3 climbers who fell near treacherous pass on Alaska’s Mount McKinley are dead, 1 rescued
Three climbers have died on Alaska’s Mount McKinley after falling near a difficult pass on North America’s highest peak, a Latvian mountaineering group said Friday. A fourth climber was rescued.
The group said the four were members of a mountaineering expedition in Latvia. The National Park Service said they were part of a seven-person team crossing a route known for its exposed sections where numerous injuries and deaths have occurred over the years when they crashed Wednesday.
McKinley stands at about 20,310 feet, and the rescued climber was brought down the mountain from about 17,200 feet by Denali National Park and Preserve search and rescue personnel late Thursday afternoon. The park service said Friday that a long line of helicopters was used for the rescue because terrain and conditions prevented the helicopter from landing. The climber was then airlifted to hospital.
The fall occurred during the climb near Denali Pass, at about 18,200 feet, the park service said. He gave a few more details. Three other people in the climbing group assisted in rescue efforts and that “physical conditions were deteriorating,” the park service said. Crews evacuated them from the mountain on Friday.
The group was on the West Buttress route, the most popular route to the summit. It is known for crevasses, steep ice and exposed ridges.
Over the years, numerous climbing injuries and deaths, mostly from unprotected falls, have occurred in the pass between Denali Pass and an area known as high camp at about 17,200 feet, according to the park. Most deaths on the pass occurred while climbers were descending.
The park said park rangers and mountain guides install and maintain snow stakes, which are used to help create anchors for extra protection in areas such as steep slopes between high camp and Denali Pass. This area is also known as the Autobahn, a slope of snow and ice that can be marked by conditions ranging from deep snow to hard ice that poses avalanche risk, the agency said.
Climbers can set up their own stakes if necessary, but “you may even have to go through very heavy snow and ice,” said climber Clint Helander, who has summited McKinley and has climbed the mountain many times.
He said the intense glaciation, rapid weather changes, altitude and size of the peak make climbing McKinley “a huge undertaking.” Climbers also need to carry a significant amount of equipment for long expeditions, he said.
“It’s incredibly easy for something to happen and for an otherwise simple journey to turn into an epic journey,” Helander said.
Only about 1,000 to 1,200 climbers attempt to summit Mount McKinley each year, mostly in May and June. The journey usually takes about 17 days, and last year less than half of them made it to the top, according to park statistics.
More than 130 people have died on the mountain in the park’s history, according to park statistics, including two deaths last year. In 2012, four climbers from Japan died when a shallow avalanche pushed them into a crevasse.
Park service spokesman Scott Carr said there were 516 climbers on the mountain as of Thursday.
Two other climbers who were not in the falling group were evacuated from the mountain by helicopter Wednesday, according to the park service.
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