Trekker from Belthangady falls to death in US

Chaitanya Sathe, a 36-year-old researcher hailing from Phandije near Venur in Belthangady taluk fell to his death while climbing the Smith Rock State Park in Oregon in the US on August 24.

Chaitanya is the son of Ramesh Sathe, a retired scientist residing in Bengaluru. After completing his MTech, he had moved to the US 12 years ago.

He was working as a researcher at the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Mazamas, a non-profit mountaineering organisation which Chaitanya was part of, declared in a Facebook post: “Mazamas are deeply saddened to have lost one of our members to an accident at Smith Rock State Park on August 24.

“Chaitanya Sathe, an active member of the Mazamas, passed away while on a personal climbing trip. We extend our deepest and heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

The climbing accident occurred in the lower gorge of Smith Rock State Park.

Chaitanya Sathe slipped while climbing in 4th class terrain to the base of the climbing area.

His climbing partner was ahead of him and did not see the accident occur.

Two climbers below responded to Chaitanya who was found dead at the base of the cliff,” the post declared. He is survived by his parents and sister.