Kilian Jornet & Emelie Forsberg rescued fromAiguille du Midi

In wondering how accurate the translation of "sneakers" is, but it doesn't look like a place for untrained or improperly equipped climbers.

http://www.cosleyhouston.com/frendo.htm

del

Killian is an experience climber and he write in his blog a more detailed explanation about the incident.

http://www.kilianjornet.cat/en/blog

About the shoes, i read somewere that killian uses some special prototypes to be used in snow and cold temperatures… in fact he carried technical crampons….

What would you have done differently Eric?

… go SUL … plan for best case rather than worst case … no backup plan … get rescued (the lucky ending) … sounds like a scenario that could fit a lot of people on this site …

sh$t rarely just happens, it is created.

What would you have done differently Eric?

stayed at home and watched TV =P

everyone takes risks, ive done easy climbs with minimal gear and equipment … depending on my ability not to fall

in the off season though i generally take enough gear to survive the night, in squamish that generally means a light emergency bag … in other places it means taking a blizzard bag … remember that even if you call for a rescue, SAR may not be able to reach you till the next day

my personal opinion is that i prefer not to depend on SAR to save my azz if a i went a bit too light … if im capable of getting down without calling them i will … 3 months ago i blew my achilles on a climb, i rapped and crawled out a few hundred vertical metres … of course if i was much more serious or deeper in the wilderness i would have likely pressed the big red button

i think that in some places with good communications, well established SAR, … that people knowingly take certain risks with the idea that they can get rescued if anything goes wrong

my view on a climb or anything else is that you should always have the ability to get down or out yourself … the big red button is a last resort, and not something you depend on if the conditions turn

;)

more on the story

http://www.chamonix.net/english/news/PGHM-Chamonix-Rescue-Kilian-Jornet

On Sunday morning, Killian Jornet issued a message on his personal blog, admitting the unnecessary risk he took with this venture, so poorly equipped and in such poor weather conditions. He hopes it is a warning other climbers:

This is a warning: ascending the mountain is difficult and, even if you are careful and meticulous with planning, it can be dangerous. We must be humble when climbing because even the tiniest error, especially when we take it easy and disconsider the possible dangers, can be fatal."

To me, this looks like the classic example SAR uses to lament the growing use of cell phones and SPOTS (or PLB's) to call for help from people who entered the wilderness woefully unprepared. My question to these two climbers would be "Would you have prepared differently if you knew you could not call for help?" If the answer is yes, then they owe SAR an apology. We have a responsibility to not do stupid things that end up making other people risk their lives to save ours. Crap happens to even the most prepared people, but when SAR has to rescue you because you deliberately chose to go under-prepared, that's disrespectful to the men and women in SAR because you're essentially saying that you don't have any regard for their life or safety. That's my POV.