Was the finally the rap to the bottom to retrieve Ī: Well Keith was the last person down the final rappel in Heaps. …I know there are many people with a hole in their heart so I thoughtĪ: Keith free fell over 260ft (most likely 270+) to his deathĪ: User error – rigging – biner block failure – rope run throughĬarabiner used for lowering blocked by much smaller Petzl Attache. The following is a Utah Canyons egroup post by one of Keith’s partners, edited somewhat: Keith Beidermann fucked up and killed himself, but he (and indirectly his companions) made a mistake that is not unreasonable. I watched one of my best friends shake and equivocate at the same spot, and even though I was two feet away waiting my turn, it was hard to be sympathetic because of the weight of my own fear. At the end of a long day and faced with such a large obstacle in the dark, it’s easy to get rattled. As you sit at the anchor station waiting to rappel, you’re looking at a talus slope and pool 290 feet below, a drop made larger by the fact that 90 percent of it goes through empty air. Keith Beidermann was hanging from bolts and crouched on a ledge the size of your computer screen, 160 feet down a 190 foot wall that bottoms out at a massive undercut. I’ve done lots of silly and careless things in the backcountry, as I can only presume have we all. The easiest trick to this is the question of competency, self-assurance that your knowledge is greater than the victims and thus your fate is safe. To remind us that we can rationalize the world in which we live, and sooth ourselves in the knowledge that there is more than chance the law of averages waiting. So, when a colleague, known or un, is lost the question of why is asked immediately. In climbing and canyoneering, exposure makes this more obvious, but the possibility of paralysis or death from endoing into a rock is just as likely. Physical and psychological consequence are one of the major indexes of meaning, much as some would like to deny that. Hazard and death are party to the game anytime we go play outside, and as Hemingway said this is a large part of why we find it worthwhile. Heaps Canyon is temporarily closed to canyoneering while the incident is under investigation. Canyon district ranger Kevin Killian was the IC ranger Craig Thexton is the primary investigator for the NPS, working in conjunction with the Washington County Sheriffs Office. Beidermann and his two companions had a valid permit for Heaps Canyon. Rangers responded and confirmed the death. Once his companions determined that Beidermann had not survived the fall, they hiked down the Emerald Pools trail to Zion Lodge and reported the incident to park dispatch at 11:34 p.m. Beidermann’s two companions were at the Upper Emerald Pools waiting for him to descend after completing the 285-foot last rappel out of the canyon when he fell to his death for unknown reasons. Keith Beidermann, 48, of Garden Grove, California, fell to his death while canyoneering in Heaps Canyon the evening of Monday, June 4th. From today’s NPS Morning Report (emailed to me by M this afternoon):
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