Grand Canyon fatality.

An outstanding young man has died in the Grand Canyon. Sounds as though heat and a route finding error combined to cause this. So sad!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/27/AR2009072703242.html

The story reminds me of the Havasu chapter in Abbey's Desert Solitaire.

Very sad. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. It looks like the world lost a good one this time.

Yes, so sad. A fellow Eagle Scout. He will be missed.

We ALL must be careful out there.

Tango

I am about to walk several miles across hot coals barefoot. But to be honest, I don't care.
Quotes such as outstanding young man and the world has lost another good one sound as if you knew him personally. If you did not then your posts are simply self-serving, look at me BS.
I seriously doubt you can even recall his name a month from now.
Had he been rescued alive I am sure you hollywood boo hoo clowns would be singing a different tune.
wooo these coals are getting hot.
If I am not mistaken, he did absolutely everything wrong. Yet because he was "hiking" you want to canonize him.
This is my last post here but I promise to hang around long enough to hear you trash me. That is only fair.
Perhaps you might want to gear your forum more to the safety aspect than just light gear. Just an opinion from someone who wants to hike but knows nothing about it.
If I have offended anyone, some of it was intentional, yet there are some here I wish to apologize to because you may have got caught up in this rediculous mess. There are some good people here. Good-bye.

As of 2000 when the book "Over The Edge; Death in Grand Canyon" was written, 65 of the 550+ known deaths below the rim were attributed to environmental causes. It is known as the "Desert Crucible" and July is the hottest month.

Marc,

I did not know the guy, but was impressed with his life experiences.

"Gillies, an Eagle Scout, had taken college calculus at George Mason University in high school and was a physics major in college. He had a four-year president's scholarship at the university, which he chose in part for the area's beauty. At Northern Arizona, Gillies, an outdoor enthusiast who had hiked the Appalachian Trail, learned to kayak and to rock climb.

He had spent June in Ghana as a project leader with Engineers Without Borders to build a medical clinic, and his father said he looked on such work as a possible career."

Marc, All I can say is that your post says a lot more about you than it does about those of us who found this young man to be admirable. One does not have to know a person to find them admirable: I admire Barack Obama but I don't know him at all and never will. My comments about him were based on the direction his life had seemed to be going, not the fact that he was a hiker. If he had lost his life in a traffic accident and I knew of his history, I would feel and say the same things.

You might want to ask yourself why you feel so negative about people you don't know. I really think the problem is more in you than in us.

Whatever Marc's problem is, I am glad to see him go. While no doubt it may be easy to overdo it on the platitudes when something like this happens, there is no reason to attack those who feel it appropriate to say something, even if they did not know the person.

I think that as a community, hikers have a certain empathy for others who are harmed while doing something we enjoy. I would hope that would transfer to doing something kind for someone along the way when you have the chance. Sometimes even a simple good deed can make a big difference.

It is sad. Who knows what contribution he might have made to our world had he lived? And yet . . .

This was 100% preventable. Hiking alone in July on one of the more remote and unforgiving trails in the Grand Canyon in mid-July? Not a smart move. There was a post here maybe 4 years ago by a member of a family that got in trouble in the same area, but thankfully survived to tell about it.

Though he was a good guy, he fell into the category of those most likely to die in GC -- healthy, athletic male between the ages of 18 & 30. You should not be cutting it so close that a "minor navigational error" will kill you.

The attempted down climb to water is classic evidence of serious dehydration having affected his judgement. Many others have done the same as they lose their thinking abilities such that it appears perfectly rational to go over a cliff to get to water (or to send a member of their party to do it).

If you care to stick around, you can read through the Back Country Safety forum and there are plenty of threads about people making wrong choices.

I agree with everyone else in regards to your comments.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.


Where's Eugene when we need him?

T

One, no one's going to trash you. Two, your extreme reaction to a few sentiments spoken about an unfortunate young man is a symptom of something, you need to look at yourself, and if you have difficulty understanding why you are so overwrought about what a bunch of random strangers on the internet are doing, perhaps you should seek professional help to address whatever underlying emotional difficulty drove you to such angst. Three, intentionally inflammatory remarks intended to whip up a lot of attention is generally regarded as trolling. Again, if you need that much attention, professional help is suggested.

Sorry to hear you're in such turmoil. Hope you find some resolution to whatever's got up your butt.

Goodbye and good luck to Marc.

Back to the OP. The book I mentioned earlier is full of stories just like this one. Each and every one are tragic and may/may not have been people of high character such as this victim. It only goes to show how incredibly dangerous the "inverted mountain" can be. Unlike hiking up a mountain, retreat becomes increasingly more difficult with every step. Throw in the worst time of year and a some youthful exuberance and the formula can become deadly. Harvey Butchart and most of the highly accomplished GC hikers refrained from hiking it during the summer.

aw'comeon, Marc don't leave. You can't offend me, only aimless can do that.

I just read the article and I've already forgotten the kids name.

Sounds like you don't do enough hiking and you have a build up of juice in your leg.
Maybe if you quietly lurk around (no posts) & read you'll pick up some good ideas about the hiking part.
Equipment, technique, places to go, etc. etc. etc.
Do some searching for threads on how to acquire inexpensive equipment. There are a lot of good people here with good ideas.
Be nice.

Maybe we can all learn from the mistakes of the aforementioned former hiker.