FALL ON ICE, PROTECTION PULLED OUT, EXCEEDING ABILITIES

FALL ON ICE, PROTECTION PULLED OUT, EXCEEDING ABILITIES
North Carolina, Doughton Park
On January 19, Shawn Hansen (30) died after the anchors he was using to support his
friend on an ice floe broke loose.
Hansen's friend, Ed Williams (30) of Raleigh was climbing up the ice floe at Ice
Rocks, a popular ice climbing area in Doughton Park, when he fell off the ice, appar­
ently causing the anchors attached to Hansen to give way. Hansen fell about 80 feet, hit
ice and rocks, then rolled another 70 feet down the rocky slope. Hansen was dead when
rescue crews arrived on the scene at 10:55 a.m. Williams fell to the base of the slope, but
the rope slowed his fall and he was not injured.
Hansen and Williams had been rock climbing together for about four years, but they
were fairly inexperienced ice climbers. (Source: “News and Observer,” Raleigh, NC,
January 20, 1997).
(Editor's Note: Aram Attarian, who helps collect data from North Carolina, indicates
that this is the second fatality from ice climbing in ten years.)