Guide who fell to death on Grand Teton unclipped from anchor

JACKSON, Wyo. – A mountain guide who died in a fall on Grand Teton National Park’s highest peak unclipped himself from an anchor while reaching for a rappel device, a National Park Service spokeswoman said.

Exum Mountain guide Gary Falk fell about 2,400 feet (731 metres) on Saturday. The 42-year-old Falk had just successfully guided four climbers up the Grand Teton, which is more than 13,700 feet (4,175 metres) in elevation. They were coming back down the Wyoming peak when he fell.

A rappelling device became stuck and Falk unclipped his tether from the anchor to reposition himself, park spokeswoman Denise Germann told the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/2ap3B9E ).

“It appears that Falk fell as he was trying to free the wedge rappel device,” Germann said.

Another Exum guide safely led the group down the mountain.

It was Falk’s 12th summer guiding with Exum, which suspended its operations for one day on Sunday.

“Everyone is devastated,” one of Exum’s owners, Cyndi Hargis, said Sunday. “It’s a very tight-knit community. It’s hard to lose one of us.”

Exum has 60 to 80 guides on its roster. On a typical July or August day, it will have four to seven guides with groups on the Grand Teton, Hargis said. It has been decades since an Exum guide has died while guiding in the Tetons, she said.

Most clients who had their climbs suspended Sunday are rescheduling, Hargis said, and most were “incredibly understanding” about not being able to climb.

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Information from: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News And Guide, http://www.jhnewsandguide.com