Prince George ice climber dies in Montana avalanche

starlight

第一次听说还有＂攀冰＂这个运动，好象也太危险了吧？  :shock:

Prince George ice climber dies in Montana avalanche



Guy Lacelle works his way up a frozen waterfall at the Ouray Ice Park during the Ouray Ice Festival in this January 2007 file photo. Guy Lacelle, a native of Hawkesbury, Ont., who has been living in Prince George, B.C., was climbing up a gully in Hyalite Canyon near Bozeman, Mont., when the climbers above him hit a batch of wind-drifted snow, according to Mark Staples, an avalanche expert at the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Centre in Bozeman.Photograph by: File, MCTA Canadian ice climber, known as a legend and pioneer of the sport, has died in an avalanche in Montana.

Guy Lacelle, 54, a native of Hawkesbury, Ont., who lived in Prince George, was climbing up a gully in Hyalite Canyon near Bozeman, Mont. Thursday, when the climbers above him hit a batch of wind-drifted snow, according to Mark Staples, an avalanche expert at the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Centre in Bozeman.

"That swept down the gully, and although it was not a very large slide, it swept Guy Lacelle over the ice climb he had just ascended," Staples told Canwest News Service Friday morning. "He died as a result of trauma."

Lacelle was in Bozeman taking part in the annual Bozeman Ice Climbing Festival.

Jim Oberhofer, the under-sheriff of Gallatin County, said the accident happened while Lacelle was resting in a non-climbing area between two ascents in the contest. He was not wearing his safety rope.

"He fell 250-300 feet . . . ," Oberhofer said. "He was in that area between the two climbing areas . . . It's not a technical part of the climb. It's just a hiking area between the two areas, and I'm assuming that's why he was not roped off."

Experts said it was not unusual to take off the rope in a safe spot, and that deadly avalanches are rare.

The climbing community was mourning the loss Friday.

"Obviously, it's hit the climbing community pretty hard," said Lawrence White, the executive director of the Alpine Club of Canada, which represents 10,000 people in winter sports across the country.

"Guy was a pioneer in the sport . . . and he was the first one, through this region certainly, to show just what can be done on vertical ice."

Lacelle attended the physical education program at the University of Ottawa. According to one report from the Banff Centre, his first climb was a 300-foot attempt outside Quebec City, which he completed with a partner in seven hours. He later completed the same climb on his own in less than five minutes.

"He was one of the premier athletes in the field," said White. "He was climbing things back in the '90s that I suspect a lot people didn't think would ever be climbed."

Ken Cox, a Prince George resident and recreational climber, said Lacelle, whom he referred to as "a legend," worked for a Prince George company, Celtic Reforestation, in the summer planting trees, and would travel the world to go ice climbing in the winter.

"He climbed all throughout Europe, Norway, Iceland, and of course in the Canadian Rockies . . . and down in the States," said Cox.

"He was extremely well-respected throughout the entire world for all that he's done. He was just a really, really good guy. He would climb with anybody that wanted to climb, if you were a beginner, he was always keen to show new people, introduce new people to the sport."

He lived in Prince George with his wife.

Cox, a member of the Prince George chapter of the Alpine Club, said avalanches are always on the radar of climbers, and that conditions can change hourly.

Lacelle "was always very well aware of the dangers of ice climbing, but he was so skilled at it, he could assess these things. Which is why this is such a shock," Cox said.

Staples compared ice climbing to driving: there are thousands of cars on the road every day, and sometimes there are accidents.

"Some days are more dangerous than others," said Staples. "It was an unfortunate accident."

The slide occurred during the Ice Breaker competition of the festival, which pairs a local climber with a non-local to climb as many routes in the canyon as possible in one day, according to a report in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Local guide Adam Knoff was not injured, it said.

The mountain has since reopened, said Staples.

WanchaiBoz

Thanks Starlight. I was able to post this piece of sad news.

"Guy Lacelle - known as a legend and pioneer of the ice-climbing sport"

starlight

这个还真不是一般人敢玩的。