The Reporting Chronology on the 'Cripple Creek' Accident


The purpose of this web-page is to document the chronology of events and articles surrounding the handling of the Alex Pendleton climbing accident by this website. There are two main goals:

  1. To preserve a record of the newpaper articles and web updates associated with the accident.
  2. To keep a record of the e-mails and other transactions that occurred.

Note: Most of the reporting and information contained in this webpage should be considered heresay. Non-climbers are describing climbing events, and in most cases, they have no idea what they are talking about. Many reporting mistakes were made.


I first heard about the accident about 9:00 am on Thursday morning, Feburary 6, 2003. I was getting a cup of coffee at work with a friend and he told me about how he had heard about a Mt. Lemmon climbing accident on the radio on the way into work. Frankly, I didn't really believe him. He didn't seem like a credible source.

I immediately went back to my office and pulled up the Arizona Daily Star's website www.azstarnet.com. On their website was an article by Eric Swedlund concerning the fall:

Man dies in 75-foot fall on Mt. Lemmon

By Eric Swedlund
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A 28-year-old man died Wednesday after falling nearly 75 feet while rappelling on Mount Lemmon, officials said.

The man was rappelling near Windy Point, at about mile marker 15 on the Catalina Highway. Sgt. James Ogden, a Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman, said the cause of the man's fall is unknown.

A friend who had been climbing with the man called authorities about 4:30 p.m. It took the friend about two hours of hiking to reach a telephone, officials said.

The friend said the man had fallen and that he had no pulse, was unresponsive and had not moved for several hours, Ogden said.

Search and rescue deputies, Mount Lemmon Fire Department paramedics and a Department of Public Safety helicopter tried to get to the man but were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Because of the rough terrain and how far the man fell, a rappel rescue was not feasible, Ogden said.

Officials considered rappelling from the helicopter, but strong winds and coming nightfall prohibited that as well, Ogden said.

Attempts to recover the body will resume early today.

The man's name was not released Wednesday night because his family had not been notified.

Ogden said it is unknown whether the man was experienced at rappelling or was a novice.

* Contact reporter Eric Swedlund at 629-9412 or swedlund@azstarnet.com.

After I read the article, I immediately updated ClimbAZ.com. On the home page, I created a new link entitled "Man killed Rappelling at Windy Point" and updated the news section with a link to the www.azstarnet.com article by Eric. The first time I read the article, I didn't read it very carefully. After re-reading it and seeing the accident was near mile post 15 (Windy Point is at mile post 14), I changed the link to read "Man killed Rappelling on Mt. Lemmon." At this point in time, it was very unclear what had happened. I wasn't sure if a climber was killed or someone that was only rappelling and I didn't want to believe it was a climber.

Eric's phone number and e-mail address were on the article. So I called the Arizona Daily Star and tried to talk with him. A female answered (probably Leslie Newell) and she said that Eric would be in at 2:00 pm. I tried to get information about the accident from her but she wouldn't say much. About the only thing I could get from her was that the Sheriff's department was handling the body recovery.

Since Eric wasn't there, I sent him an e-mail. At this point, I didn't want to know much. I only wanted to find out if it was a climber (versus a rappeller) and and I wanted to find out where on the mountain the accident took place. (I also sent Jeff Mayhew a similar e-mail at the same time. Jeff is involved with SARA and I was hoping he might know something as well.)

Eric,

I read your story on the rappeling accident on Mt. Lemmon and I had a couple of questions. Where exactly did the fall occur? Was it on the Beaver Wall? Was he just rappeling or was he a climber that fell while rappelling off a climb?

I run a small rock climbing website called ClimbAZ.com and would like give a few more particulars that might be of interest to climbers.

Thanks, Bob

Since the Sheriff's department was handling the body recovery, I decided to call them. After several phone menus and being passed from receptionist to receptionist, I finally got to talk with a woman who was handling the information on the accident, but she was very close-mouthed - I couldn't get much out of her. "All the information that is going to be released has been released to the press." She doubted that the Sheriff's department was going to release any more information. I tried to get more information but she wouldn't budge. Finally, I asked, "Can you at least tell me where on the mountain the accident occurred?" There was a pause on the phone and then there was a low hiss, "The Pharaoh."

"Was it a climber?"

"Yes."

Through most of the morning, people were coming by my office asking me what was going on and the telephone calls were coming in and going out. Nobody knew anything. With the new information, I updated the ClimbAZ.com home page to read, "Man killed Rappelling on the Pharaoh" and kept the same link to the Eric Swedlund article.

About noon, on Thurday, the Tucson Citizen had a news update by David Teibel on its website www.tucsoncitizen.com:

Deputies recovering body of climber killed in Catalinas

DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen
Feb. 6, 2003

Efforts began this morning to retrieve the body of a rock climber who fell to his death while rappelling yesterday in the Santa Catalina Mountains, sheriff's deputies said.

Investigators are withholding the name of the 28-year-old until family members are notified, said Sgt. James Ogden, a sheriff's spokesman.

Deputies hope to determine what caused the fall by examining the body and the victim's climbing equipment. The dead man was accompanied by another man, whose name is not being released at this time, on what is considered an advanced climb, Ogden said.

The two men were climbing a 150-foot cliff face known as "the Pharaoh," near Geology Vista, about 14.5 miles from the base of the Mount Lemmon Highway when one of them fell 50 feet, until he came to the end of his climbing rope and slammed against the cliff face about half way up, Ogden said.

He apparently died of extensive head injuries, deputies said.

Deputies said the man fell about 1 p.m. yesterday. Ogden said the man's companion climbed to the body, determined his friend had no pulse, and hiked to a telephone to call the Sheriff's Department. The department got the call about 4 p.m. but could not recover the body before darkness made recovery efforts too dangerous, Ogden said.

Expert mountain climbers with the volunteer Southern Arizona Search and Rescue Association were called out, but, as darkness fell, Ogden said, "it was not safe for the search and rescue people to rappel down there. Had the subject been injured and alive, of course they would have done it," Ogden said.

Ogden said the man's body was dangling from his climbing rope, requiring rescuers to rappel to it and use specialized gear to get the body off the cliff face.

Ogden estimated the recovery work would go on until at least 3 p.m. today.

This was a very confusing article. In the opening paragraph, "...a rock climber who fell to his death while rappelling" and yet, in the fourth paragraph, "...one of them fell 50 feet, until he came to the end of his climbing rope and slammed against the cliff face about half way up." How could this be? A rappelling accident where he fell to the end of his rope? That didn't make sense. "...the man's body was dangling from his climbing rope?" Most rappelling accidents involve either sliding off the end of the rope or somehow becoming disconnected from the rope and falling free.

Up to this point in time, I had been assuming it was a rappelling accident. It had been consistently reported that way in both the newspapers. But if the rappelling statement was discarded, it appeared that the accident was a leader fall. He was leading when he "...fell 50 feet, until he came to the end of his climbing rope and slammed against the cliff face about half way up." They must have been on an upper pitch on the Pharaoh. It was "... about half way up," and "...the man's body was dangling from his climbing rope." They couldn't lower him to the ground. They had to leave him on the wall.

About 2:30 in the afternoon, both www.azstarnet.com and www.tucsoncitizen.com released the name of the climber who was killed - Alex Pendleton. The www.tucsoncitizen.com article was virtually identical to their previous article, but with the identification of Alex as the the climber who was killed.

Deputies identify climber killed in Catalinas

DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen
Feb. 6, 2003

Authorities have identified the climber who fell to his death yesterday as Tucsonan Alex O. Pendleton, a chef at Metro Grill, sheriff's deputies said.

Pendleton fell while rapelling in the Santa Catalina Mountains, said Sgt. James Ogden, a sheriff's spokesman.

Deputies hope to determine what caused the fall by examining the body and the Pendleton's climbing equipment. Pendleton was accompanied by another man, whose name is not being released at this time, on what is considered an advanced climb, Ogden said.

The two men were climbing a 150-foot cliff face known as "the Pharaoh," near Geology Vista, about 14.5 miles from the base of the Mount Lemmon Highway when Pendleton fell 50 feet until he came to the end of his climbing rope and slammed against the cliff face about half way up, Ogden said.

He apparently died of extensive head injuries, deputies said.

Deputies said the Pendleton fell about 1 p.m. yesterday. Ogden said the man's companion climbed to the body, determined his friend had no pulse, and hiked to a telephone to call the Sheriff's Department. The department got the call about 4 p.m. but could not recover the body before darkness made recovery efforts too dangerous, Ogden said.

Expert mountain climbers with the volunteer Southern Arizona Search and Rescue Association were called out, but, as darkness fell, Ogden said, "it was not safe for the search and rescue people to rappel down there. Had the subject been injured and alive, of course they would have done it," Ogden said.

Ogden said the man's body was dangling from his climbing rope, requiring rescuers to rappel to it and use specialized gear to get the body off the cliff face.

Ogden estimated the recovery work would go on until at least 3 p.m. today.

At this point in time, it appeared as if the story was over for the day. I would just have to wait until tomorrow and read about it in the newspapers. However, when I checked my e-mail at about 2:45, I had an e-mail from Leslie Newell of the Arizona Daily Star. The story was back alive...

Hi Bob,

My name is Leslie Anne Newell and I'm the reporter at the Star who's handling the follow-up story to the climbing accident at Mount Lemmon yesterday. The story will be in tomorrow's paper, but for now, I can tell you the climber was Alex Pendleton, 28, of Tucson. He and his partner were climbing at a formation called The Pharaoh. Is there anything you can tell me about The Pharaoh, i.e. if it's a difficult formation to climb, etc?

Thank you and I hope this helps a little,

Leslie.

I told my friend Joe Dalmas about the e-mail I had received from Leslie. We discussed theories about where and how the accident occurred and then I wrote a response to her e-mail (Joe was looking over my shoulder and pumping me full of supporting information).

Leslie,

I have been reading the azstarnet.com website closely.

The Pharaoh has many climbing routes - from 5.7 (fairly easy) to 5. 12 (very difficult). Some of these routes are well protected with bolts drilled into the rock that you can clip carabiners into and some require the use of gear - nuts and camming devices that are stuck into cracks.

Not knowing what route they were on, it is difficult to say how hard the climb was or the risks that they were taking. (If you can get me the name of the climb - I can give you more info). The most popular route on the Pharaoh is "Cripple Creek". This route was put by Dave Baker (who owns the Summit Hut) and is considered a Mt. Lemmon Classic climb. It is rated 5.10-, which is a difficult climb. It requires an excellant use of gear placement and good climbing technique. "Cripple Creek" is a three pitch climb with natural protection (no bolts) on each pitch and the belay stations are bolted. From your report, it sounds like they were climbing the third pitch. Alex was leading and his partner was tied into the bolts at the belay station. Alex must have fallen and either not have placed any protection or his protection failed. (This is pure speculation based upon your report).

Anyway, if you can tell me which climb they were doing and where they were at on the climb, I can get you more information.

Thanks for sending me an update.

- Bob

After about fifteen minutes, I received a response from Leslie. It was amazing. We had actually almost figured out what had happened on the Pharaoh from the newspaper reports.

Bob,

Thank you for the information. Your assumptions were all correct. The pair were on Cripple Creek and in the third pitch. Pendleton's partner was the belayer. He said when he got down to where Pendleton's body was hanging, there were two or three caribiners hanging on the rope, which leads him to suspect Pendleton hadn't put them in properly, fell, and didn't have enough backup to save him. If I use the information you included about the difficulty of the climb, should I credit it to you or is it available from a climbing guide that I could source?

Thank you again,

Leslie.

I had the story of the accident. I could have just shot it to the website directly but that wouldn't have been too ethical (not that I am all that ethical). Joe thought I should just publish it directly, but I thought I would ask for her permission. I was sure she wouldn't object. It was a "... you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back..." kind of thing.

Leslie,

There is no need to credit me. This information is common knowledge among the climbing community. There is information about this climb in "Squeezing the Lemmon II..." by Eric Fazio Rhicard - available at the Summit Hut. I will scan a page from an older guidebook tonight that covers the climb, upload it to my website, and send you a link.

Is it O.K. if I post the information you just sent on my website?

Thanks,

Bob

...and I got permission to run the story. (I have posted many links to their website but here is another, just for good measure: www.azstarnet.com)

Bob,

As long as you don't mention the climbing partner's name (which I don't think I told you, so I don't think you can), then you can put up everything you want. However, as a dutiful Star employee, I think I'm supposed to tell you something about mentioning our website or putting up a link.

Thanks again for all your help,

Leslie.

At this point, I updated ClimbAZ.com with the story: "Alex Pendleton killed on 'Cripple Creek'". I used cut-and-paste to copy her article onto the website and I had links to the www.azstarnet.com and www.tucsoncitizen.com articles.

It seemed to me that the accident was fairly straightforward. Alex had taken a leader fall on the third pitch of "Cripple Creek" and was killed in the process. But how did his partner get off the wall? The www.tucsoncitizen.com website had reported that "...the man's body was dangling from his climbing rope." How could his partner get off the anchors at the top of the second pitch if his partner was hanging on the rope?

So I sent Leslie another e-mail...

Leslie,

How did his partner get off the climb?

- Bob

Leslie responded with the story of the belayer. I used cut-and-paste and updated ClimbAZ.com again.

Hi Bob,

The partner first escaped the belay, lowered himself to his friend, found him apparently dead (hoping against hope he wasn't), went back up to the ledge, secured the line, lowered himself again, secured his friend against the face, then rappelled to the bottom using a single line. He then ran back to the area where the men had parked (more than a half mile) and called 911.

And is 'belayer' the correct word to use for the hind partner?

L.

A few more incidental e-mails were exchanged with Leslie, but basically the initial story was complete.

About 10:30 that night, I received an e-mail from Jeff Mayhew - who finally had time to respond to my e-mail inquiry from the morning (he had been involved with the body recovery).

Hey Bob,

2 climbers starting the 3rd pitch of Cripple Creek on the Pharaoh. The leader was out of sight of the belayer when he fell, (slipped?, broke a hold?,) landing below the 2 bolt belay. A large camming unit about 25 feet above the belay arrested the fall, as far as we can figure. The body was anchored about 30 feet below the belay when we got there today. The belayer may have had to lower the body, but if not, it would put the total fall probably 100 + feet (?). There are several other possiblities, but that's the best we could recreate at this point due to the sketchy details. The belayer was having a hard time recounting specifics to us and we didn't push too hard--he's having a pretty rough time, as you may imagine. There is a possibility that a couple of pieces with draws may have been clipped to the leader's rope, suggesting they pulled, but that is not known for sure.

The belayer was able to free himself from the belay and rappel to the victim, who was unresponsive, not breathing, and pulseless. He then built an anchor with cams just above the body to secure it to the rock so he could free the rope. I don't know if he had 1 or 2 ropes, but he was able to rappel to the top of pitch 1 then to the ground. Apparently a hiker in the area had heard his calls for help and eventually called 911. The belayer hiked out to his car and also called 911 and SARA was paged.

That's it in a nutshell. When I have more time I'll tell you about the recovery "mission" and let you know if I find out more specifics about the fall itself.

Jeff

I copied Jeff's note to the website that evening and the initial story was basically complete, as far as the website was concerned. This was the last version.

Alex Pendleton killed on "Cripple Creek"

Alex Pendleton was killed on Wednesday, February 5, while climbing "Cripple Creek". He was leading the third pitch of the climb when he fell, pulling all of his gear in the process. During his fall, he sustained fatal head injuries.

Here is the first-hand story:

2 climbers starting the 3rd pitch of Cripple Creek on the Pharaoh. The leader was out of sight of the belayer when he fell, (slipped?, broke a hold?,) landing below the 2 bolt belay. A large camming unit about 25 feet above the belay arrested the fall, as far as we can figure. The body was anchored about 30 feet below the belay when we got there today. The belayer may have had to lower the body, but if not, it would put the total fall probably 100 + feet (?). There are several other possiblities, but that's the best we could recreate at this point due to the sketchy details. The belayer was having a hard time recounting specifics to us and we didn't push too hard--he's having a pretty rough time, as you may imagine. There is a possibility that a couple of pieces with draws may have been clipped to the leader's rope, suggesting they pulled, but that is not known for sure.

The belayer was able to free himself from the belay and rappel to the victim, who was unresponsive, not breathing, and pulseless. He then built an anchor with cams just above the body to secure it to the rock so he could free the rope. I don't know if he had 1 or 2 ropes, but he was able to rappel to the top of pitch 1 then to the ground. Apparently a hiker in the area had heard his calls for help and eventually called 911. The belayer hiked out to his car and also called 911 and SARA was paged.

Here is the latest news from Leslie Newell of the Arizona Daily Star:

The pair were on Cripple Creek and on the third pitch. Pendleton's partner was the belayer. He said when he got down to where Pendleton's body was hanging, there were two or three caribiners hanging on the rope, which leads him to suspect Pendleton hadn't put them in properly, fell, and didn't have enough backup to save him.

How his partner got off the climb:

The partner first escaped the belay, lowered himself to his friend, found him apparently dead (hoping against hope he wasn't), went back up to the ledge, secured the line, lowered himself again, secured his friend against the face, then rappelled to the bottom using a single line. He then ran back to the area where the men had parked (more than a half mile) and called 911.

Leslie's final article on Friday, February 7th:

Powerless to help as pal dies

Leslie Newell's account of the accident was printed in the Arizona Daily Star on Friday morning , February 7th. The account is very accurate considering that a non-climber is writing the report and she is trying to reach non-climbing readers. I was impressed with the quality of the article.

Powerless to help as pal dies

image

Alex Pendleton

image

James S. Wood / Staff
Search and rescue crew and sheriff's deputies carry the body of Alex Pendleton after he fell to his death Wednesday while climbing a rock in the Catalina Mountains known as The Pharaoh with a friend, Thomas Chong.


Mt. Lemmon's 'Pharaoh' rock claims climber

By L. Anne Newell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Thomas Chong was standing on an outcropping on a Mount Lemmon rock formation, yelling for help and hoping his climbing partner, hanging below him, was still alive.

Moments later, Chong secured the line that was holding them to one another and the rock wall and rappelled down to Alex Pendleton. The 28-year-old Tucson chef was bleeding and his body was limp. Chong couldn't find a pulse.

"Everything rationally said to me he was dead, but I just didn't believe it," he said Thursday, one day after the fatal accident, his voice still hoarse and his mind reeling.

Chong climbed back to the outcropping, trying to decide what to do. He didn't think there was enough rope to lower Pendleton to the ground and didn't want to risk hitting him against the rock face. He couldn't take his friend to the top or carry him down.

Moments later, he lowered himself back to his friend - who authorities think fell 50 to 75 feet - and secured him against the wall. He tried to arrange the harness so Pendleton was upright. Then he began the more than 100-foot long descent from that spot on the formation, known as The Pharaoh.

His lungs aching, he finally reached the bottom. He ran back to the parking lot, an uphill run of nearly a mile, stopping when his lungs burned so badly he couldn't breathe. He knew Pendleton had a cell phone in his Jeep.

"I was working as fast as I could, but it took me a long time," Chong said. "I don't know how long it was, but every second counted. There was such a feeling of helplessness really."

The pair had started out in the early afternoon, Chong said. They climbed together frequently outdoors in the two years they had known one another and met every week with a group of friends to climb at Rocks and Ropes near Downtown. But it was the first time they had attempted to scale The Pharaoh, on a route called Cripple Creek.

Climbing guides list many routes for The Pharaoh and the one Chong and Pendleton chose is among the most popular. Guides say it requires an excellent use of gear placement and good climbing techniques. It's difficult, but not the most difficult climb in the Tucson area.

The rock face is divided into three pitches, or sections, Chong said, on which two climbers will alternate who goes first, for safety reasons. One climbs while the other stays behind on an outcrop to monitor the climb. Then when the first climber reaches the next safety spot, the second climber - called the belayer - will ascend and pass him, going to the next safety spot, he said.

Both men wanted to go first, Chong said. They flipped a coin.

Pendleton won.

The first pitch went well, Chong said and the pair had scaled about 80 feet. The second pitch also was smooth, and they had gone maybe 95 feet farther, he said, inserting safety devices into the wall as they moved up and attaching themselves to the devices with ropes.

They began the third portion of the climb and Chong waited on the safety ledge, watching until Pendleton disappeared after 20 feet or so.

"He got fairly close to the last moves, just judging from how much rope he'd taken up," Chong said. "Then, without any warning, he fell."

Pendleton yelled as he was falling, Chong said, calling out, "Take!" to alert his partner that the rope that connected them would be bearing more weight. Chong braced himself and the rope pulled him up about a foot.

"After the fall, I looked over and he was limp," Chong said. "I yelled his name, but he didn't respond. I had no idea how bad it was. I thought he'd shake out of it."

Pima County Sheriff's Sgt. James Ogden couldn't say what caused Pendleton to fall. Chong also wasn't sure. He said his friend was nearly to the top of the rock face and at least two of the last few safety devices he'd put into the wall were dangling on his rope, meaning they'd come out in the fall, Chong said.

"He was athletic," Chong said of his friend. "He had a lot of guts. It's really hard to believe that this happened. I remember everything in vivid details. I'm reliving it."

After he'd left the scene late Wednesday afternoon, Chong went with authorities to his friend's apartment. They called Pendelton's parents in Hawaii, his sister and his girlfriend, for whom he was saving to buy an engagement ring.

"Someone said it must have been horrible, but if it was anything, it wasn't horrible, just extremely sad," Chong said. "That was my friend."

Pendleton had been a sponsored surfer when he was younger and played tennis professionally. Chong says the younger man had been climbing only for a couple of years, but was already better than many people who had done it longer.

Pendleton's girlfriend, Tucson resident Michelle Nolen, said they were talking about marriage and discussing names for future children. They had a March trip planned for New Orleans. They'd watched a special on the best spots to honeymoon and were making a guest list for their wedding.

"He was the world's most wonderful person," she said. "He was good at everything he did. He was a really strong climber, a professional tennis player and a sponsored surfer, a golfer who could shoot an 80."

The couple met last March, when friends set them up at a spring training game, she said.

"We were attached at the hip ever since," she said. "He was the first person I've ever been in love with and the most wonderful human being who ever came into my life. I so looked forward to building a family with him and growing old with him."

He was building a career, too, she said. Bob McMahon, CEO of Metro Restaurants, said he hired Pendleton four or five years ago. He'd shifted between restaurants and positions and had worked as a pastry chef, sous chef and finally got the executive chef position he wanted, at Metro Grill Park Place.

"He was only 28," McMahon said Thursday, his voice shaking. "He was just such a nice young man."

Ogden said 18 people from his department's Search and Rescue Unit and the Southern Arizona Rescue Association labored about five hours to retrieve Pendleton's body. Officials had to climb down to the base of The Pharaoh, then scale the easier backside, then rappel down to Pendleton, then lower him to the ground. They came out at 2:30 p.m.

"It was a much more complex and difficult operation than what we normally do," he said. "Within the last five years, it's probably in the top five."

He said officials would have gone in Wednesday night if they'd had any indication Pendleton was still alive. But the climber, who wasn't wearing a helmet, appears to have died as a result of the fall, he said.

"If there were any signs that the injuries weren't as devastating as they were, we would have made the attempts regardless of the obstacles," he said.

* Contact reporter L. Anne Newell at 629-9412 or at lnewell@azstarnet.com

The Tucson Citizen printed their article on Friday afternoon, February 7th. It did not quite meet the standard set by the Leslie Newell article. It was not as detailed and it still referred to the cause of the accident as a rappelling accident.

Climber dies in Catalinas cliff fall

ROMANO CEDILLOS and DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen
Feb. 7, 2003

A Tucson rock climber who was killed when he fell off a cliff in the Santa Catalina Mountains was remembered lovingly yesterday by a California relative.

Killed was Alex O. Pendleton, 28, who lived in the 5700 block of East River Road. Sheriff's deputies said Pendleton apparently died of a "blunt trauma to the head."

"Alex was a delightful young man, very intelligent, very ambitious, loved rock climbing," said his aunt, Kathleen Cupp, in a telephone interview from her home in Cottonwood, Calif.

Sheriff's Investigators are unsure what caused Pendleton to fall Wednesday while rappelling from a 150-foot cliff face known as "the Pharaoh," near Geology Vista, about 14.5 miles from the base of Mount Lemon Highway, said Sgt. James Ogden, a sheriff's spokesman.

Cupp said Pendleton was born and raised in Oakland, Calif., but had lived in Tucson for the past four or five years.

"He loved to come home and cook gourmet dinners for his family," Cupp said. "He was going to get married next year."

Deputies said Pendleton was with another man when he fell about 1 p.m. The name of Pendleton's companion was withheld by deputies.

Deputies hope to determine what caused the fall by examining Pendleton's body and climbing equipment, Ogden said.

Ogden said Pendleton's companion climbed to his body after the fall, determined his friend had no pulse and hiked to a telephone to call the Sheriff's Department. The department received the call at 4 p.m.

Climbers with the Southern Arizona Search and Rescue Association called off their efforts Wednesday night because of safety concerns, and the body was recovered about 3 p.m. yesterday.


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Revised: May 5, 2003
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