She was there one moment, then gone the next.
But friends of a Squamish resident who plummeted an estimated 70 to 100 feet to her death said she will never be forgotten.
Avid climber Amy Stein died after falling off a ledge into a forested area near Leavenworth, Wash. on May 14. She was part of a group of five climbers who had gathered in the town to celebrate the birthday of one group member.
The goal was to do this specific multi-pitch route on my friend's birthday, said Squamish resident Jessica Evans, a close friend of Stein's. We got a bit of a late start and decided to make a descent and not continue up any further because we were losing daylight.
Evans, Stein and another friend descended the Orbit route on Snow Creek Wall and were hiking down to the base when they noticed the rock starting to slide on their path.
There appeared to be a good descent gully and we started walking down that Amy was first, Evans said. The rock started to slide so we were kind of deciding what to do should we go one at a time or all at the same time.
As the group was deciding what to do, a large rock tumbled toward the group of three and Stein reacted.
We don't know if she was struck or moving to get out of the way, but she was swept over a ledge. It all happened very fast. It was a short scream and then nothing she never spoke again.
Evans made her way down the gully to locate Stein, but the results were grim.
I saw where Amy had landed and I saw the height of the ledge. I told my friend that our lives had just changed, she said.
After rappelling down, Evans found Stein unresponsive but still breathing. Evans tried her best to comfort her friend in her final moments.
I was with her I promise she left peacefully, Evans said. I made sure she was covered and warm, and surrounded her with love.
Emergency responders were contacted, but the damage was done. Evans said Stein died within 30 minutes of her fall, with Search and Rescue officials pronouncing her dead when they arrived on the scene.
Evans said Stein was a special person to so many people in the Squamish community, noting that more than 40 people showed up at an impromptu wake on May 15.
I wish I could have known her my whole life, she said. She was really smart and funny she was a classy American who chose to live here in Squamish.
Stein grew up in Boston and received an undergraduates degree from Darmouth College in New Hampshire and her Masters in Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design. She lived and worked in San Francisco, then moved to Vancouver before eventually ending up in Squamish.
Nathan Kukathas was Stein's roommate this past year in Squamish.
It was surreal and really hard to believe, he said, upon hearing of the news of Stein's death. I met her through the great community of Squamish and one day she said, 'Let's be great friends' and we were it was as simple as that.
Kukathas said Stein was well known in both the climbing community and elsewhere in Squamish.
She had fallen in love with Squamish, he said. She had so much experience living in so many parts of the world and made friends everywhere, but she loved Squamish. She had adversity to the weather here but loved the people. She liked the fact that people chose to live here.
Stein's funeral took place in Boston on Monday (May 20) and the event was watched via webcast by a group of her local friends that morning. Later that evening, a group of her close friends hosted a dinner in her honour.
For more information on the Amy Stein Memorial Fund, visit www.womenswilderness.org/amy-stein-memorial-fund.
