Doug Walker. Photo via the King County Sheriff's Office.
Doug Walker. Photo via the King County Sheriff’s Office.

“How do you justify the risks that you’re taking to your loved ones at home?”

That was the question from an audience member toward the end of a Nov. 19, 2015, event at Seattle’s Town Hall with software pioneer, philanthropist and climber Doug Walker and free solo climber Alex Honnold.

The recording, available online, has taken on new significance given the events of the past week. Walker, 64, who co-founded the Seattle software company WRQ in 1981, died in a hiking accident on Granite Mountain in Washington state on New Year’s Eve.

Here’s an audio excerpt with the question and answer. After the question, Honnold can be heard first, followed by Walker.

“Oh, that’s a tough one,” Walker said initially, noting that his family was in the audience. “I don’t think of myself as taking a lot of risk.”

After some back-and-forth with Honnold, Walker added, “I try to be reasonable about it, but I guess maybe climbing is a little selfish at times. You do sort of do it for your own personal satisfaction. I do know there’s some risks, but I’m not sure that I have a perfect justification for it.”

An experienced hiker and outdoorsman, Walker was snowshoeing with two friends Thursday afternoon on the popular trail near North Bend, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office. The two friends decided to turn back, in part because of high winds. Walker continued in pursuit of the summit on the 5,629-foot peak. His body was found Friday morning in a debris field consistent with an avalanche.

Sally Jewell, the former REI CEO who now serves as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, was a frequent hiking and climbing companion of Walker’s who called his death a “huge loss for our country.” Jewell told the Seattle Times that Walker had turned back on other climbs when conditions seemed unsafe.

Walker’s death has sparked an outpouring of grief from his friends, including many business and political leaders, citing his role as a pioneering technologist and leading philanthropist.

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