Industry News
Two men died in a climbing accident in Wyoming’s Wind River Range last Friday. This was the second double climbing fatality in Wyoming in a week after two women died while climbing Teewinot Mountain near Jackson last week.
The two deceased climbers have been identified as Jonathan MacDonald, 23, from Lander, WY, an Keith Henderson, 57, of Cheyenne, WY.
The Fremont County Undersheriff Ryan Lee is reporting that another climbers saw these two climbers fall several hundred feet down the face of 11,884-foot Pingora Peak in the Cirque of the Towers area on Friday afternoon. This witness reports that the two men appeared to be rappelling down the face in clear weather when they fell.
Both of the deceased men were reportedly experienced climbers. Their climbing gear is being inspected by professionals.
“We’re looking at everything, whether it was technique, the way things were rigged up, or whether it was a failure in a piece of equipment. These guys are professionals, or experts in that field, so they can take a look at everything and draw a very strong conclusion as to what probably occurred.” – Fremont County Undersheriff Ryan Lee
This accident reportedly happened at 4pm last Friday and was seen at a distance of one-half mile.
The bodies were removed from the mountain by helicopter on Friday evening.
This tragic accident happened less than a week after two women lost their lives climbing on Teewinot Mountain in the Grand Teton National Park, WY. They were ascending a class 4 route when they lost their course and ended up in 5th class terrain and fell 200 feet on August 22nd, 2015.
