Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Joe Puryear falls to his death on LaBuche Kang (7,367m) in Tibet

Our hearts go out to Michelle, Gail and Shirley Puryear, to David Gottlieb, his climbing partner, and to all of Joe's friends.

My connection is a distant one: my uncles and father met Dave on Rainier a few years ago, and subsequently turned me on to his and Joe's blogs.  Reading Joe's stories in the Alpinist, his Alaska guidebook, and his blog posts has been a bit more meaningful to me because of that connection, though it is a distant one.  Actually, I was always just a bit amazed that regular schlubs like my dad and uncles could just randomly befriend a world-class alpinist.

Anyway, it should be fairly obvious at this point that this blog is modeled on Joe and Dave's blogs, both visually and in purpose.  So it seems this is another appropriate place to lament Joe's death, and to wish his family well.

He was truly one of mountaineering's greats, and always climbed in the finest style.

Please visit their most recent blog and make a donation to the fund to bring Joe home.

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