Renowned ice climber Guy Lacelle dies

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

J.Dub

Active member
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
578
Reaction score
66
Location
Newtown, CT Avatar: 9,500' on Rainier
LA Times article here. This guy soloed WI6 like most of us walk down the street. :eek:


First Bachar...now Lacelle...2009 is turning out to be a tough year for free soloists.

RIP.
 
Last edited:
Sad. Worthy of some discussion.

Lacelle was killed by a fall, caused by an avalanche triggered by a party above. This is a little different from Bachar, in that it falls more under "objective danger."

Also, regarding Lacelle's rep as a solo climber, the Times article does mention that he had a partner at the time. Article does not make clear whether Lacelle was roped or unroped at the time.

TCD
 
Guy was a brilliant climber. I remember being awed by his solo exploits 20 years ago.

His death is probably equivalent to a professional Indy driver being killed in a car wreck on his way to pick up groceries.
 
His death is probably equivalent to a professional Indy driver being killed in a car wreck on his way to pick up groceries.
From http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/12/11/news/000avy.txt
"He was climbing up a small gully and a team above him triggered a small avalanche," Doug Chabot, director of the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, said. "He wasn't swinging the tools when it happened, it was just an avalanche. A small pocket of snow pulled out and caught him. It hit him and took him off the cliff, down the ice."
Even though he may not have been executing a technical move at the time, he was in an exposed approach/linking/exit gully in a climbing area. As any climber knows, such spots can have many of the same risks as actually climbing. And clearly risk plus a bit of bad luck caught up to him that day.

Still tragic either way.

RIP.

Doug
 
Top