Tragedy on the Mountain
Posted onIn the news today:
Rangers removed the ice-encrusted bodies of two other hikers who died on the peak in an unexpected early blizzard in the Sierras. The deaths occurred on El Capitan, a forbidding granite mountain at Yosemite National Park,
The two deaths created a gruesome sight for a helicopter crew that managed to fly close enough Wednesday to spot the bodies, which were blue and dripping with icicles as they dangled from their ropes about two-thirds of the way up the precipice.
To retrieve the corpses, rangers rappelled down El Capitan, put the bodies into yellow mountaineering bags, and carried them on their backs hundreds of feet to the summit.
The two victims – an unidentified Japanese man and woman – had been ill-prepared for the weather, a ranger said. They also had their arms around each other, probably in an attempt to keep each other warm.
I can think of a very sad 2 person play that could be written about this tragedy. Such a sudden storm of sadness.