Two climbers die on Mt. Rainier, one still missing

Associated Press

ASHFORD — Two climbers were found dead Wednesday on Mount Rainier, and searchers looking for a third climber believed they saw a body in a crevasse before worsening weather made them pull back from the 14,411-foot peak.

Out of a party of four climbers who spent a stormy night high on the mountain, one man, who used a cell phone to call for help, was rescued, said Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Maria Gillett.

The bodies of a man and woman were found just before 4 p.m., Gillett said.

Shortly before 6 p.m., as searchers were being pulled off the mountain, they observed "what we believe to be … another fatality, approximately 15 feet down in a crevasse, a little distance away from where the other two fatalities were located," Gillett said.

She said it would not be possible to confirm a third fatality until searchers could return to the mountain today. The crevasse is at an elevation between 13,400 and 13,600 feet.

The rescued man did not require hospitalization, Gillett said.

One body was flown off the mountain late Wednesday, while the second confirmed body remained on the peak.

Gillett declined to identify the four members of the climbing party. She said she did not know how experienced they were.

"They were climbing Liberty Ridge, a very demanding, difficult climb," she said.

Park rangers received a cell phone call at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday from a man who said he had spent the night on the mountain with another man and two women. The party had constructed a snow cave, but it collapsed in a storm during the night, the caller said. The other man became disoriented and fell near 13,900-foot Liberty Cap, one of the mountain’s two lower summits.

On Wednesday morning, the caller managed to climb down to St. Elmo’s Pass at 7,800 feet, where he requested help. He was plucked from the mountain in a helicopter, and about a dozen park rangers began searching for the rest of the party.

The two women were still alive at the snow cave when the rescued man went for help, Gillett said.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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