The following text appeared in the Tuesday, June 10, 1980, edition of the Daily Spectrum.
In an almost unbelievable coincidence 2 hikers – each 26 years old and each named Richard – plunged to their deaths in the same mountain crevasse in unrelated accidents 24 hours apart.
Richard Weaver, Orem, UT, died at about noon Monday when he fell into a 60-foot-deep crevasse on the back side of Mt. Timpanogos. Dr. Richard Lambert, Portland, OR, died at about noon Sunday when he fell into the crevasse, said Utah County sheriff’s Lieutenant Owen Quarnberg. The bodies of both victims were found Monday.
“The odds against both men falling into that same little hole out of that entire great big mountain are just astronomical” said Quarnberg.
Lambert was reported missing after he failed to return as scheduled Sunday evening from a hike up the mountain.
Weaver was hiking with his brother, Roger, who saw Weaver plunge into the crevasse. Roger reported the accident to the Sheriff’s Office in nearby Provo.
Quarnberg said rescuers went to the crevasse a deep crack in the mountain side which is still partially covered by winter snowpack in an effort to find Weaver. When rescuers found a body at the bottom of the crevasse at 3:30 PM they assumed it was Weaver.
“But when the body was taken out it was discovered it was the body of Doctor Lambert,” said Quarnberg.
Rescue crews went back into the crevasse and found Weaver’s body at 3:54 PM.
The state medical examiner checked the bodies at the scene and determined that both men died of multiple injuries suffered when they fell.
Quarnberg said the sides of the crevasse are steep and covered with sharp outcroppings of rock and ice and its bottom is littered with sharp rocks.
Weaver slipped on a portion of a trail which crosses a snow field he slid across the snow and fell into the crevasse Weaver’s brother told the Sheriff’s Office.
The Lieutenant said Lambert’s fatal fall must have been almost identical to Weaver’s. Lambert left on his hike at 10:30 AM Sunday. Assuming he made normal progress up the trail, Lambert would have come to the spot where he plunged to his death at about noon, said Quarnberg.
