Hiker tosses Rock kills Climber

[L Roebuck]

Impulsively tossed rock kills climber, 47
thestar.com

CASPER, Wyo. – Tears in his eyes, an Iraq war veteran recounted for the first time publicly the desperate remorse he felt after tossing a large rock off a cliff that killing a climber below.

"I'd do anything to change it," 23-year-old Luke Rodolph said Tuesday.

On Aug. 11, Rodolph was sitting on the rim of a canyon with three others when he picked up a 15- to 20-pound rock the size of a bowling ball and looked over the edge. He said he didn't see anyone below.

"I picked up a rock and threw it off," he said. "Looked over just a little further to watch it fall, see where it was going to hit, you know, kinda leaned out further than what I was comfortable with normally, and watched it hit Pete Absolon.''

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[Sharon Faulkner]

This is such a needless tragedy. Should never have happened.

[Brad Tipton]

I read quite a bit into this accident. The one thing that jumped out at me was the outpouring of positive comments in the forums. There was very little public antimosity towards the hiker and out of the hundreds of comments posted very few were ugly. Pete certainly was loved by many, it seemed every poster had a memorable story to tell about him. That must have been one remarkable man to make an impression on so many. Sad he had to go out by the hands of another like that. Very sad. I feel bad for everyone involved in that tragedy.