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nordique
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PostMon Jun 04, 2018 5:07 pm 
From the Seattle Times: Originally published June 4, 2018 at 2:02 pm Updated June 4, 2018 at 2:23 pm The victim and another man had been hiking in the backcountry area of Pratt Lake on Sunday when one man fell off the edge of a cliff. By Sarah Wu Seattle Times staff reporter A 31-year-old Shoreline man died after falling from a 200-foot cliff Sunday afternoon west of Snoqualmie Pass, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office. The victim and another man had been hiking in the backcountry area of Pratt Lake when one man fell off the edge of a cliff, the sheriff’s office said. The other man told investigators that he did not fall because his dog was able to pull him back from the cliff, according to sheriff’s spokesman Ryan Abbott. Unable to find his friend who had fallen, the man hiked for over an hour to get cellphone reception and called 911 around 4:30 p.m., Abbott said. Deputies, along with the King County Search and Rescue team, found the victim at 11:58 p.m. Sunday. Due to poor weather conditions, the sheriff’s office has been unable to fly a helicopter in to remove the victim. Deputies and search-and-rescue team members are staying with the body until it can be evacuated, Abbott said.

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Schenk
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PostTue Jun 05, 2018 10:26 am 
That is too bad, sorry to hear this. RIP Good Hiker

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Curtissimo
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PostWed Jul 04, 2018 8:08 am 
Am I the only one who finds this suspicous? Very few details in the article.... what were they climbing? How did they both fall? Saved by a dog? Survivor couldn’t remember? I don’t want to jump to conclusions but something isn’t right here. Either a lot of info is missing from the story or more questions need to be asked by police.

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puzzlr
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PostWed Jul 04, 2018 9:13 am 
I thought the same thing -- how do you get hurt on the Pratt Lake trail? I heard that they climbed Pratt Mountain and then descended NW (why?) toward Blazer Lake. There is steeper terrain on that side so at least that story makes sense topographically. But I can't vouch that what I heard is any more correct than the article.
Pratt from Blazer Lake Jan 2016
Pratt from Blazer Lake Jan 2016

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Mikey
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PostWed Jul 04, 2018 10:09 pm 
It seems strange that there has been no media articles about the fatality of the Shoreline man. I was told that his name is Steve Needham. Perhaps out of consideration for the next of kin, no news media articles have been released. Possibly there is an on-going law enforcement investigation regarding this fatality.

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fourteen410
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PostWed Jul 04, 2018 10:28 pm 
Looks like he left behind a wife and a newborn frown.gif

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Yana
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PostWed Jul 04, 2018 10:31 pm 
There is nothing suspicious or weird about either the information or the lack of news coverage. There are recoveries and rescues that never even make it into the news. Those that do often contain very spotty and often downright inaccurate information, nor are they complete accounts of all information available to law enforcement. Which is not to say that sometimes weirdness doesn't happen - but it's impossible to extrapolate that from any news coverage. It is also not at all uncommon for people not to remember events clearly or at all when they suffer traumatic incidents (as happened to the survivor in this case).

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Hutch
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PostThu Jul 05, 2018 11:22 am 
Quiet Yana, these message board Hardy Boys were just about to solve the mystery.

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moonspots
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PostThu Jul 05, 2018 12:33 pm 
Hutch wrote:
Quiet Yana, these message board Hardy Boys were just about to solve the mystery.
😀😁😆

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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Curtissimo
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PostThu Jul 05, 2018 12:57 pm 
Hi Yana- You make several reasonable points but I have to take issue with a couple things you said: How often do fatal hiking accidents in this state receive no reporting? I would say almost never or very rarely. You don’t find anything strange about falling off a cliff on a gentle trail... or being saved by a dog? How did the dog communicate to him exactly? We expect the police and the media to ask these types of questions.

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Tom
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PostThu Jul 05, 2018 1:19 pm 
RIP and condolences. Article says Pratt Lake area which isn't very specific. I can see a few places on the topo where one might slip and fall 200' (particularly if there is still snow). I agree the dog pulling him back from the cliff sounds incredulous. Presumably the survivor was in shock (or perhaps the media got it wrong).

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moonspots
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PostThu Jul 05, 2018 1:32 pm 
Tom wrote:
(or perhaps the media got it wrong).
You don't suppose?! I'd even bet one of my own dollars that this was more than likely! The few times that I've read something in the news (that I had some first hand knowledge of), it was wrong, and not just by a little bit. So I rarely, if ever, take news reports as complete and accurate.

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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Tom
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PostThu Jul 05, 2018 2:09 pm 
Well, there's more than one news report where the survivor credits his dog for saving him. Quite possible he got himself into a predicament looking for his friend and his dog helped him out. http://www.khq.com/story/38345987/authorities-hiker-killed-in-fall-dog-saves-companion

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Windstorm
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PostThu Jul 05, 2018 2:58 pm 
Curtissimo wrote:
You don’t find anything strange about falling off a cliff on a gentle trail...
I don't find it strange that the media would have no idea where the hikers actually were. At the time the first reports came out, SAR operations were still going on, so it's not surprising that the Sheriff's Office didn't provide an exact location. The last thing SAR would need in that situation is family/friends or curious public showing up in the backcountry.

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Kim Brown
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PostThu Jul 05, 2018 4:39 pm 
Curtissimo wrote:
We expect the police and the media to ask these types of questions.
No we don't. The cliffs at Blazer are really steep. Maybe the news article is wrong. Maybe in the stuff of SAR operations and frenzy, the information got jumbled. Do you want this to be a heinous crime?

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