THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 14, 1994 TAG: 9406140334
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE ADDIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940614 LENGTH: NORFOLK
Walburgh, 28, was an experienced mountaineer and a professional climbing instructor. He was part of a team that had set out late Thursday to climb Mount Hunter, a 14,573-foot slope in Denali National Park.
{REST} Also killed in the accident early Friday was Walburgh's fiancee, Patricia Saurman, 32, of Jackson, Wyo. Two other climbers survived, although one is hospitalized in Anchorage with serious facial injuries and a concussion.
Walburgh and Saurman were still alive, but unconscious, after all four climbers tumbled about 1,700 feet down the face of the mountain. The least-seriously injured member of the group, Donald Sharaf, 29, of Victor, Idaho, hiked for 14 hours on a broken ankle to get help. He attracted a helicopter pilot's attention Friday evening by stamping H-E-L-P in the snowy face of a glacier.
``Chris had been climbing many years, since he was a sophomore or maybe even a freshman in college,'' said his brother, Evan, of Norfolk. ``His girlfriend had done quite a bit of climbing, too.
``He'd been living out West - all over Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, and on occasion in Alaska. He just wouldn't have wanted it any other way.''
Walburgh lived in Virginia Beach and Norfolk as a child. His mother, Sandra D. Walburgh, lives in Norfolk's Ghent neighborhood. His father, Dr. C. Eric Walburgh, practiced pediatric surgery in Norfolk for several years and now lives in Asheville, N.C.
``It's always been in back of our minds that something could happen,'' Sandra Walburgh said Monday of her son's mountain exploits.``You try not to let it get to you, but the possibility definitely was always there.
``But Chris was so devoted to it.''
After graduating from Washington and Lee University in 1988, Walburgh became an instructor of rock climbing and mountaineering with the National Outdoor Leadership School, based in Lander, Wyo. Saurman and Sharaf also worked there as instructors.
John Gans, a spokesman for the school, said the trio and Saurman's cousin, David Saurman, 30, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., had made a base camp at 6,900 feet on the south slope of Mount Hunter and set out at 10:30 p.m. Thursday with enough food for six days.
It is common for climbers to move at night in that region, he said, because it remains light through most of the evening this time of year.
``They would want to minimize the midday sun,'' Gans said, ``which minimizes the chance of an avalanche.''
The group climbed through the night, then rested under a rock ledge about 5 a.m., said Gans, who had discussed the accident in detail with survivor Donald Sharaf.
The climbers were tied together with rope, spaced about 50 feet apart, Gans said. All were wearing spiked devices known as crampons on their boots and were carrying ice axes, he said. They had also deployed a rope-and-picket safety system called a running belay.
Disaster hit just after they resumed the climb, at about 8,600 feet. Patricia Saurman was in the lead, Walburgh in the fourth position.
``Don heard a scream,'' Gans said. ``He looked up to see Patti sliding out of control. . . . He yelled `Patti's falling,' kicked into place and put a 70-centimeter ice axe in . . . trying to get into a self-arrest position.
``But Patti plucked Dave off, then (the force) hit Don, ripping him out of his stance immediately. Same for Chris.''
That set off a tumble of nearly a third of a mile down the rock-and-ice slope. The climbers landed within 30 feet of one another. Gans said Sharaf did what first aid he could for the injured, then set out at 6:30 a.m. for help.
``They were all alive when Don left for help,'' Gans said, ``but Patti and Chris were not doing well.''
A helicopter pilot on another rescue mission spotted Sharaf's message in the snow and plucked him from the glacier at 8:30 p.m. By the time park rangers reached the other climbers, Patricia Saurman and Walburgh had died.
``Chris was a wonderful person,'' Gans said, ``a talented climber, a great instructor.''
Members of the school staff, acting at the wishes of both families, plan to scatter the couple's ashes over Mount McKinley from an airplane later this week. The family is planning an open house in Norfolk for friends.
Memorial donations may be made to the Christopher Eric Walburgh Outdoor Education Scholarship Fund at Norfolk Academy.
{KEYWORDS} ACCIDENT MOUNTAIN CLIMBING
by CNB