Chris Lackey, 39, was among two guided groups buried by ice and snow while camping out after reaching the 10,300-foot summit of Moose's Tooth peak. The cascade threw climbers from their tents around 1 a.m. Thursday.
Four campers rushed to help Lackey, who was unconscious. He was evacuated by a medical rescue, but died during the flight to an Anchorage hospital, according to his father Robert Lackey of Corvallis, Ore.
Lackey, also a Corvallis native, was married to Michelle Robichaux Lackey. He has two children, a 10-year-old daughter and a son, 12.
"He was an absolutely committed family man," his father said by phone Saturday. Among other activities, he taught a boys' Sunday school class at First Presbyterian Church in Houston, said executive pastor the Rev. Bill Heston.
"Certainly all the families he touched are deeply saddened," the pastor said. "We'll be working with those families, as well, about how to process this difficult information to these young boys, helping them to understand what role their faith can play, the faith demonstrated to them by Chris."
Robert Lackey said his son called via satellite phone Wednesday evening, after a particularly challenging and icy ascent to the summit of Moose's Tooth. Chris Lackey had been looking forward to the climb along the path, which he referred to on his Facebook page as the "ham and eggs route."
"He was ecstatic," Robert Lackey said. "The irony is that he had finished the climb. The next day he was going to hike down to the lowlands and take a plane to Anchorage. The climb was successful."
Lackey had loved the outdoors since his days with the Boy Scouts and as an Eagle Scout, his father said.
He graduated from the University of Oregon in Eugene, where he was a member of the rowing team, and earned an MBA from Texas A&M University. Lackey worked about 13 years in the energy business, most recently as director of commercial integration for GenOn Energy Inc., according to his LinkedIn page.
Conquered Mount Ranier
The wholesale electricity generator, which has 466 employees in Houston, was previously called RRI Energy Inc., where Lackey had worked since 1998.
Lackey lists "alpine, rock and ice climbing" as his interests and notes that he led climbers up Mount Rainier in Washington state in the summers of 1991 and 1992.
Houston Chronicle
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