University Student Killed in Mountaineering Accident
A tragic fall on Mt. Kaletan claims the life of a prominent young climber and Boy Scout leader.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Harold Sparks, 24, a student at the University of Washington and an executive in Boy Scout work, was killed recently in a fall while climbing Mt. Kaletan in the Cascade Range, near North Bend, according to a report from the Denny range station. Young Sparks left Seattle with a small party of Mountaineers. He had hoped to climb 13 peaks this season. That was the number he climbed last year. He had but two more peaks to climb this year, and he expected to ascend both on this trip. Among the peaks Sparks climbed this summer were Mount Rainier, Mount Baker and Mount Constance. Later advices say that Mr. Sparks was unprotected by a rope and must have slipped on the very steep cliff. The mountain is more than 6,000 feet high and he was within 600 feet of the summit. The cliff is virtually straight up and down. He must have been killed instantly.
“He had hoped to climb 13 peaks this season. That was the number he climbed last year.”
Mountaineering remains a dangerous pursuit in the Cascades, and this tragic event echoes the recurring news of accidents among experienced climbers in Washington's high country, a century later.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.