climbing accident

20 Stories

21-Year-Old Climber Dies in Fall From Devils Tower

National Park Service says there have been 7 fatalities in a century there

(Newser) - For all its popularity among climbers, deaths on Devils Tower in Wyoming have been few: just seven in more than a century, per the National Park Service. That number rose from six on Sunday, when a 21-year-old rock climber died while rappelling down the second pitch of El Cracko. ABC...

Near Summit of 10K-Foot Peak, Audi Exec Takes Fatal Fall

Fabrizio Longo, 62, was 'touring his beloved mountains,' company says

(Newser) - The managing director of Audi Italia has met a tragic end while doing something he loved. Fabrizio Longo, who was also an experienced mountaineer, fell on a solo climb up Cima Payer, a 10,000-foot mountain in Italy's Adamello-Presanella Alps, a few miles from the Swiss border, on Sunday,...

Everest Climber, Guide Go Missing on Descent

Daniel Paul Paterson and Pas Tenji Sherpa may be victims of an ice collapse

(Newser) - Everest may have claimed two victims on Tuesday. A 40-year-old British climber and his 23-year-old Sherpa guide are missing after an ice collapse near the summit, reports the Daily Beast . Daniel Paul Paterson and Pas Tenji Sherpa were descending after reaching the summit when a "cornice broke off and...

Sheriff: Ice Climber's Final Act Saved Fellow Climber's Life

She pushed woman out of the way of falling ice column

(Newser) - A woman in northeast Utah died while trying to climb a frozen waterfall on Sunday, and her final act probably saved the life of a fellow climber, authorities say. The two women were part of a group of three climbers ascending Raven Falls near Indian Canyon when an ice column...

Climber Breaks Nearly Every Major Bone in Fall, Survives

New Zealand's Anna Parsons is recuperating after terrifying 80-foot plunge on Half Dome

(Newser) - Anna Parsons and her climbing partner, Jack Evans, had exciting plans before they headed from their native New Zealand to foreign exchange programs in Canada: The pair, who'd met as marine science students at the University of Otago, were going to fly to the US, then scale some rocks...

1 Climber Killed, 4 Injured in Poor Conditions
5 Climbers Fall
on Mount Shasta

5 Climbers Fall on Mount Shasta

Weekend snow brought fog and left a thin layer of ice

(Newser) - A mountain climbing guide was killed and at least four other people were injured in separate accidents this week while climbing Mount Shasta in Northern California in treacherous conditions, authorities said Tuesday. Jillian Webster, 32, of Redmond, Oregon, was leading a man and a woman Monday morning when one of...

2 American Climbers Die in 'Psicobloc' Accident

Men were deep-water soloing on Spanish island

(Newser) - The sea cliffs of Majorca are a prime spot for deep-water soloing or "psicobloc"—climbing high-difficulty routes over a deep body of water—but something went badly wrong for two American climbers on the Spanish island Tuesday. The two men, ages 25 and 35, were found dead in...

Famous Mountaineer Now Considered Dead

Pakistan officials make statement about 3 climbers who went missing on K2

(Newser) - Three mountaineers who went missing earlier this month while attempting to scale the world’s second-highest mountain, K2, should now be considered dead, Pakistani officials said Thursday. The announcement brings closure to a dramatic snowbound rescue effort on one of the most dangerous mountains to climb in the world. K2...

One of America's Most Renowned Climbers Dies in Fall

Brad Gobright came off rope at El Potrero Chico

(Newser) - One of America's most accomplished rock climbers fell to his death on a mountain in Mexico Wednesday. Brad Gobright, a 31-year-old Californian, was abseiling down a cliff face on El Potrero Chico when he fell around 1,000 feet, the BBC reports. Climbing partner Aidan Jacobson says they were...

7 More Climbers Disappear
7 More Climbers Disappear

7 More Climbers Disappear

This time, it isn't Mount Everest

(Newser) - With climbing deaths dogging Mount Everest, CNN reports that seven climbers and their liaison officer have gone missing near a notorious Himalayan peak. The team leader's Facebook posts suggest they were about to climb the difficult Nanda Devi East— the BBC says no one has climbed its 24,000-plus...

Only Way to Get to the Bodies Was Through Cable Car's Floor

2 climbers lost their lives on Table Mountain

(Newser) - "It was below 10 degrees, ice cold" after midnight Tuesday as the last people came off South Africa's Table Mountain, having been stranded there for hours, says a rep for the country's national parks. What had kept them there were those who'd suffered a worse fate....

Humans Failed to Conquer Everest in 2015

 Humans Failed to 
 Conquer Everest 
 in 2015 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Humans Failed to Conquer Everest in 2015

And more people died on the mountain last year than in any other year

(Newser) - For the first time in 41 years, not a single person stood on the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at 29,029 feet, during an entire calendar year. But that's not even close to the worst of what 2015 brought, as famed climber Alan Arnette...

Yosemite Climber Complained of Cramps Before Fall

Brad Parker had just proposed to his girlfriend hours earlier

(Newser) - Renowned California climber, surfer, yoga instructor, cyclist, and traveler Brad Parker was dehydrated and seemed fatigued on the day that he died, according to various people who encountered him before he fell while climbing in Yosemite National Park. After climbing a route with his girlfriend and proposing at the top...

3 More Climbers Die in Falls on Mont Blanc

Incident follows tragedy days ago

(Newser) - Just days after six climbers died on Western Europe's tallest mountain—marking the deadliest accident there in two years, AFP notes via the Raw Story —three more have died at the site. This time, two climbers and their guide fell some 2,600 feet, police say; their bodies...

5 Climbers Dead on Western Europe's Tallest Mountain

Guide missing on Mont Blanc, site of many recent deaths

(Newser) - Another tragedy has struck at the peak of climbing season on Western Europe's highest mountain: Five climbers have perished on Mont Blanc in France and their guide is still missing, reports the AP . Word went out that the climbers had disappeared yesterday evening when they didn't come back...

Ice Climber Jack Roberts Dies in Fall
 Famed Ice Climber Dies in Fall 

Famed Ice Climber Dies in Fall

Jack Roberts went into cardiac arrest after 60-foot fall

(Newser) - Nationally known ice climber Jack Roberts has died after falling 60 feet during a climb in Colorado on Sunday. Roberts, a 58-year-old climber with more than 40 years experience, suffered a broken hip in the fall and went into cardiac arrest during the rescue. Members of a local search and...

Guy's Thumb Saved After 80-Foot Yosemite Drop

Rangers rescue man in time for appendage to be reattached

(Newser) - After a season of untimely deaths at Yosemite comes an amazing survival story—starring a thumb. A climber was scaling the park's El Capitan granite monolith Monday afternoon when he fell, causing a climbing rope to sever his right thumb and send it bouncing down the rock face, the...

6 Bodies Found in French Alps
 6 Bodies Found in French Alps 

6 Bodies Found in French Alps

No details yet on how climbers died

(Newser) - A hiker discovered the bodies of six mountain climbers in France's Hautes-Alpes region today, the apparent victims of an accident yesterday. Mountain police based in Briancon said the bodies were discovered in a steep corridor at 8,858 feet, a day after the climbers left an overnight Alpine refuge....

Climber Survives 1,000-Foot Fall

Scotsman able to stand after plunge from summit

(Newser) - After Adam Potter lost his footing and fell 1,000 feet down one of the steepest mountain ridges in the Scottish Highlands, rescuers expected to find a corpse. Instead, they found the 36-year-old Scotsman standing up and looking at a map. Potter, who tumbled over three cliffs on the way...

Climber Falls to His Death in Rockies

James Charles Patrick's two companions were rescued

(Newser) - A day of rock climbing ended in tragedy in the Rockies after 54-year-old James Charles Patrick tumbled more than 1,000 feet to his death. Patrick was climbing Taylor Glacier with two companions on Saturday when he fell, taking the group's rope with him. The two were able to anchor...

20 Stories
Most Read on Newser