When you’re the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada, you should expect that people are going to come to your community and explore the mountains.
Some of those visitors are going to be the best at what they do and lots of others are going to be new to the mountains, totally unsure of what they’re doing.
Two people died this summer in separate incidents on the Stadium Glacier below Sky Pilot. This is troubling because there are no other recent recorded deaths in that area.
Michael Taylor, 29, and Owen Hosford, 26, were both climbing Stadium Glacier when they fell to their deaths. Taylor fell on Saturday, Sept. 13. Hosford fell on Saturday, July 5. Both loved nature. Both were lured to the mountains seeking adventure.
Hosford and his friends reached the two thousand-metre summit of Sky Pilot. He was on his way down. Bad weather had rolled in and he slipped while descending a snow chute.
His adventure résumé included paddling the Alaska Marine Highway and the Bowron Lakes. Hosford explored Clayquot Sound, the Stein Valley and the Gulf Islands, he cycled across Cambodia, traversed Denali Park, did the Chilkoot Trail, qualified for the Boston Marathon and just last year he discovered, while travelling in Nicaragua, that he loved surfing.
His family asked that memorial donations be made to Squamish Search and Rescue (SSAR). A donation page is set up on the SSAR web page to accept donations with the money going to injury prevention work, education and rescue work.
Taylor didn’t make it to the summit of Sky Pilot, but the adventure résumé that got him to Stadium Glacier is as impressive as Hosford’s.
The Newcastle Herald, which serves the region of Australia where Taylor came from, described him as charismatic and witty, an adventurer and a larrikin.
For those who don’t speak Australian, a larrikin is a mischievous young person who is uncultivated, rowdy and good hearted.
His friends called him Tails and he studied engineering until he decided to move to Canada last year to adventure in the outdoors. Taylor biked and trekked around the province.
Taylor drove with a friend to as high as they could get by vehicle then they started hiking. When they got to Stadium Glacier they put on crampons. Sadly, Taylor wasn’t experienced with crampons and that’s thought to be a factor leading to his fall.
The Aussie newspaper spoke with a friend of Taylor’s named Chris English.
‘‘Everyone just loved him, he had a way of broaching any topic, he was really genuine and likable,” English told The Herald.
‘‘He was a really smart guy, very intelligent.”
Our mountains need to be respected. Taylor and Hosford understood that. They have underlined for the rest of us just how important it is to take care when adventuring in the alpine.
