Over the last few weeks, the Northeast has seen some unpleasant incidents in Rumney and in the Adirondacks, so hearing that climbers were rescued from East Rock in New Haven, Connecticut comes at a bit of a surprise.
The two climbers Peter Kaufman, 21, and Sarah Maslin, 19, are students at Yale University, neither were wearing helmets, climbing shoes, nor were they using ropes. Attempting to free climb the cliff, Sarah got stuck and was unable to continue upward, her boyfriend Peter made it to the top. However, Sarah, unable to continue, stuck herself into a crevasse under a roof and called 911.
It took rescuers an hour and a half to safely get Maslin to the ground and ended with a dramatic leap into the arms of one of the firefighters. During the rescue, Lt. Jay Schwartz, one of the rescuers, got within 10 feet of Maslin and took a fall, breaking his ankle. While rescuers tried to secure Schwartz, they continuously had to avoid rock fall, which injured two other rescuers.
It is illegal to climb at East Rock and it is known for being loose and dangerous. Both climbers were charged with with second-degree reckless endangerment and violating a city ordinance which prohibits rock climbing at East Rock.
More photos here: http://newhavenregister.com, Rescuers account here: http://www.courant.com, More here: http://www.wtnh.com
I think it’s irresponsible to call these idiots climbers. They had no idea what they were doing, and by calling them climbers you have associated them with a group of people that (for the most part) are responsible and understand how to calculate the risks. These two definitely did not show either of those traits.
Completely agree with you Robert. In general I think most climbers have a good sense of responsibility. These two however did not.
Let’s call them “fallers”, or maybe “rescuees”.
Can we request a retraction from the press on their inaccurate terminology?
Anyone think they were “inspired” by Honnold? JUST KIDDING, please don’t answer that.
Haha, no comment!