The Gate Buttress

Popular rock-climbing area.2 

Little Cottonwood Canyon is U-shaped having been carved out of the face of the Wasatch fault along the Cordilleran uplift by glacial action during the Ice Age. The former mining town of Alta at its head is now a popular snow resort. At its mouth lies the community of Granite, now forming the northern part of the city of Sandy. Both these communities figure in the history of the Despain Family. The Gate Buttress, one of the many granite outcroppings, lies not far from the mouth of the canyon, on the north side of the Canyon This area is popular for rock climbing, the buttress itself claiming over 80 routes. Most of the routes provide slopes for beginners, but there are some advanced routes as well. At the base of the buttress lie the Gate boulders, a meeting place where climbers can toprope the fun face of the largest one climbing on its west side.

Rock climbing routes are commonly rated according to the Yosemite Decimal System. Routes of interest are fifth class and require the use of climbing equipment along with considerable training and experience. Proceeding north from the parking lot, the face of the Gate Buttress is approached along a third class trail. The different parts of the Gate Buttress are designated from west to east: Schoolroom (27 routes), Five Fingers (11 routes), The Dihedrals (10 routes), Hesitation Wall (4 routes), Becky’s Wall to Tingey’s Terror (14 routes), East Gate Buttress (16 routes). The Dihedrals include among the ten routes mapped out and provided with directions one called “Satan’s Corner.”

Satan’s Corner. 

This is the route that Geoffrey and Dave Johnson, his climbing buddy for the day, chose to take on. The route is rated at 5.8. “Climbers agree that this is one of the best routes in the Wasatch. Steep and enthralling crack climbing with a diabolical second pitch exit.”3 And it was a couple of moves from the top when Geoffrey untied himself in order to allow Dave an adaquate length of rope. Apparently he was adjusting his position when he lost his grip.

A man and his wife, visiting Utah from Connecticut, had stopped to observe the 12–14 hikers in the area. Watching through his binoculars the man concentrated particularly on one pair of hikers. “All of a sudden he was trying to move from one spot to another and it didn’t look like there was much to hold on to. Apparently there wasn’t and he just fell.”4 It must have been a good 100 feet.

An experienced hiker, Amy Irvine, heard the dull thud and guessed what it was even before other hikers cried out for help.5 They yelled for the couple from Connecticut to call 911, who sped down the canyon to a pay phone and called for paramedics. Amy scrambled up to see if she could be of any assistance. Geoffrey is lying in a pool of blood, neck broken, jaw dislocated, skull crushed. They tie him off on the ledge and use their ropes to rig a traverse for the rescuers. They set up a communication chain to the paramedics who are on the way. No one has a first aid kit adaquate for the job. Geoffrey’s breath becomes more shallow and slower. His pulse is failing and he goes into cardiac arrest.

Amy can see the paramedics lumber through the trees. She calls for them to leave the stretcher and bring advanced life support. This is their fourth call in 48 hours. Time seems to stand still. They cut off his clothes. A newcomer offers to give breaths while Amy does chest compressions.

After a half hour of CPR the Search and Rescue arrive with Geoffrey’s lifeless black eyes staring into the afternoon sun. Activity stops. The newcomer cleans out his mouth. Dave leans over the body. Amy too touches Dave and the body, which has become chalky and stiff. Heroics are over. Geoffrey is now “it.”6

1:30 p.m. MST, 4 May 1994; Satan’s Corner, Dihedrals, Gate Buttress, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA
Works of Wonder | Directory of Biographical Sketches