RICHLAND, Wash. — Family and friends are honoring the life of Ross James Wallette , a Washington photographer, videographer and climbing guide who died earlier this month in a fall on Mount Fury in the North Cascades.

Wallette, known for documenting life’s most meaningful moments and for capturing Washington state's highest peaks through his photography and videography died Aug. 18 after his hold broke loose during a climb, his father, Roland Ross Wallette, said Wednesday.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” his father said. “I thought this isn’t true. He’s climbed every difficult mountain around here and hasn’t had a problem.”

Wallette fell several hundred feet, his father said. A climbing partner immediately activated an SOS beacon, but rescuers could not save him.

His father described

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