Update On Rock Climber's Fatal Fall

We have new information for you on a fatal fall in Hamilton County.  The victim is 23-year-old Jesse David Brude, and authorities say he's an experienced rock climber.  The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office says he fell to his death on Suck Creek Mountain.  So, we dug deeper to try to find out exactly what went wrong.

They say his brother found him, after he'd been gone several days on a rock climbing trip by himself.  Rescuers say he fell as much as 60 feet to the bottom of a cliff.  Authorities say while they're not sure whether Brude slipped while hiking on top or fell while climbing, they did find rock climbing gear near the area.

Sgt. Dusty Stokes says, "I don't feel that anybody should be doing any risky activities such as rock climbing, canoeing, by themselves, it's very dangerous."

Stokes says while they're not sure exactly how Brude fell and from where, they now know that impact was the cause of his death. 

Rock Climbing Guide Kirk Bjorling has climbed that area of Suck Creek Mountain before, and is well aware of it's dangers.  He says, "There's a lot of dangers with climbing, but really what it comes down to is your personal judgement, and the risks you perceive."

Bjorling says Brude was probably experienced since he was out on his own, and may have been doing a type of rock climbing called ad soloing, where you place climbing tools in the rock as you work your way up, to protect yourself from a fall.  He says,
"Your rope passes through a caribeener, and the climber goes above, and if the climber falls, the rope goes through and the stopper catches them."

But, Bjorling explains that if the rock, or these pieces fall out, the climber's fall could be fatal.  "My hunch is this guy was really experienced and a careless, careless act could have hurt him bad."

Stokes says the Medical Examiner's Office is ruling this death as accidental.  We also want to point out that several agencies were needed to travel from the road over a creek and a ridge to get to the body.  They say because of the rough terrain rock climbers were used to actually bring the body out.