Man who died while climbing on Sky Pilot Mountain identified

UPDATE: The climber has been identified as 29-year-old Michael Taylor of Victoria.

VANCOUVER — RCMP have confirmed a climber died on Sky Pilot Mountain in Squamish Saturday.

At approximately 11:30 a.m. the police received reports of an injured man, who fell while climbing on Stadium Glacier.

Witnesses in the area called Squamish Search and Rescue and the RCMP. The man died while crews were attempting to get to him, according to the RCMP.

“While on the phone getting assistance through the emergency health services, unfortunately the victim succumbed to his injuries prior to a rescue team being able to arrive at the scene,” Insp. Konrad Golbeck, RCMP Regional Duty Officer, told Global News.

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He’s been identified as a 29-year-old Australian man and sources say he was an experienced climber, with the necessary equipment. His body was retrieved Saturday evening.

This is the second time this summer a climber has had a fatal fall in the area. We reported back in July a climber died after falling 50 metres from the mountainous terrain. That climber had accessed the mountain with the Sea to Sky Gondola, but this newest victim used a forest service road. The area is a three hour hike from the top of the gondola.

“It is an area for extreme climbing and it’s very treacherous,” says Trevor Dunn, general manager of the Sea to Sky Gondola. “We recommend to the extent that people are interested in going up there, they employ a local guide with knowledge of the area.”

Leigh McClurg did the climb in 2011 and wrote extensively about the experience in this blog post. He said he was recently in the area and could compare the conditions between 2011 and now. “The glacier itself is bare ice; it’s a lot more dangerous this year than previous years,” he told Global News.