Fatality on Dragon's Tail

[llholmes1948]

Link to an article in the Hungry Horse News. The article says that falling is the leading cause of death in Glacier but I always thought it was drowning.

https://hungryhorsenews.com/news/2020/j ... ail-in-10/

[indiana hiker]

I always thought it was drowning also.

[PeteE]

The article is wrong. The leading cause of deaths in GNP is drowning.

Since he fell into Hidden Lake, he was going to the false summit of the Dragon's Tail.
The route to the "true" summit of the Dragon's Tail has no exposure to Hidden Lake.

It'd be interesting to know if anyone was with him and saw what caused him to fall.
I seriously doubt it was still icy given the recent weather.
I'll see if I can find out something tomorrow.

I've done that dragon's tail false summit dozens of times and accompanied a number of chatters to the false summit.
The trail narrows in several places to about 3 feet with pretty extreme exposure on both sides.
So stumbling for any reason isn't going to end well. It's not a hike for anyone with balance problems or fear of heights.

That said, in my opinion, the hike out to the false summit is one of the best hikes in the park- and perfectly safe *IF* one is careful.
The views are very, very good in almost every direction.
Looking towards Logan Pass and the Garden Wall from the False Summit of the Dragon's tail

And yeah, it's a long way down to the lake from the false summit--about 1800ft.

[Jay w]

My guess would be he didn’t know the route and tried to go beyond the false summit to the true summit. It’s hard to imagine being careless enough to fall off the false summit route, but I guess I should never underestimate people.

Jay

[Fairbanks142]

We were up at Logan Pass and walked out to the Hidden Lake overlook yesterday morning. It was a zoo. Masses of people. A couple of guys climbing up the snow fields and snowboarding down them. A woman crossing one of the snow fields in flip flops, carrying a purse. Litter. Crowds.

We got out of there and went up and hiked to Piegan Pass, which was great.

So sad to hear that this happened later that very same day up there.

[PeteE]

My guess would be he didn’t know the route and tried to go beyond the false summit to the true summit
Yeah that's possible after seeing how the mobs at Logan Pass have been behaving this year.
...It’s hard to imagine being careless enough to fall off the false summit route, but I guess I should never underestimate people.
People are just getting dumber every year. As the expression goes, You just can't fix stupid.

Jay

We were up at Logan Pass and walked out to the Hidden Lake overlook yesterday morning. It was a zoo. Masses of people. A couple of guys climbing up the snow fields and snowboarding down them. A woman crossing one of the snow fields in flip flops, carrying a purse. Litter. Crowds.
Same behavior I saw the day the GTTS road opened. People going below the Hidden Lake observation deck and wandering all over the place. It's gotten worse every year for the last 4-5 years with the increasing crowds. People just going ALL OVER and not a Ranger in sight anywhere that I saw, but there were three at the information table. Go figure.


We got out of there and went up and hiked to Piegan Pass, which was great.
Weren't the glacier lilies beautiful in the meadows after leaving the forest?

So sad to hear that this happened later that very same day up there.

pete

[llholmes1948]

Here is a link to a further update in the Flathead Beacon. My condolences to the family and friends of this young man:

https://flatheadbeacon.com/2020/07/23/g ... dentified/

[PeteE]

Whatever happened to the
"Who, What, Where, When, and How of journalism?
This article is typical of newspaper articles today in that NOTHING of substance is revealed about how the accident occurred.

YES it's a tragedy.
However, if we were told just how this accident occurred, maybe a future tragedy might be prevented.
I'd like to see a full explanation of just what this young man was doing with his partner "climbing" on the Dragon's Tail.
HOW did his backpack end up in a place where it needed to be retrieved?
HOW did he attempt to retrieve it?
What was his partner doing while he was attempting to get his backpack?
Was his partner "belaying" him in some way?

Having been up there many times, it's hard for me to fathom anyone "climbing" on that NW wall of the Dragon's Tail.
So was this young man, only 20 years old, an "experienced mountain climber" with experience on GNP's notorious "rotten rock"?
How about his partner?
Did these two fellows check with the Backcountry office before climbing? It's not required but a prudent thing to do.
There's a lot of information missing regarding this accident.
I'm pretty certain the NPS debriefed his partner and knows at least some of the answers.
So let's hear it.

The details of tragedies, as distasteful as they may be to some of you, are important in that they may prevent future accidents.
I wish newspapers, internet publications, and reporters everywhere would learn how to write a decent article.
Don't write a story if you don't have at least the basic facts and information in hand.
I see this lousy reporting everywhere I look. It's sad.

I'm sure some of you will disagree with my opinion, and you're free to do so, but I'm not changing it.

pete

When I saw Josh was from Kansas, I wondered if he ever saw "The Wizard of Oz" and Dorothy's famous line ?
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."