Follow Up Story on Kate Matrosova

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I tend to look at things in a simple way. I don't care what she had climbed before or what she planned to climb in the future. The most important skillset a successful mountaineer has, is the ability to read conditions as he or she climbs. That point is even more prevalent here with her experience. You can take all other factors involved in this situation and toss them out, she started out in acceptable conditions, but proceeded into unacceptable conditions. Do storms approach fast and catch you quickly? Yes, but the line in seeing this as it happens before its to late is critical here. As a soloist myself, I think the group idea is moot. As a soloist, frankly its easier to make sound descisions, because you don't have to hem and haw with the group, you assess and react, fast. If your fit, you can get caught in weather and make a rapid descent, getting below treeline and safety. The size of the mountain is irrelevant as well, this same scene has played out on most major peaks worldwide, sometimes you may have minutes to make the right call, once you fail to make that call, the line has been drawn.

I agree, generally.... It's easier to make decisions when you are solo, the soundness of the decision depends on the individual. (and the make up of the personalities of the group)

In most cases here, we are an experienced group of New England and ADK hikers, most of us in all four seasons. I've made a few decisions that I got away with but would question the soundness of the decision I made. (At least one on driving to and from the hike, another on a fall day in the pemi after flooding rain, some clothing issues early on in the late fall and winter learning years. - it's a trick answer, you should always be learning....:D)

In my earlier winter years, I was glad I had a pretty good core group to hike with. I'm a bit of an over planner and while never a summit or die type, some plans have been over ambitious. A couple of the people I've hiked with, I have trusted their judgment over my own since I am aware of my faults in the mountains.

One friend did have a hike get dicey because he opted to be a good team member when he should have corrected the dominant personality he was hiking with that day. The least experienced member of that trio got an icy ride down Eisenhower because they were going up off trail. He knew better but the personality leader was confident. My friend later learned the other guy had only a couple of winter trips under his belt.

Your last line is spot on, sometimes you only have a window of minutes to make the right decision. (Even hours before a storm because you may be hours from shelter)
 
Last edited:
I agree, generally.... It's easier to make decisions when you are solo, the soundness of the decision depends on the individual. (and the make up of the personalities of the group)

In most cases here, we are an experienced group of New England and ADK hikers, most of us in all four seasons. I've made a few decisions that I got away with but would question the soundness of the decision I made. (At least one on driving to and from the hike, another on a fall day in the pemi after flooding rain, some clothing issues early on in the late fall and winter learning years. - it's a trick answer, you should always be learning....:D)

In my earlier winter years, I was glad I had a pretty good core group to hike with. I'm a bit of an over planner and while never a summit or die type, some plans have been over ambitious. A couple of the people I've hiked with, I have trusted their judgment over my own since I am aware of my faults in the mountains.

One friend did have a hike get dicey because he opted to be a good team member when he should have corrected the dominant personality he was hiking with that day. The least experienced member of that trio got an icy ride down Eisenhower because they were going up off trail. He knew better but the personality leader was confident. My friend later learned the other guy had only a couple of winter trips under his belt.

Your last line is spot on, sometimes you only have a window of minutes to make the right decision. (Even hours before a storm because you may be hours from shelter)

You a great point in regards to being in a group, it can be a benefit or it can be a liabilty depending on the leader and cohesiveness of the group. One of the reasons Ive gone solo almost exclusively is my past bad experiences with partners. I've never hiked with a group. My last partner and me were together for 5 years. In the last year of our time climbing together,he became quite foolhardy in his ambition. We had mulitple trips on peaks and technical climbs both here and out west that resulted in outright auguments on weather to continue on. Our last climb together resulted in me turning and leaving him at 12,000ft in horrible conditions on a 14er in CO. He caught up with me after aborting his attempt at the car where I waited. He wanted to discuss my descision to retreat, I did not. I simply informed him we were done as a team. Ive been solo ever since. After over 35 years climbing, I'm still here because I know when to go home, the mountains will always be there for another attempt.
 
The discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of hiking solo vs tandem or in a group has been I believe a useful excursion. It bears repeating, though, that, all other things being equal, Kate with a small experienced group with shelter and sleeping bag provisions, blown off trail as she evidently was, would much more likely have survived.

Being in a group could have led to an entirely different hike, but holding the hike constant as a variable, adding hiking partner(s) and sheltering/insulating gear could have saved her life. Important not to lose sight of that, I think.
 
The discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of hiking solo vs tandem or in a group has been I believe a useful excursion. It bears repeating, though, that, all other things being equal, Kate with a small experienced group with shelter and sleeping bag provisions, blown off trail as she evidently was, would much more likely have survived.

Being in a group could have led to an entirely different hike, but holding the hike constant as a variable, adding hiking partner(s) and sheltering/insulating gear could have saved her life. Important not to lose sight of that, I think.

Who's experienced is the question though? Where do you find "experienced hikers? She was looking for a pretty extreme trip to prepare for poor conditions on Everest. (Even if I was in the kind of shape she was in, I know I have no interest in being in poor Everest conditions, few do.) A professional guide who has plans for a Himalayan trip in their future might of been interested. Rick Wilcox has already been to Everest, he probably wasn't interested. (The MSR team did go out looking for her after the fact)

Like Sierra, I've hiked with many different people in a relatively short period of 23 years. I've been mostly hiking in the northeast so I'm not looking for "elite" partners which would be even harder to find. I can rattle off 20 people quickly, several I've meet through VFTT, that I've hiked with and I couldn't get 90% of them to go up Washington on a good winter day now. Priorities change, people's schedules change, it's why I started going solo. It's easier said then done to find long term compatible partners.

How many people at your work think you're nuts for hiking in the winter up mountains? Most of my co-workers would barely walk at lunch time in the city in the winter. Driving several hours to "enjoy" (the non-hikers would say torture or punish yourself in) the crisp winter weather on New England's highest peaks, what percentage of the general public call that fun? (Most of us do but we've all seen comments in the normal press regarding winter hiker's sanity)

An Elite team could have rescued her if they had been there with her. We don't know if she was blown off her feet and struck her head. Her injury still could have been fatal. One person wasn't going to drag her down. Setting up a 4 season tent in those conditions above treeline was not going to be a one person job, if possible at all. I don't believe we know how long she lived after losing her footing and falling. We don't have conversations like Scott Hall had on Everest, just a PLB signal.

A team likely would have argued about going beyond Madison Hut or going at all. Madison Hut was as far as EMS Climbing School took my group years ago on a -14 day with winds in the upper 50's. Extreme Avy danger had us change plans from a scheduled Washington attempt

(This has some characteristics of Dr Dahl's fall trip years ago but they found him. His partner bailed when the weather was bad and he went solo. He had a couple of the seven summits also and he also misjudged the weather. In Similar weather, having a partner and a sleeping bag didn't save Derek Tinkham, although he and J. Haas weren't in Kate's climbing class either.) Hindsight being what it is, not venturing beyond Madison would have been prudent.
 
Last edited:
The discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of hiking solo vs tandem or in a group has been I believe a useful excursion. It bears repeating, though, that, all other things being equal, Kate with a small experienced group with shelter and sleeping bag provisions, blown off trail as she evidently was, would much more likely have survived.

Being in a group could have led to an entirely different hike, but holding the hike constant as a variable, adding hiking partner(s) and sheltering/insulating gear could have saved her life. Important not to lose sight of that, I think.

I see what your trying to say, but given the conditions, it's also possible that if she was in a group they all would have perished as well. I will say this to your point, if she was in a group and someone in that group could have forseen the deteriorating conditions and managed to convince her to abort the climb before it was to late, yes a group dynamic could have helped. As far as sheltering/insulating gear being of help, from what Ive read she was well prepared gear wise, but sometimes the best gear you can buy, is not enough in certain conditions. Have you ever read krackauers book on the Everest tradgety? Those who went up into the storm died, those who stayed down in camp survived. Two of the dead, Rob Hall and Scott Fisher were elite climbers of the highest caliber, yet the conditions ( similiar to what kate faced) overcame them as well. Its an interesting comparison imo.
 
FWIW (and this is nothing but unsubstantiated speculation), Dan M, Jason B and myself were doing a presi traverse on January 17th on a particularly brisk day. MW weather archives list the low as -25 F, which was near the temp at the trailhead that morning. The winds averaged 55 mph and peaked at 89 mph. Dan M and myself posted about our encounter with 2 hikers descending Madison on FB after the news of Kate's death but I deleted my post because the initial reports indicated she had never hiked in the Whites before so I didn't want to add erroneous speculation to the mess.

We ran into a male and female in a yellow and red down suit, respectively, and I'd guess early to mid 30's for age. It was a brutal day on the Southerns. We battled frostnip and minor frostbite in the high wind and extreme cold until mid-day on Washington. What made these two stand out (descending Madison to the hut) was not only the down suits but neither had any traction on their feet and the male used an ice axe as a cane descending on hand and foot moving from rock to rock among the patches of ice and firm snow. It was a peculiar sight. The female hiker in the red suit was wearing a pair of yellow climbing boots (La Sportiva?) and hiked at a brisk pace descending Valley Way before we passed her and she waited for her companion. Neither had packs descending Valley Way which wasn't surprising given that it looked like there were fresh tracks heading to the Valley Way campsite (it was the type of day that if memory serves correct they were the only people we crossed paths with).

This most recent article mentions the couple had hiked Madison and attempted Adams in January with an overnight near the hut, consistent with what we saw (we saw no tracks up high on Starr Lake but the lowest section was badly postholed but there's no way to tell how old those tracks were. I suppose with the winds that day I'd have to surmise they weren't that old). With the down suits, the female hiker's climbing boots, the apparent overnight at Valley Way Tentsite, her husbands noted fear of heights (lining up with what we saw descending Madison), and the female hiker's similar looks to the pictures of Kate posted online, we all figured that was them that day.

I'm a sucker for hard, punishing hikes, even in poor conditions. Doing so in the Whites might have saved my butt last summer after doing a single 'day' climb of the Kautz on Rainier when the weather turned on us up high (whiteout, snow-->sleet-->freezing rain-->rain with high winds throughout) where slogging through the last 1500 feet in horrendous weather seemed like a safer bet than trying to return to the ice climb and rap down on frozen rain-crusted gear as we heard stuff falling around us and could barely keep our hands warm as it were. Staying hydrated and as warm as one possibly could be, while making smart decisions with regards to navigation were of the utmost importance. It was not a straightforward descent on the DC but we got down as fast as we could. This storm wasn't forecasted but with my times in the Whites I felt equipped to get through it, though it was a nightmare.

On that particular weekend in February I scrapped hiking plans and even bailed on a backyard fire when the wind and cold made it too uncomfortable to get the darn thing going. But I suspect, as others have speculated as well, that she was looking to get more experience in those horrible conditions. That January day was the coldest and windiest weekend day up high this Winter until the weekend Kate died. She probably figured it'd be safer (and warmer) to do her training hike solo and be able to move at her own speed. The cold was probably bearable but when the wind knocks you off your feet plans fall apart. Unfortunately for Kate the winds flexed their might on a particularly cold day but I respect the spirit of her approach even though it proved too aggressive. I apologize for the unfounded speculation but it seems to be too unusual a set of circumstances.

Patrick
 
Having been knocked down on some FB sites for posting thoughts in line with what I'm seeing here, I am most appreciative of this group. I wondered about Pelchat's comment on the storm, and question whether he meant there would not have been huge amounts of snow as well? It has helped me that this article was published and shared, as there is so much more about the person, Kate, than we knew before. I understand that her previous big hikes were with a group. Right? In that case, she didn't have the much needed person to set this highly motivated personality back on a more sensible track, i.e. to head down. A group could also have walked arm-in-arm and formed a circle for stability as we see people doing when crossing fast-running water. Again, thanks for the sharing here.
 
With all due respect to some of the posters on this thread, many seem unable to separate themselves from their own thinking to try to understand what she was thinking that day. This is a person who had already climbed three of the seven summits and aspired to reach the summit of Everest and be the first woman to summit Denali in winter. It's a different kind of thought process than aspiring to be a winter 115er, where the general mindset seems to be to grab 'em when conditions are most agreeable.

Given her hardcore goals, I would think that when Matrosova saw the brutal forecast for that day, she saw it as an opportunity to expereince the kinds of conditions one would potentially experience on Everest or Denali in winter.
This is a very important point. I see it all the time in the Union Leader comments: "Only an idiot would hike solo;" "What kind of an idiot tries to climb a 4000' mountain in the winter?!" When your winter routine involves little more than picking up the remote to change the channel, it's impossible to know what the human body is capable of, and what is required to hone your skills to a high level.

Similarly, I have no business armchair-quarterbacking Ed Viesturs or Mark Twight or any other accomplished mountaineer. My understanding of the world of world class mountaineering is limited. But at least I know enough to know my perspective is limited. The UL commentators don't even understand that point.

The question, of course, is whether Matrosova was in fact operating on that level, or at least on a level where our understanding is limited. I happen to think she was NOT. But from the information we have it's impossible to make that assessment with certainty.

Summiting a big mountain as part of a guided group is physically and mentally demanding (I think - I haven't been on a BIG mountain myself). But it does not require certain key skills, such as route finding, weather assessment, judgement and decision making. These are skills that take a LONG time to pick up and generally only come with the experience of leading groups (even if it's just your friends or family) in difficult conditions or going solo. It's also worth pointing out that ASPIRING to climb Everest and ASPIRING to be the first woman to climb Denali in the winter is not the same as HAVING THE SKILLS to accomplish said feat.

The main reason I feel Kate didn't know what she was heading into is that she had remarkably little in the way of contingency gear. If she had been fully aware of the likely conditions and was happy to use this trip as a training exercise, it would have cost her nothing to pack some contingency gear. At her level of fitness, 10 lbs in the pack would only add to the training opportunity, but would have dramatically improved her safety margin. I think she didn’t realize how close to the edge she was.

Given the ambiguity around what finally led to her demise, of course it's impossible to say if additional gear would have saver her life. But the lack of said gear perhaps does give us a window into her mindset going into the hike.
 
My heart goes out to those who were close to Kate and to those who feel an emotional connection to her passing. With all due respect I think that there are, and will be, no additional answers that help alleviate the grief and loss associated with Kate's passing. This, like so many deaths that have resulted from hiking and climbing, can be summed up in a one word explanation: accident.

Accident:

an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.
"he had an accident at the factory"
synonyms: mishap, misadventure, unfortunate incident, mischance, misfortune, disaster, tragedy, catastrophe, calamity; technicalcasualty
"an accident at work"
a crash involving road or other vehicles, typically one that causes serious damage or injury.
"four people were killed in a car accident"
synonyms: crash, collision, smash, bump, car crash;

2.
an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.


I find the second definition especially pertinent to the subject at hand. This was a tragedy and an event that has sent shockwaves through this hiking community. Perhaps that is why it is so difficult for us to make peace with it. People want answers in the aftermath of tragedy. Maybe Kate's passing will serve as a warning to some, but it will not afford us with the opportunity to have a clear explanation of the full circumstances that lead to her demise.

Accidents and tragedies are just that... :(


Peace and love,

Z
 
I can't help but think of this quote from Washington Irving, in a rewrite of some journals by mountain men exploring the West in the early 19th century. "The pride of man is never more obstinate than when climbing mountains."
 
FWIW (and this is nothing but unsubstantiated speculation), Dan M, Jason B and myself were doing a presi traverse on January 17th on a particularly brisk day. MW weather archives list the low as -25 F, which was near the temp at the trailhead that morning. The winds averaged 55 mph and peaked at 89 mph. Dan M and myself posted about our encounter with 2 hikers descending Madison on FB after the news of Kate's death but I deleted my post because the initial reports indicated she had never hiked in the Whites before so I didn't want to add erroneous speculation to the mess.

Sounds like you did come across them. It seems clear the rationale for her last hike, and it's a shame that the mighty winds swept her away. You get the idea that, had they not, she'd've been one of the great ones we'd've been reading about for decades to come. Sometimes it's a narrow divide between greatness and oblivion.
 
I tend to look at things in a simple way. I don't care what she had climbed before or what she planned to climb in the future. The most important skillset a successful mountaineer has, is the ability to read conditions as he or she climbs. That point is even more prevalent here with her experience. You can take all other factors involved in this situation and toss them out, she started out in acceptable conditions, but proceeded into unacceptable conditions. Do storms approach fast and catch you quickly? Yes, but the line in seeing this as it happens before its to late is critical here. As a soloist myself, I think the group idea is moot. As a soloist, frankly its easier to make sound descisions, because you don't have to hem and haw with the group, you assess and react, fast. If your fit, you can get caught in weather and make a rapid descent, getting below treeline and safety. The size of the mountain is irrelevant as well, this same scene has played out on most major peaks worldwide, sometimes you may have minutes to make the right call, once you fail to make that call, the line has been drawn.

Have to agree with you on this. I don't get why everyone is needlessly complicating this. It was a bad decision. The weather was forecast well in advance to be horrible with 100+ mph winds. Objectively assessing this fact as you plan the hike you need to ask pretty simple questions: Can I travel at the speed I have plotted (or any speed at all for that matter) in 100 mph+ winds? What is the probability that I could get injured walking 6 or 8 miles in 100+ mph winds? If I do get injured in 100 mph+ winds what are my chances of survival being alone? After several SECONDS of careful analysis I would calculate her odds of a favorable outcome were pretty much zero.

Storm early vs late, group vs solo, gear vs no gear, driven vs slacker, Ed Viesturs vs Homer Simpson. None of this overrules the basic facts. If I have someone point a loaded gun at my forehead and pull the trigger there is a chance with my thick skull I might survive but the overwhelmingly likelihood is that I'll be dead. The facts are the facts no matter how much we want them to be otherwise. There is a line in the sand that eventually no one can cross. Some get much closer than others but there is a point where no one does. I simply cannot characterize this incident as "a tragic accident" or "bad luck".
 
FWIW (and this is nothing but unsubstantiated speculation), Dan M, Jason B and myself were doing a presi traverse on January 17th on a particularly brisk day. MW weather archives list the low as -25 F, which was near the temp at the trailhead that morning. The winds averaged 55 mph and peaked at 89 mph. Dan M and myself posted about our encounter with 2 hikers descending Madison on FB after the news of Kate's death but I deleted my post because the initial reports indicated she had never hiked in the Whites before so I didn't want to add erroneous speculation to the mess.

We ran into a male and female in a yellow and red down suit, respectively, and I'd guess early to mid 30's for age. It was a brutal day on the Southerns. We battled frostnip and minor frostbite in the high wind and extreme cold until mid-day on Washington. What made these two stand out (descending Madison to the hut) was not only the down suits but neither had any traction on their feet and the male used an ice axe as a cane descending on hand and foot moving from rock to rock among the patches of ice and firm snow. It was a peculiar sight. The female hiker in the red suit was wearing a pair of yellow climbing boots (La Sportiva?) and hiked at a brisk pace descending Valley Way before we passed her and she waited for her companion. Neither had packs descending Valley Way which wasn't surprising given that it looked like there were fresh tracks heading to the Valley Way campsite (it was the type of day that if memory serves correct they were the only people we crossed paths with).

This most recent article mentions the couple had hiked Madison and attempted Adams in January with an overnight near the hut, consistent with what we saw (we saw no tracks up high on Starr Lake but the lowest section was badly postholed but there's no way to tell how old those tracks were. I suppose with the winds that day I'd have to surmise they weren't that old). With the down suits, the female hiker's climbing boots, the apparent overnight at Valley Way Tentsite, her husbands noted fear of heights (lining up with what we saw descending Madison), and the female hiker's similar looks to the pictures of Kate posted online, we all figured that was them that day.

I'm a sucker for hard, punishing hikes, even in poor conditions. Doing so in the Whites might have saved my butt last summer after doing a single 'day' climb of the Kautz on Rainier when the weather turned on us up high (whiteout, snow-->sleet-->freezing rain-->rain with high winds throughout) where slogging through the last 1500 feet in horrendous weather seemed like a safer bet than trying to return to the ice climb and rap down on frozen rain-crusted gear as we heard stuff falling around us and could barely keep our hands warm as it were. Staying hydrated and as warm as one possibly could be, while making smart decisions with regards to navigation were of the utmost importance. It was not a straightforward descent on the DC but we got down as fast as we could. This storm wasn't forecasted but with my times in the Whites I felt equipped to get through it, though it was a nightmare.

On that particular weekend in February I scrapped hiking plans and even bailed on a backyard fire when the wind and cold made it too uncomfortable to get the darn thing going. But I suspect, as others have speculated as well, that she was looking to get more experience in those horrible conditions. That January day was the coldest and windiest weekend day up high this Winter until the weekend Kate died. She probably figured it'd be safer (and warmer) to do her training hike solo and be able to move at her own speed. The cold was probably bearable but when the wind knocks you off your feet plans fall apart. Unfortunately for Kate the winds flexed their might on a particularly cold day but I respect the spirit of her approach even though it proved too aggressive. I apologize for the unfounded speculation but it seems to be too unusual a set of circumstances.

Patrick

Thanks for sharing that Patrick. Your speculation sounds like it may be accurate and it's good to be able to at least fill in a few likely details of this story.
 
My heart goes out to those who were close to Kate and to those who feel an emotional connection to her passing. With all due respect I think that there are, and will be, no additional answers that help alleviate the grief and loss associated with Kate's passing. This, like so many deaths that have resulted from hiking and climbing, can be summed up in a one word explanation: accident.

Accident:

an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.
"he had an accident at the factory"
synonyms: mishap, misadventure, unfortunate incident, mischance, misfortune, disaster, tragedy, catastrophe, calamity; technicalcasualty
"an accident at work"
a crash involving road or other vehicles, typically one that causes serious damage or injury.
"four people were killed in a car accident"
synonyms: crash, collision, smash, bump, car crash;

2.
an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.


I find the second definition especially pertinent to the subject at hand. This was a tragedy and an event that has sent shockwaves through this hiking community. Perhaps that is why it is so difficult for us to make peace with it. People want answers in the aftermath of tragedy. Maybe Kate's passing will serve as a warning to some, but it will not afford us with the opportunity to have a clear explanation of the full circumstances that lead to her demise.

Accidents and tragedies are just that... :(


Peace and love,

Z

It's a tragedy of course, but one could say a Greek Tragedy born of hubris. The first definition is broad enough to apply in the same way that it's an "accident" if you race the train to the crossing, speed past stopped vehicles, ignore the flashing lights and drive around the gates, only to get hit by the train. It's a stretch to apply the second definition and assert that her death was "an event that happen(ed) by chance." I'm sure she was a wonderful person but her death was a direct result of the choices she made.
 
Last edited:
It's a tragedy of course, but one could say a Greek Tragedy born of hubris. The first definition is broad enough to apply in the same way that it's an "accident" if you race the train to the crossing, speed past stopped vehicles, ignore the flashing lights and drive around the gates, only to get hit by the train. It's a stretch to apply the second definition and assert that her death was "an event that happen(ed) by chance." I'm sure she was a wonderful person but her death was a direct result of the choices she made.

That is the other thing that people are so unwilling to do in these situations that drives me nuts: separate making a mistake and the character of a person. The Facebook post on this (which certainly degraded to a far less intellectual and civilized discussion than here) had so many posts about people furiously defending her right to choose, that she was a wonderful soul (that of course almost none of them knew) and how dare we challenge her choice and demean her, call her stupid, etc, etc. As this most recent article seems to illustrate, Kate indeed was a wonderful person to be around. She also made a mistake. And that mistake does not render her life null and void and cast a black shadow over everything she has ever done. Even the best of the best make mistakes. Acknowledging the mistake is not passing judgement on her intellectual capacity or life's work.
 
Objectively...you need to ask pretty simple questions: Can I travel at the speed I have plotted (or any speed at all for that matter) in 100 mph+ winds? What is the probability that I could get injured walking 6 or 8 miles in 100+ mph winds? If I do get injured in 100 mph+ winds what are my chances of survival being alone?

I have refrained from commenting - both here and on other forums and don't even get me going about the FB page. I am a female, older than 30s, and often hike solo, primarily in the Whites. I have to say for almost every single hike I plan, I run through essentially the questions Day Trip-per poses above for conditions I expect to encounter based on forecasts, trip reports, knowledge of terrain, etc. And, as mentioned in a follow-up post by DT "Acknowledging the mistake is not passing judgment on her intellectual capacity." Both posts well worded, sage advice (though it may not have been intended as "advice.")

Agreed. I believe an intelligent hiker/runner/biker/parent/whatever learns not only from his/her own actions and mistakes, but from those of others. I believe this discussion is not only insightful and helpful, it is essential to the community of hikers who reach out to/rely on others to keep us sane, return lost/found gear, exchange info and assessments, and otherwise help us to be safe. Do I agree with all the comments I have seen? Hell no. Do I respect others' opinions and experience enough to help guide me and cause me to consider others' positions and perspectives? Hell yes.

Just my 2 cents
 
Have to agree with you on this. I don't get why everyone is needlessly complicating this. It was a bad decision.

I don't think you would get much argument from the majority of people here. I think most of us agree it was a mistake to continue on hiking above tree line that day, and in Kate's case, at least the decision to ascend the Star Lake Trail was a fatal mistake.

I think people's motives here (by here, I mean VFTT only) are less to complicate the matter and more to simply understand the thought process that went into this. It's fine to say she made a bad decision, died because of it, and then move on. You would be right. But some people continue to ask questions because she was a compelling personality who shined very brightly compared to most. Seeking knowledge from this situation may shed valuable insight into our own lives and our own decisions, especially for those of us who for one reason or another feel a connection to this story. Not everyone does, and that's okay. Yes, Kate made at least one bad decision, but I think I for one understand the pull that made her get out of the car that morning even in the face of that forecast. The cold, the wind, the winter, the extremes of this earth are compelling for some people. To try to understand that thought process is valuable to me. Others too, I suspect.
 
It's a tragedy of course, but one could say a Greek Tragedy born of hubris. The first definition is broad enough to apply in the same way that it's an "accident" if you race the train to the crossing, speed past stopped vehicles, ignore the flashing lights and drive around the gates, only to get hit by the train. It's a stretch to apply the second definition and assert that her death was "an event that happen(ed) by chance." I'm sure she was a wonderful person but her death was a direct result of the choices she made.

Hi Grey J,

Personally speaking, I completely agree.

The intention of my post was to try to acknowledge all parties involved and attempt to be sensitive. In reality I was hoping it might have been a polite "final word" on the matter (not that I need or want to have the final word). This thread has been going on for quite some time and without sounding callous I was hoping we could all move on.


Rest in Peace Kate,

Z
 
Top