MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK – One of two climbers injured high on Mount Rainier on Thursday died before a rescue helicopter could reach him, officials said.
The Blackhawk helicopter did pick up his climbing partner, who had suffered a wrist injury, and flew him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was in satisfactory condition, said hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson.
An earlier news release from the Oregon National Guard, which provided the helicopter, incorrectly said the more seriously injured climber had been flown to Harborview, while the man with the wrist injury planned to hike down with rescue rangers.
Mount Rainier National Park spokesman Barry Fraissinet identified the deceased climber as Jon Cahill, a captain with the Auburn Fire Department, and his partner as Bellevue firefighter Mark H. Anderson. Both men were emergency medical technicians.
Cahill fell early Thursday as the pair tried to ascend Liberty Ridge, one of the most difficult routes up the 14,410-foot peak. It was the same area where a climber from Maine was fatally injured in a 30-foot fall last month.
The men had expected to reach the summit by midmorning Thursday.
On May 15, climber Peter Cooley tumbled down a steep, icy slope on Liberty Ridge and hit his head on a rock spur. His climbing partner, Scott Richards, maneuvered the two of them to a tiny flat spot, but the men were stranded for two days as temperatures dipped below freezing in whiteout conditions.
Cooley, 39, was picked up by a National Guard helicopter May 17 but died on the way to a hospital. Accompanied by two rangers, Richards hiked down to a glacier the following day and was picked up by a helicopter.
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