Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome

by Bob Madgic

  Several months later, Crozier got a whiff of burned hair from her curling iron. The odor was familiar—and then she suddenly realized why.

  “The smell rocketed me right back to Half Dome like a shock! I hadn’t realized I had smelled burned hair up there until I smelled it that day in my apartment.”

  AT HOME, ESTEBAN sank into deep depression. He had no one to talk to, no one to comfort him. There were nightmares about Frith toppling off the edge. The worst had Esteban letting go of Frith— who miraculously wakes up during the fall. This gruesome thought tortured Esteban. He sought comfort from a priest, who assured him there was nothing else he could have done.

  Esteban wanted to feel better. But deep down, he had to battle these demons—and battle them alone.

  He recalled his attitude after the lightning strike: Just thankful it wasn’t me. Esteban had a keen interest in the military, and in his readings about it, he learned that his reaction mirrored that of soldiers whose comrade triggers a land mine: Glad it wasn’t me. It was simply human nature to feel that way, he believed. Guilt, however, almost always followed.

  By then, the press was calling for information. Esteban didn’t take the calls; instead, he sought refuge at his parents’ house. But reporters also called there, so he hid at a friend’s place, where other friends joined him. They urged Esteban to go on TV, seeing this as an opportunity for him to gain notoriety and make money in the process.

  Esteban: “Of course, these ‘good friends’ really didn’t care about the feelings of the survivors and their loved ones. All they cared about was my fifteen minutes of fame on TV. And they hoped in some way to cash in, too.”

  Though Esteban was a poor communicator, he finally succumbed to an overwhelming barrage of requests and consented to be interviewed. A friend set up the first interview and started behaving as if he were Esteban’s agent.

  Inwardly, Esteban was looking to the media for a favorable judgment of his actions on Half Dome.

  AFTER A HASTILY BOOKED FLIGHT, Weiner’s parents arrived at the UC Davis Medical Center on Sunday.

  Rice and Weiner were still in serious condition on Monday. Doctors considered a kidney transplant for Weiner, whose kidney functioning had declined 90 percent. He gained 40 pounds overnight from retained fluids, his weight ballooning to 205. While Rice’s kidney problems weren’t as severe, his weight skyrocketed, too. Blood circulation in both men’s legs was still seriously impaired.

  On Tuesday, Klein operated a second time to further decompress their leg muscles. Doctors wouldn’t know for several days if they had succeeded in saving the legs, or if Rice and Weiner would ever walk again.

  The pair underwent frequent baths to debride (scrub) dead tissue from their burns. Such tissue provides an ideal medium for the growth of bacteria that can cause infection, one of the biggest risks associated with burns. Debridement involves an instrument not unlike a cheese grater. This procedure was “extraordinarily painful,” according to Weiner, despite higher doses of morphine. Meanwhile, each man wore a device that kept a foot raised and flexed. This kept the large tendons in their legs, such as the Achilles tendon running down the back of the shin, stretched, preventing them from contracting and becoming disabled as a result of disuse.

  The fasciotomies had exposed Rice’s and Weiner’s leg muscles, which were covered by bandages extending from their toes to their backs. Incisions beneath the bandages would remain open for weeks. When Weiner’s bandages were temporarily removed for bathing purposes, exposing the damage, he experienced sheer horror. Only then did he realize the extent of his injuries. He was appallingly disfigured. Large globs of what looked like ground meat protruded from six or seven surgical sites, each three to twelve inches long. His legs were swollen to incredible proportions. It was as if two huge sausages had burst open in numerous places, their contents squeezed out under high pressure.

  Linda Crozier called the hospital to inquire about visiting Rice and Weiner. No one could say when that would be possible, but on Tuesday she went to see them anyway. The burn unit nurse said they had undergone surgery earlier that day and were in bad shape.

  Dr. Klein dropped by and told Crozier that, absent her care on Half Dome, both men surely would have faced amputation. She couldn’t tell if he was being honest or just trying to make her feel good. In any case, the scene Crozier encountered in Rice’s and Weiner’s separate rooms was sobering. Their bodies had swelled so much, she could barely recognize them. Both men were under medication and in much pain. Crozier whispered to each that she was thinking of them, then left.

  Crozier: “Seeing the two guys in the hospital alive is when I began to feel good again.”

  AMONG THE HIKERS that day, only Pippey attended Brian Jordan’s funeral. To say the event was extremely sad for the Jordan family—mother and father, sisters, and Brian’s twin brother—doesn’t convey the agony they endured in burying their young son and brother. Pippey shared their despair but also felt great torment, believing he had been responsible for Brian’s death. Being at the funeral, he recalls, was “the hardest time I ever had in my life.”

  Bob Friths funeral took place in Virginia, another emotionally devastating event. Grieving parents, six older sisters, and a brother had to lay to rest the youngest member of their family. Again, the only member of Rice’s band who attended was Pippey. Frith had been Pippey’s dear and important friend, someone he deeply admired and had grown to love.

  Pippey gutted out the two funerals—barely. He wondered about his relationship to God and, once again, why close family members and friends had been snatched from his life.

  In his fragile state, Pippey resisted visiting Rice. Dealing with any more heartbreaks would simply be too much. But after about two weeks, he forced himself to go. When he arrived at the hospital, Rice was lying in bed “all torn up, with tubes everywhere,” still crippled from the waist down. In roller-coaster fashion, his weight had fallen dramatically. Seeing his good friend in that condition freaked Pippey out; he just couldn’t take it on top of everything else.

  He didn’t visit Rice again until several weeks later, long into his recovery.

  Pippey visited the Jordans every weekend, and together they grieved and supported each other. In his view, Mr. Jordan had handled the tragedy with sensitivity and class, providing tremendous comfort not only to his wife and children but also to Pippey. Pippey tried to console a morose Bruce Jordan, who seemed to be sliding back into oblivion.

  NEWSPAPER REPORTERS interviewed Esteban, who also appeared on several TV news programs.

  He told one reporter: “It was instantaneous, like going from heaven to hell in a second.”

  To another, he said: “I know what we did was totally stupid, but we’re gung-ho types. We knew the dangers, but we also knew the excitement, the thrill of a challenge. We decided we were going to go for it no matter what.

  “It was the thrill of being in a life-and-death situation. It was like playing Russian roulette. There was such a rush as we were going up and saw those dark clouds. The adrenaline was flowing. There was an intense feeling that you could die at any moment.”

  He had nothing but praise for Linda Crozier and others who treated the victims on Half Dome.

  “They saved our lives,” he said. “They were really noble—full of courage and sure about what they were doing. We were all so lucky that they happened upon us.”

  Later, Esteban reflected on why he agreed to be interviewed.

  “All I know is that I had to let people know what had happened, and in a strange way this outpouring to anyone and everyone who would listen was sort of a confession that I was hoping would cleanse away the pain and sorrow I was going through. This was one of the lowest points in my life. I felt like an outcast from my ‘older brother’ Tom [Rice]. Without a spouse or girlfriend to share my innermost thoughts and to comfort me, I was truly lonely. My only out was to talk about it. And once I started talking, I felt better. I was not depressed anymore. The excitement of being on fi
ve different news stations live made me forget about all my mental suffering. People wanting me gave me a sense of belonging, a positive feeling. It was a cathartic experience. In the same way Tom needed a fix of attention at the diving board, I had found my fix.”

  In each interview, Esteban mentioned that he hadn’t been aware of the “lightning rod” near the summit cave. Its sole purpose, he reasoned, must have been to draw lightning away from people up there. He related how the pipe extended into the rock chamber.

  This explanation was far from accurate. The one-plus-inch pipe stub surely had nothing to do with the lightning strike or how the blast whipped through the enclosure. The iron remnant was anchored in solid granite about twenty feet away; neither it nor any other metal pipe extended into the chamber. The stub couldn’t have attracted lightning—the entire summit was available. Perhaps it had in the 1972 case, when the pipe stuck up two feet, but even that scenario was dubious. Assuming the protrusion drew lightning on that fateful day in 1972, the charge could have streaked across the wet rock and through the rock enclosure. And certainly anyone who was near the iron pipe or touching it would have placed himself at greater risk, given that any metallic object is a prime conductor of electricity. So the National Park Service was correct to whittle the pipe down. However, lightning barrages had continued to batter Half Dome every year since.

  Amazingly, not one reporter queried Esteban further or verified the accuracy of his statement—which, if true, certainly cast a whole different light on the tragedy.

  Esteban also put a different spin on Friths fall from the summit. He told most interviewers that he’d held on to Friths sweater until it began to rip from his grip, that he’d had to let go when Frith was about to tumble over the edge. Actually, Esteban was recounting how, given his weakness at that instant, he tried in vain to pull Frith up and over a boulder, then into the enclosure. He couldn’t hold on to Frith indefinitely, so he released his grip—not letting Frith tumble off the ledge, as he later claimed, but rather letting him slump back onto it. There, Weiner continued to grasp Friths sweater for a few seconds before it slipped from his grasp.

  Esteban: “In my interviews, it seems that I was looking at the presence of the iron pipe as a logical reason to account for the deaths of two people and the life-altering injuries to two others. I sought some external justification for the disaster. And with my overwhelming feelings of guilt, I didn’t want to admit that I chose to leave Frith on the ledge. So I described how I had to let him go. This was true, but what it doesn’t say is that when I let him go, he settled back down on the ledge and did not immediately tumble over the edge. That came seconds later.”

  In those interviews, he also stated: “Half Dome is my spiritual place, and I must go back there.”

  Some of Esteban’s fellow hikers and others connected to the incident didn’t take kindly to his media activities. In their opinion, he was exploiting the tragedy for personal gain. Karl Buchner’s father called Esteban at one point and counseled him to stop, arguing that the publicity was insensitive to the victims’ families. Only then did Esteban grasp the serious implications of his actions. He canceled all upcoming interviews.

  ESTEBAN WAS HESITANT to face Rice, even though the recovery period was “when Tom needed me the most.” Part of him wanted to go. And he really had no excuse for not going. Nevertheless, he remained at home or at a friend’s house, where he lost himself in drink. It was pure denial—in his effort to rid himself of guilt, he wanted to believe a major tragedy hadn’t even occurred.

  He also didn’t attend the Jordan and Frith funerals. Why? He wasn’t sure.

  A full two weeks passed before Esteban visited Rice and Weiner. His decision to go was partly serendipitous: One of Rice’s girlfriends had called to ask if they might carpool to the hospital. She had just recently met Rice and promised to do whatever was necessary to help him fully recover. She and Esteban drove to Sacramento together.

  In intensive care, hooked up to IVs, Rice was very subdued. He was still receiving morphine to kill the pain. He mumbled that he was very glad Esteban had finally come to visit him. But then Rice admonished Esteban not to talk to the media, even though he surely knew that Esteban had already done so. Apparently, Rice was telling him indirectly that he had betrayed their trust. He said Esteban’s priorities were all wrong, that two people had died, that he and Weiner had nearly died, too. Esteban felt wounded. Rice was scolding him—in front of his girlfriend, no less.

  Esteban: “That was Tom’s style. He would rip into you no matter what the surrounding circumstances were.”

  Rice told Esteban he couldn’t remember much about the lightning incident. He did say, however, that the second bolt delivered the major blow to Weiner. This was news to Esteban; until then, he had no inkling of the second strike hitting Rice and Weiner.

  Something troubled Esteban: the possibility that Rice and Weiner, either in the cave or there at the hospital, had spoken privately about his actions on Half Dome that day. He worried that they blamed him for leaving them behind in the cave.

  Esteban: “To this day I do not know what Tom and Bruce may have talked about when I was not present. I have a guilty feeling that Bruce’s version of what happened afterward reflected negatively on me, that I basically left them to die in that hole in order to save myself and that Bruce saw me drop his best friend Bob to his death.”

  In fact, Rice and Weiner never discussed it. They occupied separate rooms in the hospital as a precaution against cross-contamination and infection. Furthermore, Weiner held no affection for Rice and had no reason to confide in him. Esteban’s fear that the pair had confided behind his back was totally unfounded.

  He visited with Weiner only briefly on that occasion. The next time he came, Weiner had been flown to Massachusetts.

  During Esteban’s second visit, Rice seemed really pissed off. He stripped off his shorts and showed Esteban his testicles, which looked like a single grapefruit.

  Look what happened, he said.

  Rice’s tone was accusatory, as though he resented the fact that Esteban hadn’t suffered any injuries.

  Feeling further aggrieved, Esteban stormed out.

  AFTER THE SECOND ROUND of surgery some sensation and circulation returned to Rice’s and Weiner’s feet. But according to Dr. Klein, a specific prognosis was very difficult because their electrical injuries were still in the early stages of healing.

  He said both men were extremely lucky to have survived the ordeal so well.

  Dr. Klein: “Even if they both have terrible problems with both of their legs, they’re still alive, their brains suffered no damage, and their heart and lungs seem okay. Each appears to have been spared serious kidney damage, a major concern in electrical burn cases. They have a lot to be thankful for.”

  He cautiously told Rice that once Rice regained movement in his lower limbs, he might be able to get around—but probably “won’t be able to dance again.” Rice retorted, half in jest, I’m going to dance on your fuckin’ grave!

  During the first two weeks after the accident, Weiner also had suffered pneumonia, heart problems, and several infections. Any of these problems could have proved fatal. The two men, in Dr. Klein’s opinion, would require many more operations, skin grafts, and plastic surgery. Even under the best of circumstances, both faced a long road to recovery.

  Weiner remained at the medical center through August 9. A constant morphine drip into his jugular vein—the only vein big enough for that large a dosage—blurred his recollection of what transpired there. Mostly, he remembered extreme pain.

  Weiner’s parents wanted him at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston as soon as transfer was safe.

  Mrs. Weiner: “First we were afraid he was going to die. Then we were afraid he was going to lose his legs. Then we were just afraid.”

  THE NEXT TIME Linda Crozier went to UC Davis Medical Center, Weiner was gone. She promised Rice she would visit him at least three times a week.

  Up t
o then, Crozier hadn’t had any contact with the media, which reported extensively on the tragedy but didn’t cite helpers’ efforts in the aftermath of the lightning strike. Her dad called a TV station and relayed the story from their point of view. It sparked a media blitz that engulfed Crozier. In several interviews, she repeated the names of all those who had lent a hand on Half Dome, but, to her disappointment, the media ignored that aspect of the story. All they wanted was information about her efforts and those of Mike Hoog.

  The other hikers, too, focused their praise on Crozier and Hoog.

  Steve White: “They are the real heroes of this thing. I’ve never seen people work better under such conditions. I can’t think of what would have happened if they hadn’t come along.”

  Crozier’s father proudly stated: “Our family has always been built around the kids. We told them that they can do anything if they work hard enough. Linda’s always been the take-charge kind of person, from the days of Little League to today. What she did at Yosemite didn’t surprise me.”

  She also received letters of commendation from helicopter rescue pilot Al Major, paramedic Bill Bryant, and California governor Pete Wilson.

  Yet out of the spotlight, Crozier insisted that her companions deserved as much tribute. “Everybody still needs heroes in this country,” she said. “These young people cared enough to get involved. They had the skills and they really saved lives. I’m very proud of them.”

  CROZIER CONTINUED to visit Rice at the hospital right up until his release three months later. She was there when he walked for the first time.

  To her surprise, Rice talked excessively, bubbling over with commentary. They spent hours gabbing. Rice spoke mainly about himself—how karma had spared his life and that henceforth he must do something to fulfill his destiny, though what that might be wasn’t clear. However, neither spoke much about the incident, a subject Rice clearly avoided. Nor did he say much about his cohorts, other than that he really didn’t know Frith, Weiner, or Brian Jordan very well. He repeatedly beseeched Crozier to extend his appreciation to all of her Half Dome helpers.