Nary a week has passed, and we have more stupid mountain climbers.
The search for two U.S. climbers missing for more than a month has narrowed to a single mountain in southwestern China after their last known contact -- a local driver -- said they planned to climb the peak.
Christine Boskoff, a top female climber, and Charlie Fowler, apparently took their climbing equipment and left their luggage with the driver, who dropped them off at a small, remote town not far from the Sichuan province border with Tibet on November 11.
Boskoff and Fowler told him they would climb Genie Mountain, a 20,354-foot mountain also known as Genyen Peak, Liu Feng, a senior official with the Sichuan Mountaineering Association, said Monday.
This is allegedly a "top female climber." Well, the "top female climber" it appears, didn't leave anyone word of how or where they were going, specifically.
They were supposed to meet their driver NOVEMBER 24th.
Unlike the case of the missing climbers on Mount Hood in Oregon, the search has been complicated because the two did not leave detailed plans and rescuers initially did not even know which province to search.
I now see how experienced the Mount Hood climbers were. They left a map to their corpses, out of courtesy.
A Web site set up by friends of the climbers to raise funds for the search said the bags Boskoff and Fowler left with the driver had been opened, and showed that they had taken all of their climbing equipment with them.
At least these two were kind enough to defray the overwhelming cost of their search by making the Chinese pay for it, instead of American citizens. Very patriotic.
Boskoff has ascended six of the world's peaks over 26,000 feet, including Mount Everest. She owns Mountain Madness, a Seattle adventure travel company.
They left out "...but we doubt she'll be climbing any more."
Fowler is an expert on climbing in southwestern China. He has guided climbers up Everest and climbed some of the world's tallest and most difficult peaks.
I wonder what part of climbing in southwestern China includes the "expert" reminder "Be sure to leave your bags with a driver. Take great care not to let anyone know what route you plan to take, when you plan your assault, and when you plan for it to be over. And NEVER take a ground spotter or someone with a radio. Locator beacons, by the way, are for LOSERS!"
Great hobby, mountain climbing. The only hobby where the big "experts" at it do things a novice would never consider, apparently.
GumpyJumptooth posted on Dec 26, 2006
| views: 329
Comments
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hotaka said on Dec 27, 2006....
totally agree with that last line, Gumpy. It seems the more experience you have, the more of an expert that you are. But is that an excuse for overconfidence, cockiness, and irresponsibility? My dad sent me a letter and he mentioned the Mt. Hood climbers. One guy was found frozen in a snow cave, huh? It would make sense to me that the more dangerous a mountain is, the more you would like to prepare for the worst. I think leaving a detailed plan of assault and return schedule with the local police station might have been a good idea for those 'experts' in China. In Japan you are advised to fill out a mountainer card with your vitals, departure date, planned route, destination, and return date. Then you have to fill in a 'made it back safely without freezing my ass off in a snow cave' card when you return. -
GumpyJumptooth said on Dec 27, 2006....
Hotaka, Yeah. That's part of my beef. Those guys, just like the two in China, are heralded as "experts" yet they do things a novice like me wouldn't do in a million years. The fact that few climbers use locator beacons is science fiction-level unbelievable to me. Especially when you're planning to go 24,000 feet!
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