Who was Curry Slaymaker?

He was not known for doing anything remarkable as far as I know before he went to Peru for the second time. He grew up in the small town of Rainier Oregon. He played sports in high school and went to a 2-year college before joining the Peace Corps. After completing his term with the Peace Corps, he was drafted into the Army and served in Vietnam. He then studied biology at Southern Oregon State College in Ashland - then returned to Peru in 1972. It's known that he climbed Mt. St. Helens during his late teens or so - but he probably didn't do any other serious snow or glacier mountaineering until after 1973 when I met him in Peru and sold him my ice axe and crampons.

What he did in Peru was quite remarkable. He wrote letters and talked to government officials about the need to obtain funding for the formation of the National Park. He stayed there promoting the park with apparently no salary for a year until the government came through with $100/month for his work. He personally surveyed to establish the park boundaries. He worked with the local people and presented his photos at many slide shows to build awareness that the mountains and their flora and fauna were a unique gift they needed to protect. The administrators of Parque Nacionál Huascarán in Huaráz consider that he was "the father of the park".


I have written a brief account of Curry's life, death, his work in Peru, and my experience in meeting him back in 1973. Click here to read this account.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Curry Slaymaker; a Peace Corps Hero

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, and celebrations are happening in many places in countries around the world where volunteers have served. In and around Huaraz Peru, the late Curry Slaymaker has been recognized for being a Peace Corps volunteer who played an important role there in bringing about the creation of Huascarán National Park. Five years after leaving the Peace Corps, Curry came back to Huaraz and after working on the park project for 3 more years along with professor Marc Dorojeani and others, Huascarán National Park became a reality.

Curry, who was the first director (jefe) of the park and his friend and companion Michael Rourke, the mountaineering director, died in a mountaineering accident only a year after the park was formed. Their bodies were never recovered, but a monument was constructed in their memory near Lake Llanganuco. The photo below was taken in 1976 during construction of the monument. The woman with the baby is Nora, Michael's widow, the baby - their daughter, Cathy.

As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps, a group of government officials and people who knew Curry or were affected by his work made a pilgrimage to this monument, called, the "monumento a los caídos" (monument to the fallen).

In a recent email from René Valencia Padillo (a former recent director of the park), a newspaper article was attached that sheds considerable light on the accident itself and the details of the rescue attempt. The article was originally published on August 7, 1976 in a paper called "Variedades". The title was "Viaje a la Eternidad" (Trip to Eternity), by Ernesto Espinoza Rodriguez. The partial text of that article as I have translated it follows:



25 days ago, two American climbers who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture disappeared in the snows of the Cordillera Blanca. The story is one of the most tragic and painful adventures of mountaineering in Peru. "Variedades" has now published a special report on the tragedy, written by our correspondent in Huaraz, which is based on the direct testimony of companions of the missing climbers.


July 13:

Mike Rourke, Curry Slaymaker, Ryan Goodman and Mike Lazzari left the Base Camp (Laguna Parón, an elevation of about 5,100 meters) at 8.00 am. Curry and Mike Rourke ascended a small peak south of Nevado Paría then met up with Ryan and Mike on the (abra) of Nevado Parón at 12 pm.
They started the climb with two ropes; two on each rope up the ridge of Nevado Parón in 2 feet of soft snow.
At 14.00 hours, according to information from Mike and Ryan, Curry slipped and fell a few feet, disappeared under a cornice, and pulled Mike Rouke behind him.
Ryan and Mike tried to look under the cornice to determine the fate of the other two but soft snow conditions prevented it. They shouted but did not hear any response.
At 15:00 Ryan and Mike began their decent back to Huaraz.

July 14:

At 16:00 Ryan and Mike arrived in Huaraz where they communicated with the Andean Club of the national park.
At 23.00 Mike, Ryan, Moshé Sanir and 8 members of the Club Andino Peruano departed by truck in the direction of Laguna Parón, to climb to the scene and descend by rope over the cornice to see if there was any chance of rescue.

July 15:

At 6:30 the group reached Laguna Parón, crossed the lake and began to climb. At this time Moshé returned to Huaraz to send a rescue team to see the east side from the air and if necessary drop more personal equipment to the first rescue group. At 14:00 a Cessna plane belonging to the Aero Club of Huaraz, was sent to observe the eastern side but did not provide any positive observation.

July 16:

At 10:00 a group of 7 people left by truck from Huaraz in the direction of Llanganuco Pass to arrive as soon as possible on the East side of Nevado Parón.
This route was a 25 km (16 mile) trail to the line of the Nevado Parón Glacier.
At 12.00 Carlos Ponce from the General Directorate of Forestry and Fauna in Lima arranged to send a helicopter to the scene on the next day. That same night the first rescue group reported by radio that they were not able to reach the accident site that day.
Mike and Ryan were 20 meters from Mike and Curry . Meanwhile, news came about a group of Spanish climbers who had an accident and needed rescue and medical care.

July 17:

At 7.00 the rescue group on the east side reached the bottom of the line of glacier ice at the base of the east side of Nevado Parón. They started up, made signals with flares in order to get a response from Mike and Curry, but saw no sign of them.
From a small peak in front of the line of glacier ice, the rescue team observed the accident site where they noticed a 25 m (solid ice) corrugated vertical ice wall under the cornice, followed by a 150 meter wide ledge of rock and the beginning of a very broken glacier.

July 1918:

At 08:00 a reconnaissance flight of the Cessna was conducted.
At 15:00 a group of 5 Americans were dropped off by car at the end of the road in the Quebrada de Llanganuco and started down the 25 km trail to the east side of Nevado Parón.
At 19:00 the first rescue team returned from the East Side and reported the conditions. Based on this information a group of 4 Americans were organized to be carried by the helicopter as close as possible to the line of glacier ice on the east side Nevado Parón. This flight was dependent on weather conditions and the pilot.
Two members of the west side rescue team returned to Huaraz and reported two cases of snow blindness in the group.

July 19:
At 7:00 the helicopter flew with the 4 Americans plus Shaul Lev, integral member of the first rescue team on the east side.
With excellent weather conditions it was possible to fly over Nevado Parón and clearly see the scene. It was noted that any attempt to climb on foot would be difficult and would require considerable time.
The helicopter landed below the snow line (5 km away from the accident site), and left three people with their equipment. The helicopter went back to the snow zone and spent some time flying over the accident site.
In the helicopter were Shaul Lev, Jay Helman, head of the Pittsburgh Explorers Group, and Bob Broungton another member of the group.
After flying over the crash site, from all...

This is all that I have received so far of this article. I will publish the rest when it becomes available.

Lew



1 comment:

  1. I was a classmate of Michael Rourke at St. Meinrad Seminary from 1967 to 1971. I recall hearing that he had died falling of a mountain in Peru. This morning for some reason he was on my mind and I googled him and found this blog.

    ReplyDelete