Climber Angela Ha remembered as ‘bundle of joy’ after fatal fall
Angela Ha loved life so much that she refused to give up without a fight.
When he fell and was seriously injured while climbing a mountain in Victoria’s west last week, he clung to life for 10 hours as a high-angle rescue team worked to save him.
Her father Daniel and sister Michelle scrambled from their home in Sydney to her bedside at the Alfred hospital, but Angela succumbed to her injuries at 10.30pm on April 27, less than an hour before their arrival.
This was a huge loss for Michelle and her two other siblings; They had all lost their great idols, but they could see beauty and poetry in the midst of pain; knowing that her sisters’ last day on Mount Arapiles reflected how she lived.
“I told my dad that people drive by there every day, car crashes, plane crashes,” Michelle said. “I’m glad he was in a beautiful place he loved and with people he knew when he died.
“He had such a big heart. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone more dedicated to life.”
“It’s funny because I was talking to her roommates in Sydney the other day and they were saying Angela’s bedtime is always before 10pm. So it makes sense that she should rest.”
The four siblings are second-generation Australians; Their parents moved from Vietnam before they were born, and they grew up in the tight-knit community in that part of Sydney.
When Michelle starts talking about Angela, she has a hard time stopping.
“I thought she was the coolest older sister… We were always making up dances to the most random songs and she was like a cartoon character, having a normal conversation and breaking into a dance move right away. She was just a bundle of joy, never wanted a dull moment in her life.”
Always an outdoorsman, Angela was bitten by the rock climbing bug about six years ago when she moved from Croydon in Sydney’s inner west to the Blue Mountains to pursue her passion.
At the age of 24, he had already completed his architectural studies; After several trips abroad, he was preparing to start a physiotherapy course at the University of Sydney.
“He was enjoying it so much,” Michelle recalled. “He had so much to tell us every week about the things he learned while practicing with the stethoscope on me and Stephanie.”
However, he wanted to return to his beloved Mount Arapiles before finishing his doctorate.
It was during this 10-day trip with friends that Angela fell to her death while trying to summit a climbing route known as the “Tannin” in a section known as the Organ Pipes because of the rugged tubular cliffs.
Angela’s passing is also felt within Australia’s wider rock climbing community, a small group who shared Angela’s lust for life and dedication to the craft.
Mount Arapiles rises from the flat plantings west of Horsham and has been a famous climbing spot since the early 1960s.
Approximately 45,000 climbers visit each year; Some camp for weeks at their base, conquering routes fraught with various difficulties.
Climbing Victoria CEO Mike Rockell said the entire climbing community was mourning and his thoughts were with Angela’s family.
“There are people I know and I know [Angela]”So there’s a sense of ‘By the grace of God we’re getting there,’ because we’ve all had close calls over time,” he said. “It’s pretty sobering.”
Arapiles busiest location For high-angle rescues by emergency services anywhere in Victoria, including 33 in the last 11 years. Lee Lee Heah, a New Zealand lawyer, also died climbing there in November 2024.
Rockell said the serious accident rate is a reflection of the mountain’s popularity rather than the danger it poses to climbers.
He also said the paths to outdoor climbing are changing, with many people learning to climb in the safety of private gyms in the city. Rockell warned that climbers need good mentoring to continue the activity safely once they get outdoors.
Police are preparing a report for the coroner who will determine exactly what happened in Angela’s case.
Michelle doesn’t remember Angela ever wearing black, only vibrant, earthy colours, and so those attending her funeral this week will be asked to do the same.
“He was really always at one with nature. We want people to celebrate that,” Michelle said.
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