Tragedy in the climbing world

This past week I was sad to hear a good friend of mine had fallen to his death in Yosemite. Although I had only climbed with Todd on a handful of occassions, everytime was a great experience and I learned a lot from him. Todd was always full of fun and conversation that keep everyone in the group laughing for the whole day. I knew Todd when I lived and climbed up in Montana and would see him when he would come through Missoula, usually on his way back to Lander, Wyoming. We would go out to one of the canyons and spend the day climbing as many routes as possible and all of us would be eager to hear what his latest stories were. And he had a ton of them. It never seemed like there was an end to the 85% turth's he would tell.

I was very sad to hear about the accident in Yosemite and of course that he has left behind his wife and 3 little kids. That is never something you want to hear about. The funeral took place this past weekend up in Lander and there was a large amount of climbers and friends who made the journey up to Lander from Boulder and other various places. Todd was honored by many fellow climbers and will always be remembered for his great heart and soul that he put into all his endeavors, whether they were climbing related or not. My thoughts go out to his family during this rough time.

With this event, it makes me think about how simple activities can sometimes lead to such tragic endings. I do not believe you should go through life trying to always avoid all activities that are dangerous and still feel like you are living a fulfilled life. All you can do is try and limit the danger in the activitiy and keep a clear head when performing the activity. What happened to Todd was bad luck in the end but something that should have been avoded. It is sad to have to deal with things like this but then Todd led his life the way he wanted and thankfully was doing the activity he loved most when he died.