California teen lost touch with reality, walked off Mount Whitney, dad says

thumbs up for the volcano, but only when active

[quote] Is there an epidemic of younguns' tumbling down mountains and volcanoes?

Why do you think there is an epidemic of this happening?

"He knew he was hallucinating. He said he saw things like snowmen and Kermit the Frog. Oh, and Aaron Rodgers' wife."

Was he a virgin? Maybe he was a sacrifice to the gods!

Mmmm....sounds like his dad was pushing him to do this extra hard hike. “He’s in better shape than I am,” Wach told SFGATE. “The idea was that this would be kind of like his introduction to mountaineering.”

So his asshole of a dad pushed his 14 year old son past his limits because Dad liked to do this and his son was struggling to keep up. The son had never done anything like this before. Just because he can run long distance doesn't mean a 14 year old body can handle the same strain as a trained 35-40 year old.

The hallucinations part could be true - or he fell and the father feels guilty as fuck.

I blame the Dad. Seriously. And they put this out in the press in order to increase the GoFundMe. Dad's an asshole.

The Dad is weird to be giving out interviews.

[quote] The Dad is weird to be giving out interviews.

You must be an eldergay and not familiar with how society works these days.

Dad did not push him?

[quote] "Ryan Wach and his son Zane summited the mountain on June 10 via the Mountaineer’s Route, a shorter but more technically advanced trail compared to the popular Mount Whitney Trail. Zane and his father, an experienced hiker and mountaineer, had summited mountains before, but this was Zane’s first time on Mount Whitney. The pair planned to complete the trek in a single pass — an impressive feat, but one Ryan Wach wasn’t worried about, as his son regularly competes in distance running, swimming and triathlons and had plenty of prior hiking experience."

Someone needs to report Daddy to CPS.

R5 Some truth there. Very high mountain altitudes are most often gained through hard physical effort. The two conditions really puts the mind in unusual places. I've done Whitney... and it's so crowded now that you see folks climbing it in sandals and Juicy yoga pants (true, I saw it). I am surprised there are not more fatalities. I know of two folks who died on Whitney. (one a brain aneurysm and one lung failure). There are helicopters going up to rescue people all the time.

Yeah, the Dad should have been more careful, watchful. How sad.

Here's Dad doing another stupid stunt - swimming to Alcatraz doing only butterfly - which I doubt he did. The best swimmers in the world could not do 1.5 miles straight butterfly in a pool - let alone in cold choppy waters.

The dad is a psycho. Oh and he's a Mormon (Brigham Young grad).

The mother isn't in the article because she's too busy filing divorce papers. Also - I would check to see if that kid has a life insurance policy.

R11....yep....He's one of those "toughen up my son" assholes.

[quote]The dad is a psycho. Oh and he's a Mormon (Brigham Young grad).

The LDS angle explains some of his weirdness when discussing his son's death; Mormons have a lot of strange beliefs about death and the afterlife.

Incidentally, when ex-Mormons discuss their reasons for leaving the church, it often involves their kids. Breaking away to support a gay son or daughter has become a familiar story, but the loss of a pregnancy or the stillbirth of a child is sometimes a motivating factor. Occasionally the two intersect, as with David Archuleta's mom, who left because of homophobia but hadn't forgotten how alone the church made her feel after a stillbirth decades prior.

So, the kid was hallucinating and headed to the edge of the mountain twice and the dad successfully steered him away. Why in the fuck did dad not have a hand on the kid at all times after that? I would’ve been holding my kid’s hand during the entire walk back down the mountain.

Or, better yet, sat for a bit and let the kid get his bearings. He obviously was not well.

[quote] "He knew he was hallucinating. He said he saw things like snowmen and Kermit the Frog. Oh, and Aaron Rodgers' wife."

Oh that’s an excellent one, so DL.

R14 - the Dad is lying. He took his son on his first mountaineering trip to an excessively rigorous route and he fell and he's trying to cover his tracks.

FYI - I don't believe for a SECOND that the Dad is an expert mountaineer. He's a thrill seeker - and a liar. I posted the article above about him doing butterfly to Alcatraz and back.

There's no way he could or would do that. Anyone who has ever done swimming - even for a summer season - will know how taxing butterfly is on the upper body. It's a power stroke - not something for long term swimming. I swam competitively at a high level for 12 years - so I know this.

The Dad is lying and is feeling pressure from his wife, his finances and his guilt. You don't take an 8th grader on a strenuous trek like that for the first time in his life - challenging even for experienced people.

His whole "he's in better shape than I am" is very telling. I hope the boy recovers and his wife divorces his dumb ass and they never see his crazy fuck butt ever again.

(Let me add - in the pic about the butterfly to Alcatraz - he is NOT IN SHAPE TO DO THAT - besides it being virtually impossible).

[Quote] Is there an epidemic of younguns' tumbling down mountains and volcanoes?

Yes! Those fucking Gen z losers.

Maybe it’s the call of the void.

Drugs?

Something ain't right.

The ascent ain’t ascentin’

r5 I read the article and felt the same way: this father pushed his son WAAAAAY past his limits, and didn't take appropriate action when it was clear he was suffering from altitude sickness. Fuck him, and take his father card away. He wasn't looking out for his child and should have known that was FAR too difficult/ambitious of a trek for his son. The fact that he never questioned the entire trip/doing it in one pass/etc. speaks volume about his lack of fitness in the parenting category.

[quote]The LDS angle explains some of his weirdness when discussing his son's death; Mormons have a lot of strange beliefs about death and the afterlife.

Oh, dear-ing myself because Zane's still alive, though his prognosis was poor and he was in a medically-induced coma for two weeks. Unlike his dad, the rest of the family has been guarded about what they share. Ryan's latest update, reposted by his mother or stepmother on Facebook yesterday, said the following:

[quote]I'll be brief today as it was a big day but very hard. Zane had the breathing tube removed and taken off the vent. This was a giant milestone and opens the door to many new steps forward. He's not doing much else at the moment, the largest focus is watching closely so that he does well breathing on his own as well and being able to cough and swallow.

[quote]The hard part is that he is well into feeling the effects of withdrawal. He's been on a lot heavy drugs for a while and getting off those is extremely hard and painful. As parents it's terrible to watch. We hope he gets through this with the least possible suffering in the day couple of days.

It's quite Mormon that after everything Zane's been through, including what Ryan called a "severe head trauma" and "a large skull fracture" with bleeding and swelling, he's focused on the evils of the medication that kept him comfortable while ventilated. In a previous update he also thanked everyone who prayed and fasted.

I love my dead gay son..

R23 - looks like that's the grandmother as people say her grandson.

One post is so unhinged: "A man who loves his son enough to give him the experience of a life time like this screams LOVE and ADVENTURE; both signs of a good man, a good dad." WTF?

Even if he does recover - he's going to be gaslight and pressured by his dad to keep the story up - if the story isn't true.

It's the dad's fault.

[quote]looks like that's the grandmother as people say her grandson.

Yes, I know. My uncertainty is whether she's Ryan's mom (Ryan being Zane's dad) or a stepmom that he isn't particularly close to. I lean toward the latter since she's been sharing a lot of passive-aggressive memes, political crap, and other frivolity throughout this ordeal. Most of the family photos she shares feature other grandkids and a son who looks nothing like Ryan.

Hurry up and heal already. We're doing Mt. Everest next, boy!!!