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Mt Russell fatality
#58788 06/01/21 06:18 PM
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I just received this notice from Sequoia National Park   (link)

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National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks News Release


For Immediate Release           Reference Number: 8553-2113
Contact: Rebecca Paterson, Public Affairs Specialist
Media Contact: (559) 702-3400
E-mail: seki_public_affairs@nps.gov

High-Elevation Misstep Results in Fatality in Sequoia National Park


SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, Calif. June 1, 2021 – A Memorial Day hike ended with a mountaineering accident yesterday, when a 56-year-old man from San Jose, CA, one member of a three-person hiking group, fell approximately 500 feet from the summit ridge of Mount Russell, on the eastern boundary of Sequoia National Park.

One of his hiking partners, a 45-year-old woman from Milpitas, CA, grabbed him as he lost his balance, and also fell, but was able to self-arrest approximately 30 feet down. The third member of the party used a satellite device emergency locator beacon to declare an emergency, and then called 911 from his cell phone.

At the time that the call was received, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks’ Helicopter 552 and other rescuers were already engaged in rescuing an unconscious hiker from the Big Five Lakes area, so the search and rescue team and Helicopter 551 from Yosemite National Park responded to the Mount Russell emergency. The Yosemite technical short-haul team rescued the injured woman from the ledge and transported her to Bishop, where she was admitted to the Northern Inyo Hospital. Later, she was transported by air to a hospital in Reno, NV, where she underwent surgery. Prior to the rescue, the Yosemite team was able to confirm that the 56-year-old man died in the fall. Today, a Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks team retrieved him from the Mount Russell area, and he has been transferred to a funeral home.

The parks responded to eight separate search and rescue incidents over the three-day holiday weekend. Over the course of what is expected to be an extraordinarily busy summer in the parks, visitors to the front country and the wilderness alike are strongly urged to prepare carefully for trips, and understand completely that you may need to be self-sufficient in the event of an emergency. There is never any guarantee that rescuers will be able to reach you quickly. Understand your limits, take care of the people in your party, and always be prepared to turn back

- NPS -

Re: Mt Russell fatality
Steve C #58789 06/01/21 09:08 PM
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Yikes. Wonder what happened exactly. Seems like this was probably on the East Ridge near the technical crux based on the comment that it was at the border of the sequoia forest.

Last edited by BFR; 06/01/21 09:12 PM.
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Re: Mt Russell fatality
BFR #58791 06/02/21 11:12 AM
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Terrible news indeed. BFR if they were between the two summits I recall lots of sloping slabs that could make a small slip nasty to the north. There are also a lot of ledges that can help one bypass the class 4 crux where you mantle a boulder astride the ridge but could explain the female climber who survived the 30-foot fall.

It is also possible the fall happened lower on the ridge.

Danishclimber went up the East Ridge a week ago and reported patches of snow that made the route slippery. I can attest to this particular danger as my first attempt on Russell in 2013 I turned back at the notch on the East Ridge due to snow on the route. The nearly vertical ridge does have a sort of open-book crack system that makes a generous class 3 walkway, but the layering of the rock does angle downward to the downhill side of the route. The crack is also on the shadier north side of the East Ridge making it easier for snow to linger when much of the peak seems clear.

If any snow persisted into this weekend the entire route from the notch to the East Summit could have converted a slip to a 500' fall.

This is the first fatality I can remember on Mount Russell.


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Re: Mt Russell fatality
Snacking Bear #58794 06/02/21 09:34 PM
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I car-to-car'd Russell three weeks ago. There was a big patch of snow right below the first large gendarme, the one you pass on the left side. I had crampons and mountaineering boots and did just fine; another party on a rope behind me went high over what was really fourth class stuff. The snow made it less obvious where the 3rd class trail was. I was doing a mixture of snow hiking and 4th class climbing myself to get around everything. The slabs that rapidly spill over into the 500 foot drop were right below the snow. They used the term "self arrest" in the article, which implied the lady was sliding on snow. If that's correct, then my guess is that they fell on the East side of the ridge as they bypassed the first gendarme and were heading towards the East Summit. There was no snow at all after the East summit.
Of course, at least one storm hit after I was up there, so there may have been some more snow hiding out. But generally after the East Summit things get a little less intense.
Honestly it was sketchier than I was expecting it to be. I'm surprised that more accidents and fatalities don't happen up there. I had pretty bad altitude sickness, so that may have had something to do with it. Car-to-cars out there can be brutal.

Last edited by 123Zero; 06/02/21 09:40 PM.
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Re: Mt Russell fatality
123Zero #58795 06/03/21 06:47 AM
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My first attempt up the snow made the route feel VERY dangerous. That trip was an overnight with a stay-over at UBSL. I teamed up with some other more experienced climbers who brought a rope. They were so far ahead of me they had taken off up the col so when I arrived I joined the ridge past those perpendicular flakes, rounded the gendarme to the notch, and finally caught sight of them 200' above me. By myself, I was so intimidated by the snow I couldn't fathom how they even tried it simul-climbing.

I returned a couple of years later for a car-to-car in July, and even though I was absolutely feeling every bit of a day-long push I felt super safe for 95% of the ridge when there was no snow. The rock is excellent, very grippy, even in boots. There isn't much loose stuff. I only felt intimidated by the Class 4 crux that I decided wasn't feeling my vibe, and when I traversed low on the north side between the summits there were two down-sloping boulders that created a mild hanging corner I needed to step around. Even though they felt airy, I never felt like I was close to losing my footing.

I really wonder how experienced these folks were. You can be super experienced and sometimes have a bad/unlucky day. For all we know a snow slab broke beneath or a rock came loose.

You make a good point that the term self-arrest implies snow.


@jjoshuagregory (Instagram) for mainly landscape and mountain pics
Re: Mt Russell fatality
Steve C #58797 06/03/21 07:04 AM
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Mercury News Reports the name of the deceased as well as the approximate location of the fall (the knife-edge between the summits) which is the only spot on the main route that (I recall) as a sustained knife-edge.

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A San Jose man died Monday when he fell from a ridge while climbing a 14,000-foot peak in Sequoia National Park.

The man, whom authorities identified as 56-year-old Yao-Min Chen, was in a group of three near the summit of Mount Russell when he slipped and fell about 500 feet, park officials said.

One of his companions, a 45-year-old woman from Milpitas, tried to grab him and also fell. She was able to stop her slide after about 30 feet but was injured.

The third member of the party activated a satellite emergency-locator beacon and called 911 from his mobile phone.

Because Sequoia/Kings Canyon rescuers were attending to an unconscious hiker at another location in the park, a helicopter crew from Yosemite flew to Mount Russell.

The injured woman was lifted from a ledge and taken to the hospital in Bishop. She was later flown to Reno, where she underwent surgery.

Chen’s body was recovered on Tuesday from the peak.

Mount Russell — at 14,094 feet the state’s seventh-highest mountain — is a mile north of Mount Whitney, on the east edge of the Sierra Nevada. When the man fell, the party was reportedly on the knife-edge ridge that connects Russell’s two peaks.

In April, a Texas man was found dead after being missing for several days on Mount Whitney. He apparently had fallen down a slope during a solo hike.


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Re: Mt Russell fatality
Steve C #58800 06/06/21 11:57 AM
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Someone left this comment on a Facebook post:

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All of them are my friends. Finally some truths were revealed by his partners: The lady survived after surgery and texted me: "--- news reported this incorrectly. It’s [the victim] trying to help me, not the other way around. [the victim] would be alive if I didn’t join the trip." She accepted an interview from another reporter to correct the news. .. also got text from the third patner: "When [the lady] down climbed from a big boulder, [the victim] asked her to step on his shoulder. Then both of them fell together. Unfortunately [the victim] got more momentum and fall into open space."

Re: Mt Russell fatality
Jonathan C #58801 06/06/21 01:41 PM
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Tragic.

Re: Mt Russell fatality
Jonathan C #58811 06/07/21 11:03 AM
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Tragic indeed.


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Re: Mt Russell fatality
Snacking Bear #59342 12/19/21 09:40 AM
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Hey guys,

I did the East Ridge of Russell at the end of October and kept thinking of this sad incident.

From the desciptions of the survivor, regarding using the victim's showder to step down a bolder, I think it happened while climbing down this spot between the two summits. Thoughts? How would you avoid this spot if you were trying to go down to the south scree chute?

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/NYRdHSxFURUwdTq97[/img]

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZEPqy1yLupdzM8G4A[/img]

Last edited by G4u2; 12/19/21 09:48 AM.
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