Two climbers die in Alaska: the son of a Quebec among the victims

Photo from the blog of Marc-André Leclerc
The climber Marc-Andre Leclerc in a climbing solo in British Columbia.

Benoît Philie

Wednesday, march 14, 2018 10:56

UPDATE
Wednesday, 14 march, 2018 19:47

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The bodies of the two climbers, whose the son of a Québécois, who have been missing for a week in Alaska will not be able to be recovered before the summer because of the conditions too dangerous.

“It is impossible to go in search of the body because of the great risk of avalanches in the area. Given the circumstances, they are presumed to be dead, ” said the Newspaper, the spokesperson of the State police of the state of Alaska, Megan Peters.

Marc-André Leclerc, 24 years old, from Squamish in British Columbia, and the Alaskan George “Ryan” Johnson, 34, had gone to climb the Mendenhall Towers at the beginning of the month, a mountain located near Juneau, the capital of Alaska.

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Marc-Andre Leclerc

The two climbers who are very experienced, who are scheduled to return on 7 march, are ultimately never returned to the fold.

Six days of Research

Emergency workers have spent six days criss-crossing the glacier, whose highest point reaches 7,000 feet. The weather conditions have, however, prevented the use of helicopters.

The return of good weather on Tuesday has allowed the officers to locate the strings and the equipment corresponding to those used by the climbers flying over a rock wall.

“We believe they died by falling into a crevasse. Is what they have been trained by an avalanche or is it that they have fallen by accident ? We don’t know, ” said Mrs. Peters.

According to her, the research for the recovery of the remains could not take place in the summer.

Family grieving

The father of Marc-André Leclerc announced the news Wednesday on his page in Facebook, after you have kept hope for several days.

“Unfortunately, we lost two very good climbers and I lost a son of whom I am very proud of it. My heart is so broken… A part of me went with him… “, wrote Serge Leclerc.

The canadian magazine specialized in mountaineering Gripped has published a report-river in honour of the climber on its web site Wednesday. Qualified visionary, passionate mountaineer and reckless, Marc-Andre Leclerc was considered one of the best young climbers in the world.

He had attracted international attention by climbing perilous as that of the belay system on the Cerro Torre, in the region of Patagonia in South America, in 2015. It is one of the most difficult routes ever performed solo in full.