Only the good die young.

A sullen mood has swept over campus this morning. Colin Haley, world-famous mountaineer, was found lying dead a third of the way up the RB stairs around 7:30 am. A helicopter has since flown over to remove his body from the scene. What was going to be the most ambitious ascent of his career turned out to be the most tragic. 

Haley was certainly no stranger to punishing peaks. Just last summer he completed both Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Nanga Parbat, making him one of the most recognized names on the climbing scene. Despite elaborate route planning, 12 weeks of altitude training, and a couple of extra Clif bars, the savage staircase took his life. Haley is survived by his widowed wife and four young children.

Evan Ming, the only successful mountaineer to scale the RB stairs in the last 100 years, opens up about what it’s like to make the climb. He said that even his successful ascent was a dance with death. 

“First, the stairs break your spirit. Then, your body loses the will to live,” says Ming. “The air is just so thin up there.”

At the top of the stairs, wind speeds can get up to 125 miles per hour. Temperatures have been known to drop to minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit. 

“The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak,” commented an eyewitness of the body.

This isn’t the first time the RB stairs have taken good people out of the world. In ‘03, the campus was shaken by the loss of little Peggy Sue Johnson, a freshman of just 18 who didn’t know about the elevator in the Tanner building. 

To honor his memory, BYU has stated that they plan on replacing the RB stairs with an escalator in Haley’s name. 

A candlelight vigil will be held in the Marriott Tunnel Sunday night at 8 pm.