Alaska News

Mount McKinley expedition survivors evacuated from mountain

Reports on Friday from the National Park Service and the moutain expedition company employing two experienced Southcentral Alaska mountaineers who'd been leading a summitting expedition up the Northwest Buttress of the mountain revealed more details about one of the highest-altitude rescue and recovery missions ever performed in Denali National Park and Preserve.

The operation took a full day and ended late Thursday night with one injured climber medevaced to Anchorage, a second climber dead, and at least two others safely in established camps on the mountain. They were later flown to Talkeetna, the jumping off point for climbs on North America's highest peak, and were reported in transit from there to Anchorage.

The survivor in the hospital broke his leg in a fall from near the mountain summit ridge. He was stranded at an elevation of 19,500 feet for nearly a day, waiting for help in 20-degree below-zero temperatures with winds raging 60 to 70 mph, according to Maureen McLaughlin, a spokesperson at Denali National Park's Talkeetna mountaineering ranger station.

Winds that strong will knock a person off his or her feet. It was unclear, however, as to whether the gusting winds contributed to the initial fall of the guide and three clients, or the subsequent death of one of the clients.

Mount McKinley, the tallest peak in North America, is also called Denali by some climbers. As of Friday, at least 275 climbers were on the mountain making their way toward summit, according to park rangers.

Daring rescue at 19,500 feet

The injured climber was part of an expedition organized by the Ophir, Colo.-based company Mountain Trip. He was saved late thanks to the daring efforts of his guides, a Park Service mountaineer and a rescue squadron with the Alaska Air National Guard, which flew near the mountain's 20,320-foot summit late in the day after winds had died down.

A rescue basket was lowered to near the stranded climber. He was able to maneuver inside of it with a chopper whirring overhead, McLaughlin said in an NPS statement.

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During that rescue , park personnel pinpointed the location of the injured climber's missing companion, perhaps 1,000 feet farther down the mountain. He somewhere near 18,000 feet, close to the top of a couloir known as "The Autobahn" for the speed at which people have fallen to their deaths after slipping high on the route.

It was the first time during the rescue mission that anyone had visually confirmed the second climber's location, officials said early Friday, and he appeared to be dead. How the two became separated wasn't immediately known.

The survivor was flown about 12,300 feet down McKinley, to Kahiltna base camp, before the helicopter returned for the body of his partner. Park mountaineer Kevin Wright was lowered from the helicopter on the end of a 125-foot rope, McLaughlin said, and "set down adjacent to the climber and buckled him into a canvas sling known as a 'screamer suit' and the helicopter again headed for Kahiltna base camp.

"The climber was flown on the end of the short-haul line … and showed no obvious signs of life during the short-haul flight," the statement said.

At Kahiltna, the climber was transferred to an U.S. Army Chinook helicopter from Fort Wainwright. Two NPS ranger medics aboard that craft confirmed that the climber had died.

Cause of death remained unknown Friday. Park Service employees declined to identify anyone pending the identification of the dead climber's next of kin, McLaughlin said.

Two members of the climbing expedition spent Thursday night recovering at Kahiltna base camp before flying to Talkeetna and heading on to Anchorage Friday afternoon, according to a woman in Colorado who worked for the company.

Four climbers had been roped together, descending McKinley's summit ridge Wednesday, when the disaster first struck, according to McLaughlin. Further details remained sketchy as officials worked to determine what had happened.

This is a developing story. Return for updates.

Contact Eric Christopher Adams at eric(at)alaskadispatch.com and Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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