Montana Climber Kills Self Day After Avalanche Buries Girlfriend

IMP PEAK, MT — Hayden Kennedy, who was skiing with his girlfriend Saturday in Montana when an avalanche they triggered killed her, was found dead in in his home a day later — two weeks after he wrote on a climbing blog that too many of his friends had died in the mountains over the last few years.

Kennedy, 27, and Inge Perkins, 23, were skiing on Imp Peak in the southern Madison Range when the avalanche started in a steep, narrow gulley about 10,000 feet above sea level, Gallatin County sheriff's officials said. The 150-foot-wide slide of snow buried Perkins, who was an accomplished mountain climber. Kennedy was partially buried but managed to pull himself free. He hiked out and sought help when he couldn't find Perkins.

The area had received a foot of snow since Oct. 1, which was on top of about 4 feet of dense snow that had fallen over the previous two weeks, according to the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center. Kennedy, who had recently moved to Bozeman, was found dead in a home Sunday as search teams prepared to recover Perkins' body. (For more information on Kennedy's death and other Across Montana stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

"Hayden survived the avalanche but not the unbearable loss of his partner in life," his parents wrote in a statement released Tuesday. They described their son as "an uncensored soul whose accomplishments as a mountaineer were always secondary to his deep friendships and mindfulness."

Kennedy, who grew up in Carbondale, Colorado, had been working on his EMT certification while Perkins completed a bachelor's degree in mathematics and education at Montana State University.

He wrote about the numerous climbing deaths for the "Evening Sends" blog.

"I've realized something painful. It's not just the memorable summits and crux moves that are fleeting. Friends and climbing partners are fleeting, too," he wrote for the "Evening Sends" blog. "This is the painful reality of our sport, and I'm unsure what to make of it. Climbing is either a beautiful gift or a curse."

Kennedy was perhaps best known for climbing the Southeast Ridge in Patagonia's Cerro Torre in 2012 and removing many of the bolts placed by controversial Italian climber Cesare Maestri more than 40 years earlier.

Afterward, he and his climbing partner were accosted by locals and detained by police. But Kennedy's father, Michael Kennedy, who was editor of Climbing Magazine for more than two decades, beamed with pride.

"You made a courageous first step in restoring Cerro Torre to its rightful place as one of the most demanding and inaccessible summits in the world," the elder Kennedy wrote in an open letter to his son that was published in Alpinist Magazine in 2012. "I never would have had the guts to take that step myself, even in my best days."

Michael Kennedy, an accomplished mountaineer in his own right, also wrote to his son about losing multiple friends to the sport.

"An awareness of mortality prompts us to focus on what's important: developing a strong community of family and friends," he wrote.

By THOMAS PEIPERT, Associated Press

Associated Press writer Amy Beth Hanson contributed to this report from Helena, Montana.

Photo credit: The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center via AP)