Page 8 - Flathead Beacon // 4.1.15

8 | APRIL 1, 2015 NEWS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Just
Sayin’...
“This action can only be done deliberately.”
A French prosecutor concluding that the co- pilot of a Germanwings flight intentionally crashed the plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people aboard.
“Any employment would be a great thing for Libby. Cautiously optimistic is a good way of putting it.”
Libby Mayor Doug Roll responding to news that the Montanore Mine was tentatively approved by the U.S. Forest Service. Lincoln County has the highest jobless rate in the state.
“We’re pleased, but we’re disappointed that we had to go to such an extent to get our decision. It just doesn’t seem fair that we had to go to that length to get what was ours.”
Susan Storfa, who owns a home on the sloughing bluff overlooking Village Greens Golf Course, responding to a district judge’s order that the county commission pursue a grant for erosion mitigation, overuling
the board’s decision to terminate the grant.
LEFT TO RIGHT:
Scott Sederstrom on the first ascent of the South Ridge of Mt. St. Nicholas in 1992. COURTESY NATE SANDE
Sederstrom climbing in Yosemite National Park. COURTESY PETE CLARK
Sederstrom on the summit of Mt. Jackson for the second time in the summer of 1991. COURTESY NATE SANDE
Remembering a Local Legend
Flathead native Scott Sederstrom died in a climbing accident on March 14 in California
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
Scott Sederstrom was an accom- plished skier, climber and outdoorsmen, who proved his mettle in the mountains of Glacier National Park and Califor- nia’s Eastern Sierras. But his legend was formed long ago on the neighborhood hills of Kalispell, specifically when he performed a 360 and a forward flip on a snow sled, said longtime friend Nathan Sande.
Sande and other avid recreationists in the Flathead Valley have been remem- bering their friend who died in a climb- ing accident in California on March 13. Sederstrom was 44 years old.
According to local news reports, Sederstrom died when a bolt broke on a climbing route he was traversing in the Owen’s River Gorge in east central Cal- ifornia. He fell about 25 to 30 feet and died of trauma to the head.
“It’s a tragic loss,” said another local
friend, Ted Steiner. “He gave everyone he was with a positive energy. He was a great person.”
Sederstrom grew up immersed in the outdoors and frequently skied Big Mountain as a kid, according to Sande, who first met him in the early 1980s. Even when Sederstrom and his friends could not get away from their backyard, they found ways to push the envelope by building jumps and harnessing them- selves to their sleds to see who could go the furthest. Later, they traded the sleds for skis and spent time “looking for un- cut powder residing within the Kalispell city limits.”
Within a few years, Sederstrom and his friends turned their attention to climbing, taking a class at Flathead Val- ley Community College from Steiner and Rocky Mountain Outfitter owner Don Scharfe. Suddenly Sederstrom and the others were hooked on climbing and they would often spend their days climbing rock across the valley. Later, they turned their attention to Glacier National Park, climbing everything from Mount Can- non to Going-to-the-Sun Mountain and about eveything in between.
“Pull up a topo map of the Lewis, Livingston, Flathead and Swan ranges, point a finger somewhere, and I’ll likely
have a story for you that includes Scott Sederstrom,” Sande recalled.
As Sederstrom got older, he and his friends began to attempt even greater climbing feats, like trying to summit as many peaks within the park as they could in one day.
Steiner often climbed with Seder- strom and said he was a trusted friend in the wilderness. Talking to those who knewSederstrom,thethemethatemerg- es first is his kindness and modesty.
“He was an incredibly likeable per- son,” Scharfe said. “He didn’t have an at- titude and he was never macho or egotis- tical.”
In the early 1990s, Sederstrom moved to California, where he contin- ued to climb and immerse himself in the outdoors. Even though he had not lived in the Flathead Valley for 20 years, it is clear Sederstrom had left his mark on those who knew him.
A memorial for Sederstrom will be held on May 24 from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Lawrence Park Pavilion in Kalispell. Or- ganizers are asking that in lieu of gifts or flowers, that people make donations to the Kalispell Boulder Project or the American Safe Climbing Association.
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