YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. – Rangers completed a dramatic rescue Thursday of two climbers from a snowy mountain and removed the ice-encrusted bodies of two other hikers who died on the peak in an unexpected early blizzard in the Sierras.
The deaths occurred on El Capitan, a forbidding 3,200-foot granite mountain at Yosemite National Park, following a fierce blizzard that stranded nearly two dozen hikers and climbers across Northern California this week. Other than the two deaths, everyone was found or rescued.
The two deaths created a gruesome sight for a helicopter crew that managed to fly close enough Wednesday to spot the bodies, which were blue and dripping with icicles as they dangled from their ropes about two-thirds the way up the precipice.
To retrieve the corpses, rangers rappelled down El Capitan and carried the bodies on their backs hundreds of feet to the summit. Rescue crews also rappelled down the mountain to get the surviving climbers, who were expected to be airlifted off the mountain later Thursday.
The surviving climbers had spent the night on a portable ledge secured high above the valley floor. A team of 12 began trying to reach them late Wednesday.
The blizzard blew in early Sunday and continued through Wednesday, creating deadly white-out conditions and 50 mph gusts as it dumped several feet of snow across the Sierra Nevada.
The storm made for an anxious week for families of the stranded hikers, but many of them rejoiced Thursday as the weather cleared and crews brought their loved ones to safety.
“Oh, thank God, thank God. This is the greatest day of my life,” Rita Bargetto-Snider said after receiving word that her brother, Paul Bargetto, was safe after becoming stranded at a 9,400-foot-elevation lake east of Fresno.
Paul Bargetto was part of a four-person group that had been missing since Sunday. The men, members of a California winemaking family, were rescued Thursday.
“Once the conditions got overwhelming, they stayed put and rationed their food and kept warm. They saved themselves,” said Jenna Endres, one of the rescuers.
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