Thu. Sep. 15, 20:26 EDT 2016
I am a Labrador resident who did not know much about this story. Thankyou to all contributors who have shared these events with us
Thu. Aug. 15, 15:14 EDT 2013
Fri. Nov. 18, 16:41 EST 2011
I was interested to read everyone's theories about the planning or lack of it as regards Susan and Dan's trip, and the fact that anyone would think that new devices which have become available since their accident would have helped. The weather was stormy and dark, no signal could have got out to anyone, and even if it had, no one would have responed because of the weather. There were no rescue facilities available for hikersclimbers, and after we had reported them missing, we heard only that the weather conditions were not conducive to searching. The police on the French side told us that they had searched as far as the summit, which was not true, or they would have tripped over Dan's body. I would call in the morning and be assured that a search would happen that day, and they would phone us later. Invariably, later never came, and I would phone again only to be told that the person in charge had gone home.
That said, by the time we knew for sure that they were missing, they were already dead so it would have been a recovery, not a rescue. We would gladly have paid any price for any rescue operation that they put in place, but there was nothing there. As far as speculating about Susan and Dan's lack of planning, I would mention that they took almost 2 years planning this trip and I am sure that they thought that they had every emergeny covered.
No one will ever know what happend, and it is time to stop second guessing, what you thought they should have done. They are dead, and we will never find answers.
Someons mentioned closure, let me tell you there is no such thing, we, thei families have just had to learn to live without them.
Mon. Aug. 29, 15:48 EDT 2011
I was pleased to see Luke's post (#107) provide the link to the SPOT device. This is a fairly recent device.
I used a SPOT (for the first time) this summer on a solo canoe trip along the eastern coast of Hudson Bay (in the Richmond Gulf area). Via the SPOT I was able to send a daily email message to my family saying all was well and give my GPS coordinates. The SPOT is small, very light and the cost is very reasonable. It also has a "help" signal and SOS it can send - if you have an emergency.
Many years ago for emergencies I carried a heavy aircraft ELT device (starting in 1974 on a long canoe trip across the barrens). It must have weighed about 15 lbs. Some years later I purchased a smaller EPIRB device for the same purpose. It still was about 10 times the size and weight of the SPOT - and had no one-way email functionality - and could only initiate the mayday SOS frequency.
It is a sad reflection to know that IF there had been a SPOT device back in 2003 for Dan and Susan they could have been rescued.
George Luste
Wed. Aug. 03, 01:52 EDT 2011
Thanks for the response and information, Andrew.
My main thought about the friction over the edge wasn't so much that it directly led to anchor failure, just that it may have made it harder to do the first belay possibly allowing more slack in the rope at times as the climber made progress. Anyway, if they made an attempt to get up the step, Dan might have gone first, fell onto the rope at some point, and thereby exerted more force on the anchor than it saw when they rappelled, leading to total failure and an injury. But even without slack a belayed fall onto an anchor, where the rope runs up from the climber to the anchor and back down to the belayer, can exert several times more force than a rappel.
It is interesting to know that they may not have had equipment to ascend the rope. Still, your conjecture that they at least originally planned to return up the Koroc Step seems reasonable. It of course fits with their summiting and then returning to near the Koroc Step. So, they may have changed their minds on the summit and went back to pull the rope. Or they may have returned to try getting back up the step using the pre-hung rope.
Another possibility that came to mind was indeed that the rope was left hanging after the rap, and the pack was left at the base of the step while the camera was taken to the summit. After summiting, Dan fell off the ridge on the way back to step. Sue then might have pulled the rope, tied it around the pillar (may explain the ad hoc knot if Dan was the technically more knowledgable one), tied the rope end to the pack and lowered the rope/pack to Dan so he could get back up (just barely?). Some types of head injuries take time to become disabling.
And, yes, maybe any anchor webbing left behind came off later. I've seen rap webbing I left behind chewed clear through many months later by critters (chipmunk?) - I think it happens when food from a hand gets on the webbing. In general, this happens more than rarely.
Also, I had an experience once where I hiked into a very large grassy meadow in the dark. I stopped to set up the tent at the edge of the meadow by head lamp or hand light (can't recall which) - all your focus is where the light shines and not to the periphery. At one point, I turned away from the meadow and very nearly fell 15 or so feet down an embankment I hadn't seen. I'd only hiked 3 miles, was in great shape, and wasn't in foul weather conditions. I can imagine Sue getting to the football field, taking off the harness for whatever reason, letting her guard down a little on the much easier terrain, perhaps in the dark and/or thick fog, and doing something similar.
Well, as many have already said, we'll never really know completely what happened. But your efforts and the efforts of the recovery party shed quite a bit of light. And thanks for entertaining a little myopic accident analysis on something not intended for this.
Again, I hope that the intervening years have allowed quite a bit of healing in those close to Dan & Sue.
Bill
Tue. Aug. 02, 23:26 EDT 2011
Hi, Bill
Thanks for your thoughtful post. Let me try and answer your questions, as best as I can:
We don't precisely know Dan and Sue's plan with regard to returning via the Koroc Step. Our conjecture at the time was that they left the rappel rope in place, anchored from the top of the step, in order to be able to top-rope climb back up it on the way down. This may or may not be accurate: when we got to the top of the Koroc step, there was no anchor of any sort in place. So, either the anchor failed completely when they tried to use it on the way up, or it blew away or disintegrated somehow during the intervening winter between when they went missing and when we showed up.
Another possibility is that they pulled the rope and intended to climb down the [easier] Minaret ridge instead (and still we have the unexplained lack of webbing/anchor at the top of the step, although again over the course of the year it may have been dislodged or otherwise removed).
A rope hanging from a top anchor could have been ascended, I think. Yes, there may have been a lot friction. Perhaps enough to pull out a marginal anchor? An interesting idea.
I don't believe they had any sort of cord-based or mechanical ascenders with them.
Regarding our own downclimb, we set up a belay by putting a large length of webbing around a protrusion of bedrock (or it may have been a very large non-attached block - I can't recall. In any case, it was super solid). We left the webbing and a rappel ring behind. I don't recall us having any issue pulling the rope, I believe we ran the rappel ring right to the edge, if not slightly over it, so we would have encountered little issue with pulling the rope.
...Andrew
Sat. Jul. 30, 01:22 EDT 2011
Andrew,
Thank you for putting this together.
I've read through most of the pages and most of the posts. It is a good read and all points are well made. And this is easily found by anyone searching for information about the "Koroc Step".
The story could have been of me and my fiance about three decades ago although in a different place. I then had roughly similar mountain experience as Dan (have done Rainier) and my fiance vastly less. I had some glacier travel and rock climbing up to third class, maybe fourth class - all stuff much easier than climbing up the Koroc Step. Knew how to ascend a rope if able after falling into a crevasse.
Best wishes to both families. I hope much healing has taken place in the intervening years.
Please allow me to look at this from a technical rock climbing perspective. Disregard or delete if uninterested.
From a rock climbing perspective, I saw one reference indicating that going back up the Koroc Step was about a 5.6 in level of difficulty (i.e., mid-5th class by today's standards). It looks it in the pictures.
Most active folks can climb up 5.6 without much training in climbing technique and training for climbing endurance - I know because for about five years I've helped instruct a multi-day rock climbing class for about 25 folks each year who have typically never climbed. Most can do 5.6 although many with soreness later. Many can do 5.7 and a few 5.8.
Throw in a long active day, near freezing temperatures, wet / cold rock, boots instead of rock climbing shoes, gloves on the hands, and it certainly would feel desperate to most such folks and even to someone with Dan's experience (assuming I understand).
I find myself wondering what their plan was for getting back up Koroc Step. Would they leave the rope hanging at Koroc Step or would they pull it before summiting?
The rope was doubled in the picture so am assuming they had the option to pull it once down. Or, alternately, use it on the return to protect the first person up. If they pulled the rope before summiting, they really were setting themselves up for problems on the return (assuming that was the original plan). Pulling the rope before summiting seems very doubtful unless it was that they unexpectedly felt they needed to return that way after summiting.
If the rope was left hanging, how did they plan to ascend? Belay each other? It may have been hard to belay from below given friction from the rope strands running over the edge at the top as shown in their picture. Or would they use the hanging rope as just a hand line on the way up? Using it as a hand lines seems unlikely to me. Or attach one's self with a cord friction-hitched to the rope and other end of the cord attached to the harness, sliding it up as each climbed? Or use mechanical ascenders?
In any case, it is not hard to imagine Dan going up first, falling onto the rope, and I guess having the anchor fail as the fall force would be greater than that from a typical rappel. Of course I don't know how stout the anchor was built. But an anchor of piled rocks that failed would explain no gear left at the top of the Koroc Step ... and Dan down below, presumably injured.
It might be telling to know more about the climbing equipment they had with them. Belay devices? To what at the top of the step would / could the anchor have been attached? Did Dan/Sue know about sliding friction hitches for ascending or maybe carried mechanical ascenders with them?
Maybe to ... how did the private recovery party thread their ropes above the Koroc Step so they could be pulled from below? And did the private recovery party run the rope similarly over the edge but not have trouble pulling the rope afterwards?
Of course, much of this may have been covered in side conversations with folks not feeling a need to re-cover it here.
Bill
Mon. Jun. 13, 08:16 EDT 2011
We will always remember Sue and Dan!
Manon
Tue. Apr. 05, 01:14 EDT 2011
I'm not sure what made me search for this website tonight but I felt compelled to revisit it and was relieved that this tribute to Dan and Susan is still here. Over the years I've thought about them many times and miss them.
I will always admire their adventurous spirit and each time I think of them I'm reminded to live life to the fullest.
Mon. Mar. 14, 23:03 EDT 2011
Hi Andrew,
Just wanted to post and say thanks for sharing this story and pictures. I found this page when looking up the "highest point in Ontario" and read the 2006 Ishpatina Ridge adventure.
http://alavigne.net/Outdoors/ImageGallery/2006/06-03-IshpatinaRidge/index.jsp?navpage=1
Although the story of Dan and Susan is a sad one, it serves as a sobering warning to myself (and others) who crave adventure. Nothing of value is without risk, but as Roland demonstrates, there is no such thing as too much planning when safety is on the line.
It's great to know that products like safety beacons are available and more accessible/affordable today:
I'm glad to have known Dan and Susan through your writings.
Thanks again,
Luke
lukeehann at gmail dot com
Return to Tales from the Torngats page