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Condolences are pouring in online for a well-known professional rock climber who died after falling from the Stawamus Chief.
Family members have shared that Will Stanhope died on April 23.
“It is with shattered hearts that we share the news that our beloved Will passed away yesterday,” his family wrote on April 24.
Squamish Search and Rescue says it was called out to the Stawamus Chief on April 13 for a climber who had fallen while on a route called Rutabaga.
“The climber had fallen approximately 20 metres and had sustained serious injuries,” Christy Allan with Squamish SAR said.
Rutabaga is considered an intermediate route at 5.11a and is located on the Grand Wall on the Stawamus Chief. The Yosemite Decimal System — a hiking and climbing grading system — starts at 5.0 and moves up in difficulty to 5.15.
A ground team of people from Squamish SAR went to join other first responders at the scene.
“The subject was stabilized and due to the rough terrain and nature of the injuries, we arranged a long-line rescue to our forward operating base at St’a7mes School, where we were met by B.C. Ambulance,” Allan said.
B.C. Emergency Health Services paramedic public information officer Brian Twaites said paramedics responded at 3 p.m. PT.
“Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment and transported the patient to the hospital in serious but stable condition,” Twaites said.
‘The climbing community was his family’
Stanhope was widely known as a free solo climber and was a member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG).
As reported by Gripped, a rock climbing magazine, Stanhope and another climber named Tim Emmett completed the first free ascent of the south ridge of Mount Combatant, a mountain peak in B.C.
Stanhope gave a Vancouver International Film Festival presentation about the climb, describing it as a contender for the longest rock climb in Canada.
In a short YouTube videofrom October 2015, Stanhope explained what free solo climbing meant to him.
“For me, it’s the most beautiful way to move over rock unencumbered, and it’s a great feeling,” he said. “I love everything about climbing, I love being in nature, having huge adventures with my friends, and the simple joy of moving over rock never gets old to me, it’s an awesome feeling.”
Stanhope’s family confirmed he was climbing Rutabaga at the time when he suffered a severe head injury.
“Will lived with a passion and courage that most of us only dream of. He had a prodigious memory and great stories, ” they wrote. “He was a kind and gentle man with a fantastic sense of humour.”
Stanhope’s family said he faced every ascent with an inspiring spirit.
“The rock was his home, and the climbing community was his family,” they wrote. “To all of you who climbed with him, followed his journey, and loved him: thank you for being part of his adventurous life.”
A celebration of life is being organized to take place in Squamish later this spring.
