Alaska News

McKinley climbers honoring fallen veterans forced to turn back

Bearing the names of more than 350 fallen veterans inscribed on U.S. flags they carried, a team of military veteran climbers was forced to turn around short of the 20,320-foot summit of Mount McKinley on Thursday.

"Unforeseen circumstances are inevitable and insurmountable at times, and with one of our teammates becoming extremely ill, our last chance effort to gain the summit was foiled by weather," Navy SEAL Josh Jespersen said in a video posted on Facebook.

"We wanted more than anything to get those names to the top so they could fly in the wind passing over North America's highest point.

"However, our decision was to not add any more names to the flag by turning around at 18,000 feet when the objective hazards got to be too great."

The other members of the military team were Army airborne medic Nick Colgin, Army MP Margaux Mange and Marine infantryman Brian McPherson. All sustained injuries overseas.

"A lot of people counted me out, a lot of doors shut that seemed to be open," Colgin explained earlier this month. Then he climbed a mountain with a group called No Barriers. "It ended up opening my eyes to what I was capable of," he said.

The team flew back to Talkeetna on Thursday. Jespersen said whiteout conditions high on the mountain and the potential of an avalanche made turning back the only sensible option.

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"We just took our last stab at the mountain and we couldn't go. The conditions were too bad. Brian and I decided we didn't want to add any more names to the flag."

He said Mange was sick, presumably with altitude sickness, though Jespersen did not specify.

"We failed on getting all the names to the top of the mountain," an emotional Jespersen said in a video made at 17,200 feet, his voice occasionally breaking. "But what we succeeded in, was showing everybody what Memorial Day means to us. All the names everybody submitted, we got them as high as we could.

"Hopefully next year, we can bring those same flags back and bring them to the top."

None of the climbers are visibly disabled. But every one is dealing with service-connected disabilities. The traumatic brain injuries, in particular, pose a unique challenge because they share symptoms with potentially life-threatening altitude sickness that the veterans may experience as they climb.

The team planned to talk to CNN at mid-day Friday from Talkeetna. For further details on the team, and to see the video they made at 17,200 feet, check their Mission Memorial Day Facebook page at (facebook.com/missionmemorialday).

Mike Campbell

Mike Campbell was a longtime editor for Alaska Dispatch News, and before that, the Anchorage Daily News.

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