Rescue crews pulled John P. Roggenkamp, 27, from the crevasse Sunday but were unable to remove his body from the mountain. Teams returned today to recover his body. The glacier is above Portage Valley near the National Forest Service visitor center.

Bill Romberg, an Alaska Mountain Rescue Group volunteer who worked late into the night at the scene, said Roggenkamp and another man had been wearing crampons on the glacier. Romberg believed they had one rope but it was in Roggenkamp�s backpack.

Romberg said the two were coming back down the sloping, slick glacier when Roggenkamp caught a crampon on his pant leg or foot or a crampon came off. He lost his footing and slipped. Roggenkamp�s hiking partner, Ryan Morrill, 30, of Girdwood called troopers around 6 p.m. Rescuers reached Roggenkamp, who was wedged into a body-sized hole in the bottom of the crevasse, around 10 p.m., troopers said. They said he was dead when they arrived. Byron Glacier is a popular hiking spot. There�s an easy, accessible trail to the base of the glacier near Portage Lake. But where these hikers were, Romberg said, climbing gear and specialized knowledge are required for safety. However, he said, people generally don�t rope up on medium-angled slopes like the one they were on.

�But there are consequences if you slip or lose a crampon if you�re not roped up,� he said.

Rescuers had to traverse the glacier for about a quarter-mile to reach the crevasse, he said. From there, they dropped into the crevasse on ropes and found Roggenkamp in what is called a moulin, a tubular chute that channels water. He was wedged vertically, feet-first, in a �hole the width of his body,� Romberg said. He looked as if he had head injuries from the fall, Romberg said.

That part of the glacier has a 30- or 40-degree, blue-ice slope, and a slip could send someone sliding 400 or 500 feet, Romberg said. Once rescuers realized there was nothing more they could do for Roggenkamp, they decided to get themselves and Morrill off the glacier safely.

State Trooper Sgt. Bill Welch of Girdwood said this morning that a body-recovery mission with a helicopter and Alaska Mountain Rescue teams was continuing. Teams on foot were to carry Roggenkamp�s body to a place where a helicopter could reach him, Welch said.

The Alaska Mountain Rescue Group is based in Anchorage and run by volunteers with wilderness search-and-rescue skills. They work with troopers.

Morrill, the survivor, could not be reached. In spring 2004, he was one of two men who were riding 6-foot-wide ice chunks in Turnagain Arm, drawing a substantial rescue effort. Morrill and his friend Abraham Gioffre had been performing for a camera, were unhurt and did not call for assistance.

Contact reporter Anne Aurand at aaurand@adn.com or (907) 257-4591.