[HitTheTrail]

This in the Wenatchee paper---- MAZAMA — A 20-year-old Western Washington University student from Seattle died Monday after falling during a rappel off Goat Wall, a popular climbing area near Mazama. Shelby Withington, a member of WWU’s climbing team, was climbing with three other young men at about 9:15 a.m. when he fell about 500 feet, said Okanogan County Coroner Dave Rodriguez. He said three of the four climbers were on WWU’s team, but that this was not part of a team event. He said the accident took place when Withington and one of the other climbers were doing what’s known as a simul rappel — when two climbers rappel simultaneously while counterbalancing each other. Withington died immediately at the scene, Rodriguez said. Okanogan County search and rescue crews climbed into the spot and met a Navy helicopter, which helped retrieve his body. Rodriguez said it’s the third climbing fatality on Goat Wall in the past decade. In September 2008, Ryan Triplett, 31, of Seattle, was free-climbing alone without ropes and was discovered when his wife called to report he hadn’t returned from his climbing trip. And in May 2016, Ryan Kautz, 26, of Seattle, died after falling while rappelling.

[jackchinook]

RIP young climber. Such a bummer. I was working in the yard and saw the Coast Guard chopper fly over towards the smokejumper base. I had a bad feeling about it but hoped it was just a drill.

[Jake Robinson]

This is really humbling, as I was just climbing there less than a week ago on Prime Rib. Just another sad reminder that rappelling, while simple, is very easy to screw up. Always tie knots, use a backup, and weight the rappel before unclipping from the anchor.

[Mike Collins]

[Redwic]

[puzzlr]

[gb]

This was the son of a friend of one of my best friends. My friend found the news devastating. Can you only imagine what that would be like as a parent? On another note, they were simul-rapelling which is something veteran climbers don't do. Somehow, these young climbers either read about this technique or were taught this by a climbing teacher. Apparently, a very similar fatal accident also happened on Reed's Direct in Yosemite. The message is that rappelling is serious, should be avoided when possible, and is not a good place to experiment. The only time I ever used this method of simul-rappelling was in a rescue practice in an ACMG training course.