- City paramedic disappeared on treacherous solo ascent
The Edmonton Journal October 20, 2005
EDMONTON - Family and friends of an Edmonton paramedic who disappeared while climbing one of the highest peaks in the Canadian Rockies will celebrate his life at a memorial service this weekend.
The memorial for Darryl Dow, an acting superintendent with Emergency Medical Services, is Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Royal Alberta Museum theatre. Dow, 40, went missing in mid-September while attempting a solo ascent of Mount Assiniboine, a 3,618-metre mountain along the British Columbia-Alberta border, southwest of Canmore. Searchers scoured the area on foot and by helicopter for three days, but found no trace of him.
Dow last checked in with his partner Susan Tremblay on Sept. 7, saying he was travelling to the B.C. side of the mountain to climb. He said his route would depend on the weather. Mount Assiniboine, often compared to the Matterhorn in Switzerland, is known among mountaineers as a difficult climb with risks of exposure, rock falls and avalanches.
Dow had worked for the EMS since 1993. Colleagues called him a well-respected and accomplished paramedic.
© The Edmonton Journal 2005
Enough time has now passed that I can pass an ambulance on the road without tears coming to my eyes (I used to always try to look to see if it was Darryl or Steve when I passed an ambulance, a habit that persisted even when I knew they had become supervisors ... the first few ambulances I passed after hearing about Darryl were hard).
I had signed up for a conference at the Shaw Conference Centre the week after we heard about Darryl ... driving there I realized that the last time I had been there was the Blue Rodeo concert last spring (with Darryl there among other friends) - then I realized that I think it was the last time I saw Darryl - kicking myself for being "too tired" to go watch the Alberta Centennial fireworks on September 1 at Luc's, the last time Ed saw Darryl. Makes you realize the importance of doing the important things right away rather than putting them off (like keeping in touch with friends and family).
My backpacking trip in August on the Chilkoot Trail has become somewhat a bittersweet experience, in that Darryl used to always ask me about my Guiding background and when I'd be doing any outdoor trips - I hadn't really done any backpacking or similar for quite a few years, so all through the trip I was looking forward to the opportunity to tell him about it (and never got the chance). As it turned out, I got around to sending out an e-mail to a bunch of friends, with a link to my photos, and it ended up being right at the same time most of us found out he was missing ...
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