Pungas Tri Baruno Dies On Denali, Second Death In One Week On America’s Highest Peak
Posted by Jason A. Hendricks on July 10, 2008 |
Pungas Tri Baruno, a climber from Indonesia, has died while descending from the summit of Denali (Mt. McKinley). Pungas Tri Baruno’s death is the second death this week on North America’s highest peak.
Pungas Tri Baruno had apparently topped out on Denali and was in the process of descending to one of the higher camps. He had complained of a headache while descending and collapsed less than half a kilometer from the summit. Several guides did attempt to revive Baruno, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
From The Jakarta Post:
He collapsed about half a kilometer from the summit — about 5,000 meters above sea level — after complaining of a headache. Several hiking guides tried revive him, but it was already too late.
( Editor’s Note: This quote has been added to clear up any thoughts that I made up the the part about the headache. See comments below. If it has, in fact been misreported in the press, it is on their part, and not my own. I only report what I read and 99% of the time I do have the source. Feel free to click the article and read it for yourself.)
Baruno’s death on Denali represents the second climber death this week. This past Friday, climber James Nasti collapsed on the summit. Nasti’s death resulted in a high-altitude burial as a body recovery was deemed to risky in the area. Baruno’s body is currently being recovered, will undergo some scientific testing, then be shipped back to his native homeland of Indonesia.
Many people have been stopping by and emailing me on this latest incident–the second death on Denali in a week. I was holding off on posting about Baruno until I was certain that his family had been contacted in regards to this situation. When it first occured, there was not a whole lot of information coming out. I do have a few more facts about Pungas Tri Baruno at this time, as well as more information on the death of James Nasti.
Pungas Tri Baruno was a member of Indonesia’s National Scout Association. He was 20 years old and currently a member of a four person expedition on Denali.
With Baruno’s complaints of a headache while descending, it could very well be a result of high-altitude sickness, something known in the climbing community as HACE, or high-altitude cerebral edema. This is the result of the brain swelling as it starves for oxygen in the high-altitude. I am not a doctor and can’t confirm this scenario, but testing will be done to try to figure out the cause of death.
More Information On James Nasti’s Death On Denali’s Summit
On July 7, 2008 the National Park Service issued a Press Release alerting the media to the recent death of James Nasti on Denali’s summit. James Nasti had actually died on July 4th. The information was withheld as his body still lay exposed at the high altitude and NPS rangers feared attention might be brought to the exposed body by aircraft or curious photographers. They wanted to make sure family was notified and that all precautions had been taken, with the greatest of care, to protect the scenario and the body of James Nasti. I commend them on this effort of protecting the families that this effort affected. I posted this alert on The Adventurist. Since this alert was released, more information has come out about James Nasti and the circumstances surrounding his death.
James Nasti’s death, on the summit of Denali, was an extremely rare occurance. In the history of Denali climbing, no one has ever perished on the actual summit. 90% of fatalities occur while descending the high-altitude peaks. This is due, in part, to a climber using up all his/her energy in an effort to reach the summit. A lot of times, you don’t know how spent you are till you decided to head to the lower camps.
James Nasti did make the summit. By all information he was climbing fine and doing well. There was no sign of altitude sickness, nor of any previous heart condition that could have hampered him in his progress. He was climbing with Alpine Ascents, on of the bigger and more experienced high-altitude expedition companies. So what happened?
James Nasti had come to an area on Denali that required the use of his ice axes to pull himself up. From that point, something instantaneous came on, either a heart attack or other trauma-once again, I am not a doctor and wasn’t there. An emergency medical technician and Alpine Ascents guides began to administer CPR. This lasted nearly 45 minutes before much hope of revival faded.
James Nasti was married with three kids and 51 years old. He was employed as a senior manager with Kraft International. He was a member of the Highpointers Club, a group of individuals trying to reach the highest point in all 50 states. Denali was number 49.
James Nasti had taken up climbing a few years ago and had successfully summited Mt. Rainier twice and Oregon’s famed Mt. Hood.
James Nasti and Pungas Tri Baruno’s deaths mark the 102nd and 103rd fatalities on Denali since records have been kept. Nasti was the first and only climber to ever die on Denali’s summit. He also represents the 38th person to die and then remain on the peak. His body was buried off to the side of the summit.
In 2008, 668 climbers have successfully reached the summit with a few more still buying their time for later bids.
Let’s keep both James Nasti and Pungas Tri Baruno’s families in our thoughts and prayers as they try to come to terms with these two unfortunate events.
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You are making facts up to fit the story you want to tell. Mr. Baruno never complained of any headache while descending. No NPS report, no report from the outfitter and no witnesses let alone the deceased, prior to his illness and death, has made any statement concerning Mr. Baruno having a headache. Please correct this in your article immediately.
James H. Moss, Attorney at Law.
jhmoss@gmail.com
July 12th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Sir, I beg to differ. I always have my sources lined up. This is coming from a newspaper report from the Jakarta Press from Jakarta, Indonesia. It reads as follows:
Adventure always involves a risk. But that risk cannot stop people from seeking adventure.
One such adventurer was Pungkas Tri Baruno, an Indonesian youth who lost his life on Monday (Tuesday in Jakarta) after scaling Mount McKinley, North America’s highest mountain.
The 20-year-old Jakartan had succeeded in planting the Indonesian flag at the peak of the mountain, which stands in the Denali National Park in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Pungkas, a member of the National Scouts Association, departed on a four-member expedition to McKinley last month.
His death was reported by officials from the Denali National Park and was confirmed by the Indonesian consulate general in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Pungkas died on Monday night (Tuesday in Jakarta) while descending from the top of McKinley, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.
He collapsed about half a kilometer from the summit — about 5,000 meters above sea level — after complaining of a headache. Several hiking guides tried revive him, but it was already too late.
“The cause of death remains unknown,” Faizasyah told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
_____________________________
You may find the article Here:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/07/10/indonesian-dies-alaskan-peak.html
If the fact is being reported wrong, it is being reported wrong by the Press and the Indonesian authorities. For that, I am not at fault and am not to blame for the correctness of the line. I will change that line to correspond with the source, but as you can see it is plain and visible and in the public before I ever wrote the piece. Not my fault. Now, who is making up the facts? If anybody, it is the Jakarta Press. The source will be listed.
Thanks for questioning my integrity on this issue, but it shouldn’t be an issue at this point. I’ve made my case.
July 12th, 2008 at 2:28 am
By the way, I have now contacted the Jakarta Post on this matter and have asked for a confirmation of where they got this information. If it is learned that this came from an unreliable source, I will definitely change the article to correspond to this information. I don’t take issues like this lightly and should have more information in the coming days.
July 12th, 2008 at 3:22 am
Hi Jason,
Good response. I dig how Mr. Moss found it necessary to place the attorney-at-law tag after his name. For what purpose? Was it to intimidate you?
Mark Kalch esq.
Butcher, Baker and Candle-stick maker
July 12th, 2008 at 3:40 am
Hello, We are people with maybe the most information on Pak Baruno’s death and a little more on Mr. Nasti’s. We just descended from Denali after summiting on the evening of July 8th. First, we were part of AMS expedition that was at high camp (17,200′) on night of July 7th getting ready for summit attempt the next day. We heard the frantic shouts of “help” coming from the trail that was - as noted - very close nearby to camp, visually. Our guides went to try to resuscitate the young man but it was obviously too late. He was well taken care of in the snow off the trail both with wands and pickets and covered respectfully with snow, as we had to go past the next day on our summit attempt (we were all successful, 6 clients and 2 guides on a bluebird day.). I don’t know anything about the headache, but we can say that the wind was howling, started up that early evening and the cold and wind may have contributed. Also, we were at ABC 14,200 when the reports came in for Mr Nasti. I am also 51 with two grown sons and member of 7 continents club (marathons on 7 continents) and Denali was #5 of 7 for 7 summits. There is not really a place where you use ice axes between the top of Pig Hill and the summit ridge and summit itself which is about 500′ of exposed ridge - except as a stick and balance point between falling off each side. My and our heart goes out to both families and we all on our trip were respectful of the mountain and the people lost before us, and how luck we were to summit and return safely. (Mitch - from Anchorage on way home, commments welcome on own blog site as well).
July 13th, 2008 at 1:39 am