climbing community because harness failure is pretty unusual -- it is not supposed to happen," said Ken Yager, president and founder of Yosemite Climbing Association. "It's gotten people thinking about their old harnesses now. I know I'm going to go out and buy a new one."

The part that broke, called the belay loop, is designed to be the strongest part of the climbing harness, but Hewett, 34, said Skinner's harness was old.

"It was actually very worn," Hewett said. "I'd noted it a few days before, and he was aware it was something to be concerned about." Friends of Skinner said he had ordered several new harnesses but they hadn't yet arrived in the mail.

On Monday's climb, Hewitt said the belay loop snapped while Skinner was hanging in midair underneath an overhanging ledge.

"I knew exactly what had happened right when it happened," he said. "It was just disbelief. It was too surreal."

Stunned and in shock after watching his friend fall, he checked his equipment.

"I wanted to make sure that what had caused the accident wasn't going to happen to me," he said. "I then went down as quick as I could."

Hewett said he knew there was no hope. A search-and-rescue team found Skinner's body, wearing the harness with the broken belay loop, about 4 p.m. Monday on the rocks near Bridalveil Falls. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Skinner had survived virtually unscathed on many harrowing climbs. His closest call, friends said, came when a huge block of granite broke off Salathe Wall just as he and his partner reached the top in 1988. The huge slab scraped by them as it fell, breaking their bones but not their rope, which saved them.

In a sport that is full of rivalries and increasingly driven by competition, Skinner was universally regarded as the most generous, helpful and encouraging of all the top climbers.

"It's a huge loss for the climbing community," Schneider said. "I pay him the greatest compliment by saying that I was really jealous of Todd. He turned climbing into dollars better than anyone in America, and by doing that he's broken ground for other climbers. I really looked up to him for that."

[Iceaxe]

From the NPS Morning Report....

Yosemite National Park (CA)
Follow-up On Fatal Climbing Fall

On the afternoon of October 23rd, dispatch received a telephone call reporting a fatal climbing fall. Jim Hewitt reported that he and his partner, well-known climber Todd Skinner, had been working on a first free ascent of the "Jesus Built My Hotrod" route on the overhanging west face of the Leaning Tower. Skinner's fall occurred when he was rappelling. Hewitt told investigators that he had been above Skinner when he fell. As he was rappelling on the low-stretch ropes that they had fixed on the route, Hewitt came to Skinner's Grigri descent device on the rope at the point where he’d fallen. The Grigri had a still-locked carabiner attached which had been connected to Skinner's harness. When Skinner's body was recovered, the belay loop on his harness was missing. The next day, rangers recovered a broken harness belay loop in vegetation at the base of the wall. It was very worn at the spot where the break had occurred. Hewitt later told investigators that Skinner was aware that the belay loop on his harness was in a weakened condition prior to the climb, and that they had talked about its poor condition three days earlier. For further details, click on "More Information" below. [Submitted by Keith Lober, Emergency Services Coordinator]

[PunchKing]

Iceaxe wrote: From the NPS Morning Report....

Yosemite National Park (CA)
Follow-up On Fatal Climbing Fall

...the belay loop on his harness was missing. The next day, rangers recovered a broken harness belay loop in vegetation at the base of the wall. It was very worn at the spot where the break had occurred. Hewitt later told investigators that Skinner was aware that the belay loop on his harness was in a weakened condition prior to the climb... [Submitted by Keith Lober, Emergency Services Coordinator]

Sounds like he made a poor decision not to replace the harness, but even still he could have just not used the worn loop. Too bad that bad decision ended his life. Sad such an accomplished climber could be so careless.

[Alex]

The second you take the nature for granted it strikes back with a disaster. Happens in all kinds of sports. Sad but true fact :(

[Iceaxe]

Someone told me he actually had a new harness on order. Probably should have clipped in and skipped the belay loop.

[Alex]

Iceaxe wrote: Someone told me he actually had a new harness on order. Probably should have clipped in and skipped the belay loop.

Ya the article that you posted mentioned that he ordered a few of them online and they didn't come in the mail yet. Lesson from all of this? Support local shops!

[Iceaxe]

Some interesting info on harness and equipment failure has been posted by Black Diamond since the reported death.

Black Diamond
http://blackdiamondequipment.com/scene/beta/qc_kp.php

Interesting reading for gear heads.....

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